I think that in Tennyson’s poems, The lady of Shalott and Mariana,

1443 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Historical Impacts On Victorian Literature

I think that in Tennyson’s poems, The lady of Shalott and Mariana,

the central female characters are presented to us in the way that

Tennyson views women and their roles in society. There

“Tennyson had great sympathy for women and the ways in which their

lives were restricted.”

Write the ways in which Tennyson presents the lives of women in some

poems you have read.

I think that in Tennyson’s poems, ‘The lady of Shalott’ and ‘Mariana’,

the central female characters are presented to us in the way that

Tennyson views women and their roles in society. There are many

similarities and differences in both poems with how the female behave

and live.

In ‘The lady of Shalott’ the female lives in a tower, trapped and

cursed, until she hears Lancelot coming. The lady is spinning tapestry

and not looking out of the window at the outside world, yet towards

the end of the poem she gets distracted and wants to see Lancelot for

herself. The tapestry is an important symbol in the poem; it’s the

only world that the lady lives in and this is still just other

people’s lives that she sees through the mirror.

This poem reflects the political turmoil that women faced in the year

in which it was written. The lady is presented to us as being trapped

and helpless. She has been introduced to us sat in this tower and her

life seems desperate and lonely she’s waiting for a knight to save her

whilst she is trapped away from the world. This poem reveals a lot

about the Victorian concept of love and women. The lady in the poem

embodies the true Victorian image of the “ideal” woman: virginal,

embowered, innocent and obedient, also dedicated to her tasks.

In Tennyson’s other poem, ‘Mariana’, there isn’t a development of a

n...

... middle of paper ...

...estry flies out of the window (How she saw the world before)

and the mirror cracks (Her previous naïve perspective that she had of

the world). The lady of Shalott cannot handle unrequited love and the

reality of a harsh world so she kills herself.

In the poem there is magical symbolism, this has human significance; ‘or

when the Moon was overhead, Came two young lovers lately wed; "I am

half sick of shadows," said the lady of Shalott.’ Tennyson writes

about females lost in half-life, which results in people taking

decisive, heroic action that leads to their doom.

Tennyson brings attention to rhymes by making most of the lines stop,

and the flow of words is brought to a halt by punctuation. The strong

emphasis on rhymes gives the poem the feeling of an ancient tale, when

news was carried from town to town by word of mouth and rhyming aided

memorization.

Show More
Related

  • Examples Of Metaphors In The Raven

    355 Words  | 1 Pages

    Mirror: a live entity. The movie shows that the mirror is alive and covered with gold draped. The portrayal of unsecure feelings of the Queen could be the identity of the mirror. It is because only the Queen can see the mirror alive. It shows the progress of the Queen and her fate in the story.

    Read More

  • The Lady in the Pink Mustang

    1003 Words  | 3 Pages

    The readers are apt to feel confused in the contrasting ways the woman in this poem has been depicted. The lady described in the poem leads to contrasting lives during the day and night. She is a normal girl in her Cadillac in the day while in her pink Mustang she is a prostitute driving on highways in the night. In the poem the imagery of body recurs frequently as “moving in the dust” and “every time she is touched”. The reference to woman’s body could possibly be the metaphor for the derogatory ways women’s labor, especially the physical labor is represented. The contrast between day and night possibly highlights the two contrasting ways the women are represented in society.

    Read More

  • The Thousand And One Nights Vs Medea Analysis

    1471 Words  | 3 Pages

    Due to traditional stereotypes of women, literature around the world is heavily male-dominant, with few female characters outside of cliché tropes. Whenever a female character is introduced, however, the assumption is that she will be a strong lead that challenges the patriarchal values. The authors of The Thousand and One Nights and Medea use their female centered stories to prove their contrasting beliefs on the role of women not only in literature, but also in society. A story with a female main character can be seen as empowering, but this is not always the case, as seen when comparing and contrasting Medea and The Thousand and One Nights.

