The Lady of Shalott Quiz for Experts | Authors

Answer: To look down upon the town of Camelot

She is imprisoned in a tower, on an island in a river that flows to Camelot. The character is thought to be based on the Arthurian legend of Elaine of Astolat, who died because of her unrequited love for Sir Lancelot.

Answer: A curse will fall upon her, but she does not know what this will be

According to the fifth stanza of the poem,

"She has heard a whisper say,
A curse is on her if she stay
To look down to Camelot.
She knows not what the curse may be."

At this stage the reader can sense the impending tragedy, in outline if not in detail.

Answer: Mirror

Through an enchanted mirror, she catches shadows of the world outside. The following passage from the poem describes some of the things she sees:

"And moving thro' a mirror clear
That hangs before her all the year,
Shadows of the world appear.
There she sees the highway near
Winding down to Camelot:
There the river eddy whirls,
And there the surly village-churls,
And the red cloaks of market girls,
Pass onward from Shalott.

Sometimes a troop of damsels glad,
An abbot on an ambling pad,
Sometimes a curly shepherd-lad,
Or long-hair'd page in crimson clad,
Goes by to tower'd Camelot;
And sometimes thro' the mirror blue
The knights come riding two and two:
She hath no loyal knight and true,
The Lady of Shalott."

Answer: She weaves

These quotes from the poem show us this:

"And so she weaveth steadily,
And little other care hath she,
The Lady of Shalott.
...
There she weaves by night and day
A magic web with colours gay."

This weaving is seen by some critics to represent the artistic creations which an artist is free to create if he/she keeps from being too deeply involved in the everyday activities of contemporary society.

Answer: Barley and rye

These are the first five lines of the poem:

"On either side the river lie
Long fields of barley and of rye,
That clothe the wold and meet the sky;
And thro' the field the road runs by
To many-tower'd Camelot;"

The people who work these fields are aware of the Lady of Shalott as a presence, whom they have never seen, but whose song has reached them on the breeze. They refer to her as "the fairy Lady of Shalott".

Answer: Coal Black/Curly

Sir Lancelot comes into the poem in Part III. The following passage describes his hair:

"His broad clear brow in sunlight glow'd;
On burnish'd hooves his war-horse trode;
From underneath his helmet flow'd
His coal-black curls as on he rode,
As he rode down to Camelot."

The sound of his singing caught the attention of the Lady of Shalott.

Answer: True

This happens at the end of Part III. She looks down upon Sir Lancelot, because she has fallen in love with him:

"'Tirra lirra,' by the river
Sang Sir Lancelot.

She left the web, she left the loom,
She made three paces thro' the room,
She saw the water-lily bloom,
She saw the helmet and the plume,
She look'd down to Camelot.
Out flew the web and floated wide;
The mirror crack'd from side to side;
'The curse is come upon me,' cried
The Lady of Shalott."

Gazing at Sir Lancelot, she looked towards Camelot, and unleashed the curse that had threatened her.

Answer: In the stormy east-wind straining...

The first stanza of Part IV goes:

"In the stormy east-wind straining,
The pale yellow woods were waning,
The broad stream in his banks complaining,
Heavily the low sky raining
Over tower'd Camelot;"

The ominous weather clearly reflects and emphasizes the precarious situation in which she finds herself.

Answer: On a boat, travelling up the river to Camelot

Having seen Sir Lancelot, she descended from her tower and found a boat which she used to float downstream to Camelot, dying on the way. Around the prow of the boat she died on, she wrote the words 'The Lady of Shalott'.

Answer: "She has a lovely face..."

According to the final lines of the poem:

"But Lancelot mused a little space;
He said, 'She has a lovely face;
God in his mercy lend her grace,
The Lady of Shalott.'"

Tennyson's later poem "Lancelot and Elaine" uses Malory's version of the Arthurian legend as the basis for the story of these two characters. This poem is thought to have been based on an Italian 13th century source, 'Donna di Scalotta'.