mysteriousartcentury:THE LADY OF SHALOTT‘The Lady of Shalott’ is a lyrical ballad by the

mysteriousartcentury:

THE LADY OF SHALOTT

‘The Lady of Shalott’ is a lyrical ballad by the English poet Alfred Tennyson. The poem is loosely based on the Arthurian legend of Elaine of Astolat, as recounted in a 13th-century Italian novellina titled La Damigella di Scalot, or Donna di Scalotta.

According to Tennyson’s version of the legend, the Lady of Shalott was forbidden to look directly at reality or the outside world; instead she was doomed to view the world through a mirror, and weave what she saw into tapestry.
Her despair was heightened when she saw loving couples entwined in the far distance and she spent her days and nights aching for a return to normal. One day the Lady’s mirror revealed Sir Lancelot passing by on his horse. When she impetuously took three paces across the room and looked at him, the mirror cracked and she realised that the curse had befallen her.
The lady escaped by boat during an autumn storm, inscribing ‘The Lady of Shalott’ on the prow. As she sailed towards Camelot and certain death, she sang a lament. Her frozen body was found shortly afterwards by the knights and ladies of Camelot, one of whom is Lancelot, who prayed to God to have mercy on her soul.
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