"The Lady of Shalott" is an early Tennyson poem, and as
such is still very much romantic in nature. The beautiful natural imagery of the area
around Shalott is idealized, as is Lancelot. The Lady herself, of course, is
imprisoned in a tower in need of rescuing, also. Nature and
medieval allusions and symbolism mark this as from Tennyson's early works, and
demonstrate the early influence of Romanticism on the
Victorians.
More importantly, the work concerns the
creative process and the isolation of artists--something Tennyson is often concerned
with. The Lady doesn't live life, she only interprets it through the mirror images she
sees. She is separate from experience--dangerous for an
artist.
In the fictional world of this ballad, the Lady
must die before she gets to Camelot. Why? Because reality can never live up to
fantasy. The fantasy is always better. Thus, artists must be careful of separating
themselves from society.
The imagery, symbols, and ideas
or themes connect this to other works by Tennyson.
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