Compare and Contrast Marianna and The Lady of Shalott

The era Tennyson was living in, during the time that these two poems were composed, was very different to society today. Women in Victorian times were poorly educated. It was unlikely that they would have formal schooling as it was expected that they would develop domestic skills to aid running their households. The only academic skills they may acquire would be basic understanding of a foreign language, like French. Women in Victorian times lived very restricted, unadorned lives. They were unable to express themselves sexually and this is reflected in their dress, as it was considered unacceptable to show an ankle or any part of the leg.

Therefore it is logical to suggest that Tennyson wrote these poems as a way to voice his views on the poor, inadequate treatment of women, expressing his unorthodox opinions through the poems that he wrote. In the two poems ‘Marianna’ and ‘The Lady of Shalott’ there are many different factors that can explain this.

The setting of each of the poems appears to be very different, but the objective for both is very similar. Mariana is set in what seems to be an extremely isolated countryside, the main setting being her home. This is described in a very dull and lifeless way, a ‘lonely moated gr

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In ‘The Lady Of Shallot’ the main elements are based around the movement of other things;

‘Willows whiten, aspens quiver,

Little breezes dusk and shiver’

These verbs allow us to picture a scene of life, the actual town of Shallot is full of active people, and a lot of the poem describes this, through the quilt, which the lady is weaving, a: ‘magic web with colours gay’. Tennyson used sound in both the poems to describe the location, and also used it as a way to set the scene in each poem. Inside the tower where she resides, there is no movement at all. This is used to show the mere existence of women’s lives at the time that Tennyson wrote them. There are no human sounds in Mariana, only those of the wind or inhospitable animals: ‘waking she heard the night-fowl crow’. As he goes by he sings ‘tirra-lirra’ and this emphasises that he is a confident and content man in contrast with the Lady of Shallot’s vulnerable femininity. In this way the two poems are not dissimilar, as neither of the women know exactly the reason for their isolation, another similarity in the setting of these poems is the fact that both women are cut-of by water. It also demonstrates how tedious and repetitive women’s lives were during this era. In comparison, during the Lady of Shallot colour plays a key part in setting the tone of the poem by making it seem more cheerful.

Another apparent difference in the two poems is the amount, and forms, of movement. They make his figure seem more prominent. It is logical to suggest that that she wants to be a part of what goes on, and therefore indulges completely into it. ange’ that consequently reflects her mood throughout the poem.

Approximate Word count = 1216
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

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