The Lady of Shalott

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Illustration

Jan van der Crabben
by John William Waterhouse / Tate
published on 26 April 2023
The Lady of Shalott Download Full Size Image

The Lady of Shalott, oil on canvas by John William Waterhouse, 1888. It depicts the following lines of Tennyson's poem The Lady of Shalott:

And down the river's dim expanse
Like some bold seer in a trance,
Seeing all his own mischance –
With glassy countenance
Did she look to Camelot.
And at the closing of the day
She loosed the chain, and down she lay;
The broad stream bore her far away,
The Lady of Shalott.

The poem speaks of a cursed woman who lives in a tower on an island named Shalott, downriver from Camelot, the castle of King Arthur. She only sees the world through the reflection in a mirror and one day she sees the reflection of Sir Lancelot and she cannot resist the temptation to look at him directly. The mirror cracks and she is cursed to drift down the river alone, singing a song but dying before she reaches the shore.

Tate Britain, London.

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References

Cite This Work

APA Style

Tate, J. W. W. /. (2023, April 26). The Lady of Shalott. World History Encyclopedia. Retrieved from https://www.worldhistory.org/image/17328/the-lady-of-shalott/

Chicago Style

Tate, John William Waterhouse /. "The Lady of Shalott." World History Encyclopedia. Last modified April 26, 2023. https://www.worldhistory.org/image/17328/the-lady-of-shalott/.

MLA Style

Tate, John William Waterhouse /. "The Lady of Shalott." World History Encyclopedia. World History Encyclopedia, 26 Apr 2023. Web. 25 Dec 2024.

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