Tennyson lived a very sad life. As stated in the podcast, Tennyson had an alcoholic brother, a brother addicted to opium and he himself suffered from depression. The death of his close friend Arthur Henry Hallam sent him even further into a depression. I feel that most of his poems reflect this sadness and perhaps the loneliness that he felt in his life.
Tennyson's Lady of Shalott was another poem that I was required to read in high school but I very much enjoyed reading it a second time. I believe there are several meanings that could have come out of the unique rhyming lines. In the first part of the poem, Tennyson describes the river and towers that keep the Lady of Shalott prisoner. It explains that she weaves and nobody that ever passes gets to witness the Lady of Shalott. In part 2, it is explained that she is not allowed to leave her web to look to Camelot because she will fall under a curse. It also explains that the Lady of Shalott tends to watch the people that pass by her tower in the mirror directly across from her weave. The line "I am half sick of shadows" (590) makes it obvious that she feels alone in the world and she is tired of seeing only the shadow/reflection of the people passing by. (This reminds me of Plato's Allegory of the Cave which we read in FYS). In the third part, the Lady of Shalott is pulled away from her web and loom and looked to Camelot because of Sir Lancelot. I enjoy how Tennyson describes in Sir Lancelot's appearance in so much detail and even when his image flashes into the mirror, the Lady of Shalott does not look until she hers him sing "tirra lirra" (591). As soon as she looks the web flies and the mirror shatters. The lady has realized her curse is apon her. In the last part, it explains how the Lady of Shalott finds a boat, lays herself down and floats into Camelot singing her last song. When the people see her they are afraid but Sir Lancelot just claims "She has a lovely face God in his mercy lend her grace" (593). I find it very ironic that Sir Lancelot say such a thing. I cannot help but wonder if he realizes he is the reason that she has fallen under such a tragedy.
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3 comments:
Valerie,
Good posting on Tennyson's poem, but there is perhaps more plot summary and less analysis of the text than in your better postings. Whenever you find yourself retelling the plot, stop! Then try to delve deeper into a particular spot.
When I read this poem by Tennyson, I think he was trying to say that people cannot escape the world and all people are destined to feel emotion whether or not it is love. Whoever was keeping the lady in the tower thought that she would be able to work without knowing what she was missing in the world. It only takes one look to feel lust or maybe even love towards another. Once she realized what she was missing, she knew she could not go on living the way that she always had.
I like your analysis. I thought that the girl trapped in the tower could have been interpreted as his own insecurity of "moving" out. He has so much happen in his family he may have thought he was going to be cursed by them.
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