At last she grows half-sick of seeing the world
only in shadows and reflections. Then a sudden vivid experience breaks
up this life of dream. Sir Lancelot rides past, in shining armor,
singing as he rides. She leaves her magic web and mirror, and looks upon
the real world.
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.
She goes into the world, and there she meets her death. The poem is not
an allegory, but there is no mistaking the thought that generated it. The
mirror and the web are the emblems of Romantic art. The feelings which
stir the heart to action, which spring to meet the occasion or the
object, are contrasted, in the poem, with the more pensive feelings which
are excited by the sight of the object in a mirror, and the suggestions
of color and design which are to be transferred to the embroidery. The
mirror is a true and subtle symbol. When Shakespeare treated the same
problem, he made King Richard II, the most romantically minded of all his
kings, call for a mirror. The thing that it is easiest for a man to see
in a mirror is himself; egotism in its many forms, self-pity,
self-cultivation, self-esteem, dogs Romanticism like its shadow. The
desire to be the spectator of your own life, to see yourself in all kinds
of heroic and pathetic attitudes, is the motive-power of Romantic poetry
in many of its later developments.
Pages:
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44