lady of shalott

The second stage of Lady Shalott's life in which she is inspired by the knight, "The sun came dazzling through the leaves," is convincing evidence by testimony of the leaves that there is reference to fall (ln. On the contrary, fall is made up of some clear and warm days and some cold and dismal days. This would lead to the belief that fall is neither hot nor cold, but that it is actually in the middle somewhere. Tennyson characterizes the first stage of Lady Shalott's life where she is cursed and cut off from society as cold and somber. This feeling can be seen in, "Little breezes dusk and shiver (ln. A reference to this can be seen in the sixth line of stanza two when Tennyson describes The Lady of Shalott's abode as, "Four gray walls, and four gray towers. Until there was a very sudden and abrupt sequence of events that led to the death (or winter) of her life.

In closing Alfred Lord Tennyson does an excellent job of using the season of fall as a hidden metaphor and insight into the life of Lady of Shalott. Finally Lady Shalott's death is metaphorically represented in, "The leaves upon her falling light," portraying the passing of fall into winter and her life into death (ln.