The Lady of Shalott

Alfred Lord Tennyson is famous for poems like Crossing the Bar and The Charge of the Light Brigade. Now, he has brought us The Lady of Shalott. The poem is broken down into four parts and tells the story of a beautiful doomed young woman.

Part one gives us a beautiful image of a river and flowers. Shalott is an island near the town of Camelot. The poem is about a woman near the river. She seems dead I presumed. But I found that the Lady of Shalott is indeed a prisoner. Part two talks about the woman being a fairy. I think she is under a curse and dies. But then I learned the woman is weaving and if she looks down upon Camelot, she will be cursed. In part III, a handsome knight comes through Camelot and takes a break from riding. The Lady of Shalott looks down and is cursed. The last part says that the Lady of Shalott escapes from the tower and finds a boat. But she sings and dies as she sails away. Sir Lancelot looks upon her and says she is beautiful.