Queen Victoria, for example, had her Robing Room frescoed in scenes from Tennyson and Mallory (135). The role Arthurian chivalry, as lyricized by Tennyson, became to the Victorians “a useful source of didactic and sentimental subjects” (Poulson 136).
Tennyson’s “Lady of Shalott”, along with his other Arthurian poetry (chief amongst them La Morte D’Arthur, Idylls of the King, and The Quest for the Grail) in the Victorian period became themselves added to the Arthurian Legend in British society. The point being, Tennyson uses Arthurian Legend frequently and colorfully, but to his own ends- remaining true to the original stories is a tertiary concern. King Arthur and his Queen are absent as well, while they are present in the Lady’s story in earlier texts (283). The mirror, the curse, and the circumstances of the Lady’s death are all unique to Tennyson’s ”Lady of Shalott”. In Tennyson’s poem, though, much is altered. For example, Lancelot, Camelot, and the Lady of Shalott are all elements of Tennyson’s poem that date to the original legends surrounding King Arthur. Tennyson used these sources in developing his stories however, what he borrows he alters liberally to suit his own purposes (284). Potwin explains that Tennyson’s sources would have been Geoffrey Chaucer and Statius, and that Tennyson would have been inspired by the works of Sir Thomas Malory (282). In the end, the lady is struck dead while sailing as a crowd gathers to mourn her passing.īut what basis does Tennyson’s poem have in Arthurian Legend? L. In the second half of the poem, the lady catches a glimpse of a handsome Arthurian knight (Sir Lancelot), and she makes the faithful decision to leave the tower knowing that it will lead to her demise. She is accursed and entrapped in a tower devoid of both joy and suffering. In the first part, Tennyson gives a picturesque description of the fabled kingdom of Camelot while entreating the audience to the plight of the lady weaver. The story focuses on the nominal Lady of Shalott, an artist trapped within a tower near Camelot in a mythic primordial England. Alfred Lord Tennyson’s poem “The Lady of Shallott” was first written in the early 1830’s and was revised before it was published in 1842.
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