JONES READERS BY GRADES BOOK EIGHT THE LADY OF SHALOTT ALFRED TENNYSON ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON was one of the great poets of the nineteenth century. He was born in 1809 and died in 1892. Tennyson's poetry is noted for its perfect form and for its melody and sweetness. Among the best known of his longer poems are “The Idylls of the King," in which he tells the old legends that cluster about King Arthur and his knights. 5 When Tennyson was forty years old he was made poet laureate, and in 1884 he was given a seat in the House of Lords. PART I On either side the river lie Long fields of barley and of rye, That clothe the wold and meet the sky; And up and down the people go, 10 Gazing where the lilies blow Willows whiten, aspens quiver, Through the wave that runs for ever Flowing down to Camelot. Four gray walls, and four gray towers, And the silent isle imbowers By the margin, willow-veiled, Skimming down to Camelot : But who hath seen her wave her hand? Only reapers, reaping early From the river winding clearly, Down to towered Camelot : And by the moon the reaper weary, PART II There she weaves by night and day A curse is on her if she stay To look down to Camelot. She knows not what the curse may be, And little other care hath she, The Lady of Shalott. And moving through a mirror clear Winding down to Camelot: There the river eddy whirls, And the red cloaks of market girls, Pass onward from Shalott. 15 20 |