    Read More

  • Terra-Cotta Girl

    943 Words  | 2 Pages

    Although the poem shows us the girls as living “down the hall” (9) from each other in their college dormitory, it also suggests another indirect possibility that, at the very moment of the present action, this other girl, the quiet one, is just “down the hall” waiting to see another counselor during two parallel sessions that the mothers have “seen to” (10). Perhaps, the other girl’s mother is with her, too. The other girl may be “quiet” precisely because the narrator chooses not to give her a separate story. If this is the case, her “terra cotta” lover stands in as

    Read More

  • Easter 1916, Wild Swans at Coole and Second Coming, by W.B. Yeats

    915 Words  | 2 Pages

    The subtle metaphor to Maud Gonne’s beauty in “clamorous wings” and “brilliant creatures” accentuates a response of sympathy as romantic vibrant imagery ironically contrasts the woes of rejection. The reader’s views are best influenced through a nihilistic outlook on the poem, which questions the purpose of existence, showcasing the persona’s plight of losing zest in life. “The heart is sore” highlights his worsening mental state in questioning existence, evoking reflection from the reader on their personal troubles. It allows textual integrity in decoding themes of anguish and sadness, despite any contextual audience.

    Read More

  • Comparative Analysis of Brooks' and Plath's Poetry

    1610 Words  | 4 Pages

    Poetry stands beyond agreement or disagreement and reinforce all ideas of mysteriousness (671). In “Lady Lazarus”, the story of Plath’s life with her tendency of self-destruction sheds light the meaning of the poem. A poem can be a reflection of the writer’s life; to understand the particular poem better, a study about the writer background helps to construct the subliminal meaning within the lines. Plath reconstructs the meaning of being a survivor from destruction, as she sustains the trauma of life that causes her to be suicidal. “Although “Lady Lazarus” draws on Plath’s won suicide attempt, the poem tells us little of the actual event. It is not a personal confession, but it does reveal Plath’s understanding of the way the suicidal person thinks.” (Dickie). The courageous endeavor to survive proves that the death is no longer terrifying. “Peel off the napkin/O my enemy./D I terrify?---“. On the contrary, the character in the poem, Lady Lazarus comes out to the light and challenges to whoever the enemy is, by saying, “I am you opus,/I am your valuable,/The pure gold baby”. She addresses how worthy she is as a human being, and she is revived and stronger than

    Read More

  • Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock

    996 Words  | 2 Pages

    The author of this poem is T.S. Eliot a modern poet who is a contemporary of Hemingway and Fitzgerald. Much of his work comes from post World War I, a period which was filled with excess and disillusionment with humanity and our ability to create and control civilization. The greatest war in the history of the world up to that point had just been fought. Millions died and the World with all its sadness could do nothing more then try and fill itself with wine and lust. The poem deals partly with this matter, mostly with lust and pursuit of women to find happiness in a world full of dingy sadness.

    Read More

  • Figurative Language In A Lady By Amy Lowell

    633 Words  | 2 Pages

    Have you ever fall in love with someone so much that you wanted to write him or her into your poetry? In the poem “A Lady”, Amy Lowell writes about her adoration to an old lady she loves by comparing and contrasting the lady with many things. Lowell describes the characteristics of the lady by using figurative languages such as similes, metaphors, hyperboles, and vivid imageries to express her admiration towards the lady.

    Read More

  • Analysis of Alfred Tennyson´s Three Poems

    1154 Words  | 3 Pages

    Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson of Aldworth and Freshwater is known as one of the greatest poetic figure of the Victorian Age. Tennyson started writing poetry at an early age and at the age of twelve he wrote a 6,000 line poem. His poems consisted of medieval legends, myths, and everyday life and nature. When he was appointed laureate a position he held for 42 years, the longest of any laureate, he wrote about historical events and one of his famous works was Ode on the Death of Duke of Wellington. Three of his poems that I chose and stood out above all others are Mariana, In Memoriam A.H.H., and Ulysses. Mariana was Tennyson’s widely acclaimed in which he creates imagery from the environment to express a woman’s emotional state. In Memoriam A.H.H. describes Tennyson’s recollections of the moments he shared with Arthur to whom it is dedicated to furthermore it focuses on the depressed time the Victorians went through. And Ulysses serves as an aftermath of In Memoriam A.H.H. of Tennyson finally moving on from the grief he experienced after losing Arthur. All three poems connect with Tennyson’s life each serving as a step towards Tennyson’s greatness and his status as one of the most influential poets of the Victorian era.

