The lady of Shalott (for "Tso" scrutiny)

The Lady of Shalott

          This poem is a ballad.  It tells a story, has characters, and has setting. Each stanza has an aaaabcccb rhyme scheme with the 5th and 9th lines ending in the words "Shallot", "Camelot" or "Lancelot."
This gives the stanzas a strong sense of continuity throughout the poem which is divided into four different parts.
          Part One has fantastic imagery, setting up a river, with barley and rye on either side.  Down the river lies Camelot, and in the middle of the river is the island of Shalott on which there is a castle  The descriptions are vivid and colourful, and the poet uses plenty of alliteration and onomatopoeia to make the writing appealing to all the reader's senses. The final stanza of Part One also foreshadows something ominous behind the beautiful, descriptive imagery, with the mention of the "reapers reaping."
          Part Two describes the inside the Lady of Shalott's tower, and tells that the Lady of Shalott is cursed although she does not know the nature of the curse.  The only thing she does know is that she is not to look out the window.  Instead, she looks at the outside world through reflections in her mirror that hangs above the loom where she weaves a tapestry.  Thus she can only see things second hand, shadows of true images, but never the images themselves. While the Lady seems content to weave images she sees in her mirror, near the end of Part Two the Lady of Shalott sees newlyweds walking by the river's edge.  She will never be a newlywed, trapped in the  tower, and openly proclaims "I am half-sick of shadows".
          Part Three has even more amazing imagery as it introduces and describes the handsome and dashing  Lancelot and his steed. The Lady of Shalott can only gaze on him through her mirror.  As she catches more glimpses of his stunning glory, she finally reaches her breaking point. She leaves her loom and looks out the window to gaze directly upon Lancelot. As she does, her tapestry flies off the loom and the mirror "cracks from side to side"  indicating the the unknown curse has descended on the Lady of Shalott.
          Part Four begins with the Lady of Shalott leaving her tower and going to the river where she discovers a boat. She writes on the prow "The Lady of Shalott,"  releases the boat from it's tethers, and lies down in the boat in a glassy-eyed trance.  She begins to sing her last song as she floats down the river and by the time she reaches the first house of Camelot, she dies. As her boat drifts near the wharves, all the people of Camelot come to see what is happening. When they realize she is dead, they all make the sign of the cross, save for Lancelot. Lancelot speaks "She has a lovely face;/ God in his mercy give her grace,/ the Lady of Shalott."
          This poem on the surface is just a story of a lady trapped in a tower; however, if you examine it closely you can see that it is really posing a question. Is it better to live safely in a sort of half life in the shadows, or is it better to seize life and opportunities even though you take on risks when you do so?  '
Tennyson, the poet, leaves the answer to the question up to the reader, making the reader reconsider the events and choices that occur to the characters in "'The Lady of Shallot."