Poem of the Week ~ The Lady of Shalott, Part IV

It's been a couple of weeks since I've visited, and for what I hope are understandable reasons!  The week of my last post was the one during which my family and I were preparing for my bridal shower, and then the week after consisted of winding down from that joyful event and preparing for a Catholic conference for engaged couples.  Attending that turned out to be a very productive (albeit long) experience that has continued to spark conversation between Jeffrey and me almost a week later.  Now more than ever we possess a joint consciousness of that which we are truly preparing for: our marriage.  While there are many aspects of our wedding day that we still need to finalize, there is a lifetime together for which we ask God daily to keep our focus.  Today marks 100 days until we begin our life together.  Please pray for us as we continue to prepare for this truly momentous and beautiful occasion, that we may grow closer together through God and persevere in developing our relationship with Him.

On to Part IV of The Lady of Shalott (finally)!

The Lady of Shalott  

Part IV

 

In the stormy east-wind straining,

The pale yellow woods were waning,

The broad stream in his banks complaining,

Heavily the low sky raining

 Over tower'd Camelot;

Outside the isle a shallow boat

Beneath a willow lay afloat,

Below the carven stern she wrote,

The Lady of Shalott.

A cloudwhite crown of pearl she dight,

All raimented in snowy white

That loosely flew (her zone in sight

Clasp'd with one blinding diamond bright)

       Her wide eyes fix'd on Camelot,

Though the squally east-wind keenly

Blew, with folded arms serenely

By the water stood the queenly

       Lady of Shalott.

With a steady stony glance—

Like some bold seer in a trance,

Beholding all his own mischance,

Mute, with a glassy countenance—

She look'd down to Camelot.

It was the closing of the day:

She loos'd the chain, and down she lay;

The broad stream bore her far away,

  The Lady of Shalott.

As when to sailors while they roam,

By creeks and outfalls far from home,

Rising and dropping with the foam,

From dying swans wild warblings come,
 Blown shoreward; so to Camelot

Still as the boathead wound along

The willowy hills and fields among,

They heard her chanting her deathsong,

    The Lady of Shalott.

A longdrawn carol, mournful, holy,

She chanted loudly, chanted lowly,

Till her eyes were darken'd wholly,

And her smooth face sharpen'd slowly,

  Turn'd to tower'd Camelot:

For ere she reach'd upon the tide

The first house by the water-side,

Singing in her song she died,

   The Lady of Shalott.

Under tower and balcony,

By garden wall and gallery,

A pale, pale corpse she floated by,

Deadcold, between the houses high,

    Dead into tower'd Camelot.

Knight and burgher, lord and dame,

To the planked wharfage came:

Below the stern they read her name,

   The Lady of Shalott.

They cross'd themselves, their stars they blest,

Knight, minstrel, abbot, squire, and guest.

There lay a parchment on her breast,

That puzzled more than all the rest,

The wellfed wits at Camelot.

'The web was woven curiously,

The charm is broken utterly,

Draw near and fear not,—this is I,

 The Lady of Shalott.'

What are your thoughts about this poem as a whole?

Do you have a favorite part?

Have you read other poems by Tennyson?