Lady of Shalott Quotes, Part II Quiz

Answer: weaves

Sitting in her tower, the Lady of Shalott fills her loom with images that she sees through the mirror she hangs in front of her which reflects what is going on through her window behind her - images of daily life that she never gets to experience. A sad but lovely way to personify the feeling of entrapment, which was felt my many during the time period in which this was written, as the 19th century was one of high morals and specific places for all members of society, both for women and men.

Answer: curse

It has been established that this Lady in her tower is a retelling of the old Arthurian legend of Elaine, the wife of Sir Lancelot. The story of Elaine has been told many times, though it is usually overshadowed by the love affair between her husband and Queen Guinevere.

She is a tragic, Ophelia-like character who gives up her life when she can not have the heart of the one she loves. This was a popular motif before the 19th century, as it represents women as the weaker sex, and by making the Lady a pitiable yet morally true character, it promotes faithfulness by women - instead of divorce or having affairs of her own, Elaine/Lady of Shalott decides to kill herself. Women who read this may have thought that suicide was a better way to deal with marital problems than more sensible solutions - though I hope none of them put this to the test.

The poem would also promote faithfulness in a husband, as I hope it would be more important for him to save a life than continually cheat on his loving wife.

Answer: shadows

The syntax used here is wonderful; the Lady can not see that which to the rest of the world is normal and boring - to her, they are merely shadows, poor representations of the hustle and bustle of life. Reading this evokes pity for the Lady, yet it also makes the reader think about everyday life and how to them it may be usual and not very exciting, but maybe to someone who can not experience the freedom of boring everyday life, it is much more interesting.

Answer: whirls/girls

Again, this verse is describing not only the freedom that other people have that she has not; it also is describing the freedom of the natural features of the land, which can move about when she can not. It also describes some of the beauty she can see through her mirror which she can not look at straight, and must settle for only looking at the reflection of.

Answer: abbot/page

This verse describes the comings and goings of the road she watches, again showing to the Lady that which she is missing. The most likely definition of 'ambling pad' would be going for a walk, or an amble. This has been under contention, however.

Answer: knights

Knights here show to the Lady the idea of friendship, as they ride together, two by two - she has likely never felt the companionship the knights do.

Answer: loyal

Since the Lady is all alone in her tower, she can not have a knight to love, making us pity her and perhaps empathize with her, if the reader also does not have one to love them.

Answer: sights

Before she sees Sir Lancelot, the Lady is still able to be somewhat content in her situation. She may not be able to see the world, but for the most part there has been nothing she wanted enough to make her look on the outside world and break the curse. It is not until she views Lancelot that she sees something she desires more than she values her own life.

Answer: lovers

This line indicates her longing for the outside world and her sadness at being locked up. It also indicates, however, that she is only 'half sick' of viewing the world through her mirror, and is perhaps not yet willing to give up her feeling of safety within her tower to go into the outside world.

Answer: Loreena McKennit

Loreena creates a hauntingly beautiful melody to accompany this hauntingly beautiful poem. She takes out five stanzas throughout the poem (in the interest of time, I would imagine, as it is a slow song and a fairly long poem), but this does not detract from the beauty of the song or its flow. I hope you enjoyed this quiz! If you have any opposing viewpoints about the interpretations here, feel free to send me a message - I'd love to hear other views of how this poem has been read.