    Read More

  • The Sonnet Thou Blind Man's Mark By Sir Philip Sydney

    553 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the sonnet, "Thou Blind Man's Mark," Sir Philip Sydney uses a poetic form to express desires in his mind and how it affects him. The speaker begins by insulting how bad desires are, which shows…... This contempt is most readily optically discerned when he elaborates on poetic devices such as oxymoron, repetition, and diction to convey the speaker’s complex attitude.

    Read More

  • The Attitudes of the Poets in Warning and Old man

    769 Words  | 2 Pages

    another to be the 'lord' of something is of high status, and so it is

    Read More

  • Shakespeare's Sonnet 30 and Tennyson's In Memoriam

    1315 Words  | 3 Pages

    Loss has been experienced over centuries and many poets have written on the subject. William Shakespeare’s Sonnet 30 and Alfred Lord Tennyson’s In Memoriam are two poems from different eras that express the idea of loss. Both were written after the loss of a close male friend, and both are only one poem from a series of poems. Shakespeare lived in England where he was born in 1564 and died in 1616 and Tennyson also lived in England where he was born in 1809 and died in 1892, the poems being written in 1609 and between 1833 and 1850 respectively. Whilst the poet’s historical and cultural contexts are different, and there are differences in structure and poetic devices used in the two poems, there are also similarities in the expression and feelings engendered by the loss of a loved one.

    Read More

  • Historical Poetry Analysis

    1524 Words  | 4 Pages

    The poem entitled “On the Pulse of Morning” is a time-honored piece unrolling the film of time, and featuring humanity and its travel through time. This poem is a requirement for United States History, section 2111, to analyze the poem in your own words. In doing so, you must somehow relate to the poem, channel a moment or two of you past, and conform it to the poem. Accounts of students from various other backgrounds provide the poet with support from genuine evidence. History and evolution is compared with certain elements of nature, specifically the rock, river, and tree. I like the poem. This poem is really interesting, very imaginative, and very inventive. It makes you think a lot. But while reading at the poem you really gaze at the stanzas with such amazement. It is quite a historical piece, discussing how the world was before people arrived, and the great effort they had to put forth till they reached the very day that the author ultimately dawns on the reader. When I first got this assignment, it seemed a bit complicated. You have to think a lot about how you fit into this poem. Constantly contemplating, deep in thought, immersed in my past, I thought maybe I could discuss the time I first moved to the United States. But before I began to write the poem, I thought that I might not much to say, and while saying it just happen it to be more than necessary. Yet the greatest challenge that lay ahead, as with any paper, is making this introduction. While reading this poem, it brought back plenty of information that we may have reviewed in past history and evolutionary courses. The rock is the Earth itself, particularly America in relation to the poem. The river may be the passage between the eastern and wester...

    Read More

  • Tone In Anne Bradstreet's Poetry

    1325 Words  | 3 Pages

    In today’s society and even in the earlier times it can be tough juggling the home life. Being a full time devoted wife and mother can be one of the toughest jobs to have. Although it has its rigorous duties being a wife and a mother can also be rewarding as well. Anne Bradstreet is a poet that used her life experiences and formed them into beautiful poetry. Anne Bradstreet poems have a simplistic and clear tone that helps exhibits her strong Puritan views.

    Read More

  • Poety of Alfred Lord Tennyson

    981 Words  | 2 Pages

    Today, Alfred Lord Tennyson’s poetry is widely known and appreciated, though this was not always the case. In his early years of writing his poems were criticized for content and style of writing. This strongly impacted Tennyson and caused him once to cease writing for nine years. Tennyson’s childhood influenced his writing and this is often seen in many of his poems. He was regarded as the chief representative of the Victorian age in poetry. He become Poet Laureate in 1850 and was appointed by Queen Victoria and served 42 years. Alfred Lord Tennyson’s poetry was greatly influenced by his early childhood, best friend and religious beliefs; while his rhyme scheme was traditional; his morbid style was not popular for his time. This melancholy style of writing and use of topics of moral and intellectual beliefs of his time were especially vulnerable for later critic.

    Read More

More about I think that in Tennyson’s poems, The lady of Shalott and Mariana,

Open Document