What Is The Mood Of The Lady Of Shalott

The poem The Lady of Shalott describes the tale of an unnamed lady who is locked in her tower near Camelot. The story describes a mysterious woman who appeared at Camelot in a boat with only her name scratched onto the boat. The Lady was locked into a tower and was cursed to never look out into the outside world, only living in her world with the shadows she sees in her mirror, which is her only source of contact with the outside world. The only people that heard of her were those who heard her singing in the early morning. Tennyson employs the use of imagery, shifting moods and the theme of isolation to convey that the embowered Lady of Shalott may represent an artist, high above normal life, who loses her abilities once she interacts with the normal world.
The first stanzas describe the view from “the field the road runs by to many-towered Camelot” (line, 5-6). Camelot is shown as a wondrous land, where the king, knights, and civilians live together in peace and justice. To the lady, it seems almost unreal and most definitely unreachable. Tennyson also describes the “magic web” that the lady weaves “night and day” (line, 37-39). The lady weaves the sights that she sees through the mirror with bright colors to contrast the grayness of her tower. The mirror shows the happiness outside of the walls of her tower. As the lady descends down to Camelot, the “broad stream” begins to feel the lady’s fate and emphasizes the seriousness of the