Summary
Part I: The poem begins with a
description of a river and a road that pass through long fields of barley and
rye before reaching the town of Camelot .
The people of the town travel along the road and look toward an island called
Shalott, which lies further down the river. The island of Shalott
Both “heavy barges” and light
open boats sail along the edge of the river to Camelot. But has anyone seen or
heard of the lady who lives on the island in the river? Only the reapers who
harvest the barley hear the echo of her singing. At night, the tired reaper
listens to her singing and whispers that he hears her: “ ‘Tis the fairy Lady of
Shalott.”
Part II: The Lady of Shalott
weaves a magic, colorful web. She has heard a voice whisper that a curse will
befall her if she looks down to Camelot, and she does not know what this curse
would be. Thus, she concentrates solely on her weaving, never lifting her eyes.
However, as she weaves, a mirror
hangs before her. In the mirror, she sees “shadows of the world,” including the
highway road, which also passes through the fields, the eddies in the river,
and the peasants of the town. Occasionally, she also sees a group of damsels,
an abbot (church official), a young shepherd, or a page dressed in crimson. She
sometimes sights a pair of knights riding by, though she has no loyal knight of
her own to court her. Nonetheless, she enjoys her solitary weaving, though she
expresses frustration with the world of shadows when she glimpses a funeral
procession or a pair of newlyweds in the mirror.
Part III: A knight in brass armor
(“brazen greaves”) comes riding through the fields of barley beside Shalott;
the sun shines on his armor and makes it sparkle. As he rides, the gems on his
horse’s bridle glitter like a constellation of stars, and the bells on the
bridle ring. The knight hangs a bugle from his sash, and his armor makes ringing
noises as he gallops alongside the remote island of Shalott
In the “blue, unclouded weather,”
the jewels on the knight’s saddle shine, making him look like a meteor in the
purple sky. His forehead glows in the sunlight, and his black curly hair flows
out from under his helmet. As he passes by the river, his image flashes into
the Lady of Shalott’s mirror and he sings out “tirra lirra.” Upon seeing and
hearing this knight, the Lady stops weaving her web and abandons her loom. The
web flies out from the loom, and the mirror cracks, and the Lady announces the
arrival of her doom: “The curse is come upon me.”
Part IV: As the sky breaks out in
rain and storm, the Lady of Shalott descends from her tower and finds a boat.
She writes the words “The Lady of Shalott” around the boat’s bow and looks
downstream to Camelot like a prophet foreseeing his own misfortunes. In the
evening, she lies down in the boat, and the stream carries her to Camelot.
The
Lady of Shalott wears a snowy white robe and sings her last song as she sails
down to Camelot. She sings until her blood freezes, her eyes darken, and she
dies. When her boat sails silently into Camelot, all the knights, lords, and
ladies of Camelot emerge from their halls to behold the sight. They read her
name on the bow and “cross...themselves for fear.” Only the great knight
Lancelot is bold enough to push aside the crowd, look closely at the dead
maiden, and remark “She has a lovely face; God in his mercy lend her grace.”
Characteristics
of Victorian age
POPULATION INCREASE
Victorian
reign saw an
enormous increase of
population which doubled from
16 million in
1841 to morethan 32
milloin in 1901 .
MATERIAL DEVELOPEMNT
It
was an age
full of new
activities and invents
'A Communication Revolution' came about
which involved not
only modes of
transportation ,eg;- Raiways and
steamships but also the
press .The telegraph and
telephone altered perseptions
of time and
space, by the mid
1850 the whole
country had been
unified by a
network of railway
and telegraph .
There was a
revolution in comercial enterprize, due
to the great
increase of markets.
Great uses of
mechanicl devices is
a result of
industria revolution . The
new commercial energy
was reflected in the
greatexhibition whuch was
greated as the
inaguration of new
of prosperity trade
and export of
goods resulted the
growing middle classes
especially enjoy great
prosperity .
SOCIAL REFORM
The other
side of the
picture of commercial expansion
was the scolid
conditions of new industrial towns , the prevalence of
sloums ( proverty , dert ,disease ) and
the exploitationof cheap
labour often women
and children .By side
by side there were many
enlightened and sensitive men and
women who champianed
the cause of
poor and oppressed
and supurred forward
the introduction of
social legislation on
there behalf . Prominent
among are Thomas
Curle ,John Reskin ,Charles Dickens ,Charles Kingsly
and Mr Gaskell etc .Due to
their efforts a
number of factory
act were passed regulating
such matters as
child labour , working
hour , health and safty
and minimum wages .
The Victorian era
saw the struggle
for political right
and the slow
extension of the
franchise by extenting the
vote to include
the rich middle
class. The reform
bill of 37 , which morethan doubled
the electrate , extended the
franchise to include
many male members
of the industrial
working class . The bill
of 1884 took
in all males
over 21 voting
by ballet by introduce
.The question of reform
is theme in
many Victorian novels
especially 'Midde March' and 'Felix
holt' .
The victorian
age was in
many ways materialistic
age .Material wealth
produced a hardless
of temper and
impatiance with ideas
and projects that
borught no reformer in
hard cash , but
it was also
the age of
great social reformer
. eg;- Elizabeth Frai (prison reform )
W. Welbe ( Abolishness Slavery ) .
INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT
The age
saw a change
of intell activity .There was a
scientific thought following
up works of
Darwin and his
school and an
explotion of social
and political theory which
was represented by
the writing of
men like John
Stuart Mill and Harbert
Spencer . Even Carl s Maxx
,his great work
of Communist theory ' Das Kapital ' in England .
THE
NEW EDUCATION
The education Act
made education to
a certain extend
compulsory and rapidly
produced an enormous
producing reading pulic
there was great
demand for books
the most popular form
was novel .The
19 th century was
the great age of novel
. 'Oliver twist ' David copper
field, Harold Thomas
'A Tale of
Two Cities 'etc . 'Wuthering
Heights' by Emily bronte
,by George Eliot are
some of the
great novels .the
novels prodused were of
a high standard .
MORALITY
The Victorian Age
was marked by
an extreme difference
to convention which
appear almost aburd
to latter generation
, for example -it
was thoughtindecorous for a man
to smoke in
public or for a
lady to
ride a bicycle
. The moral fevour of the Victorians
is clearly apparent
in there writings
especially in the
writings of Tennnyson
and the novel
of Dickens . Writers
seemed ancious to be
'Moral ' and this tendency and
moral produced public
that denounced novels
like Jane Eiyre
and Wuthering Heights
which Pickwick heros.
Many writers
protest against the
deadening effect of
the conventions , eg ;- Carle and
Mathew Arnold . Thakerey
was never faired
of satrising the
snotishness of the
age . The Pre- Rafaelities replaced morality
in Art with
Art for Art Sake
Thomas Hardy at the
closing of the
age attempted to
penetrate Victorian..
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