The Lady of Shalott
"The Lady of Shalott" is a lyrical ballad by the 19th-century English poet Alfred Tennyson and one of his best-known works. Inspired by the 13th-century Italian short prose text Donna di Scalotta, the poem tells the tragic story of Elaine of Astolat, a young noblewoman stranded in a tower up the river from Camelot. Tennyson wrote two versions of the poem, one published in 1832 (in Poems, incorrectly dated 1833),[2] of 20 stanzas, the other in 1842, of 19 stanzas (also in a book named Poems), and returned to the story in "Lancelot and Elaine". The vivid medieval romanticism and enigmatic symbolism of "The Lady of Shalott" inspired many painters, especially the Pre-Raphaelites and their followers, as well as other authors and artists.
This article is about the lyrical ballad. For the Waterhouse painting, see The Lady of Shalott (painting). For the rose, see Rosa 'Lady of Shalott'.The Lady of Shalott
May 1832, revised in 1842
English
Iambic tetrameter with isolated lines in iambic trimeter[1]
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1832 & 1842
180 (1832)
171 (1842)
Background[edit]
Like Tennyson's other early works, such as "Sir Galahad", the poem recasts Arthurian subject matter loosely based on medieval sources. It is inspired by the legend of Elaine of Astolat, as recounted in a 13th-century Italian novellina titled La Damigella di Scalot, or Donna di Scalotta (No. LXXXII in the collection Il Novellino: Le ciento novelle antike);[3] the earlier version is closer to the source material than the latter.[4] Tennyson focused on the Lady's "isolation in the tower and her decision to participate in the living world, two subjects not even mentioned in Donna di Scalotta."[5] Tennyson also wrote "Lancelot and Elaine",[6] a poem based on Thomas Malory's version of the story from Le Morte d'Arthur, which he included in his Idylls of the King.
