Here are some thoughts to consider, since we didn't get a chance to discuss this poem in class.
1) This poem is a bit different from the others, in that we don't get an explicit fall from grace, at least in an overtly sexual sense. However, we do get more of an allegorical fall.
What does the lady of Shalott spend her time doing in her tower? Why must she stay there?
Is she able to look on the world directly?
While she does not overtly fall sexually, think a bit about what actually makes her defy her fate and get up from her weaving loom and look directly on the scene below? Could she be romantically motivated?
2) Lines122 marks a distinct break in the narrative. Read these lines out loud. How do they sound? Why repeat the sentence structure five times, starting with "She left/made/saw/saw/look'd/"? What types of verbs or words are these and what sort of action to they connote?
3) The Lady of Shalott is ultimately punished for her sins. Why does she have to die? What was her crime?
1) The Lady of Shalott is a women who is stuck in a tower on the island of Shalott. She weaves a magic tapestry, and is forbidden to look down to Camelot. If she does look directly down to Camelot a curse will come upon her even though she does not know what the curse is. She avoids this curse by looking at Camelot through a mirror, but she ends up looking at Camelot directly one day when Sir Lancelot is passing through. She can be seen as a fallen women in this sense because she did something that was forbidden, and she did it for a man. It was strictly forbidden to look upon Camelot, but she broke this rule, and this ultimately led to her death.
ReplyDelete2) This repetition of words makes her actions seem hurried and desperate. It also reinforces that it was her decision to look directly at Camelot (She left, she made, she saw, she look'd).