The Virtual Coffeehouse

I know that one of the aspects of the poem that I first noticed was how descriptive Tennyson was in writing it. There are many instances throughout the poem in which Tennyson paints a visual for us through lines such as, "On either side the river lie/ Long fields of barely and of rye/ That clothe the wold and meet the sky/ And through the field the road runs by/ To many towered Camelot" (stnza 1, lines 1-5). While reading the poem you can get a pretty good image in your head of the landscape as well as the people that Tennyson describes. Tennyson also uses colors frequently throughout the poem, for example when describing Lancelot in part 3 of the poem, which only adds to the specific image you get while reading it. I think that the specific detail Tennyson uses to create his poem definitly has something to do with artists attempting to actually capture it in their works. In doing so they are trying to bring to life beyond words a popular, mysterious and tragically romantic poem.

One of the reasons why many have chosen to visually represent this poem is Tennyson's description of the natural and organic landscape. He idealizes the natural world when Lady Shalott uses a mirror to look at her weaving, the world is reflected in it "shadows of the world appear."

An example of the magnificence of the natural landscape is the images of natural sunlight. Lancelot is described as having a "broad clear brow in sunlight," and the weahter is "blue unclouded" (sunny day). These natural, warm, sun-lit images create a warmness within the reader. Artists were likely trying to evoke this in their visual representations.

I agree with Abby when she says that the landscape within the poem would create the need for artists to visually interpret it into a painting. The descriptive nature of Tennyson's writing gives painters a clear visual of what to put on canvas which is something that I feel is refreshing about Tennyson as a poet.

It is easy to see what is going on in Tennyson's work especially when he describes the landscape and the sky around him. I am sure these artists saw the same things that I did and wanted to represent this beauty in their own way of art.

While the landscape is impressively described and indeed worthy of artistic representations, there are other images of the Lady of Shalott that are equally worthy of representation. For example, I was particularly stricken by the image of her weaving in the first stanza of Part 2 (lines 37-45). The first two lines, "There she weaves by night and day/ A magic web with colors gay" really struck me as needing visual representation.

I like to take pictures, specifically "portraits" that are not posed, photos where the real person is caught for just a second and I think those lines and the image of her weaving would make a very good representation of her character.

But that's just my two cents.

I couldn't help but think of Wordsworth immediatebly when reading this poem because of it's huge detail to describing the landscape and nature such as in line 10-14 ("willows whiten, aspens quiver, little breezes dusk and shiver, through the wave that runs forever"). This poem heavily appeals to the people who use details from the text to paint a picture in their mind of what's going on to try and understand it better. I think that the picture on the cover is a perfect depiction of what's going on in the poem, with all the colors and the scene outside of the mirror.

I agree with the previous posts. I think that the descriptive language lends itself very nicely to visual representation. Also the subject matter of the poem seems to be appropriate for the time period. From the Victorian Era artwork that I am familiar with, many painters chose women as their subjects so it is only fitting that Rosetti and the other painter on the cover of the book chose to visualize this poem using the Lady of Shalott.

This poem's writing is set up to give the reader such a visual picture in their mind of what the poem or story would look like if on a piece of canvas instead of a page with letters. Artists often find women and the female body as an inspiration for many of their pieces of artwork that is created. Tennyson uses many different examples of visualization in his words throughout the poem. This is definitely why artists would take the opportunity to turn these words into a piece of work. I could just picture Tennyson reading the words to the poem and every line taking a brush and flowing it across a piece of canvas to create this wonderful image we get as readers. I really enjoyed reading this poem. It always helps when your author writes with great visualization because you can feel more interconnected to the poem.

This poem drips with images of the natural world which this women is separated. She is isolated and confined in a tower, cursed to simply weave beautiful things and see them in her mirror rather than experience them for real. The world of images should not be shut out, so I could see where an artist would want to capture the embellished world that comes to mind when you read the poem.

There are many colors mentioned in the poem: "four gray walls, and four gray towers" "A magic web with colors gay" "red cloaks of market girls" "crimson clad" "the mirror blue" "a red-cross knight" "the yellow field" "a mighty silver bugle" "the golden Galaxy" "blue unclouded weather" "the purple night" "coal-black curls" "pale yellow woods" "robed in snowy white" (ll. 15, 38, 53, 58, 60, 78, 80, 88, 84, 91, 96, 104, 119, 136)

Throughout Tennyson's poem he pays a lot of attention to colors and detail. He also mentions Lady Shalott's weaving that she must finish. On the front cover one can see the threads that she uses laying across the table. I think the weaving is important because Tennyson also talks about the "curse" that is set upon the Lady once she stops working at it, which is the reason she dies in the first place.

Tennyson's descriptions of her surroundings inside of the tower are also critical because she never gets to go outside, instead she must see the world through a reflection in a mirror. In the 1837 picture, I don't think the reader really gets the feeling of what Lady Shalott looks like or how she was made to live.