idylle

According to some, the Lady of Shalott’s distance from the society suggests Tennyson’s own reclusive existence. Perhaps the poet was trying to convey the message that artistic productivity can best thrive in solitude and is seriously jeopardised when an artist moves too close to the world.

On the sexual front, matters are more complicated and interpretations multiple and varying. First and foremost, the whole idea of an isolated and embowered maiden is a trope called hortus conclusus (literally, “enclosed garden”) going back to the Old Testament book of the Song of Songs (4:12). In medieval and Renaissance art, it was widely used to refer to Mary, the earthly mother of Christ – who, by some Christians, is believed to have been conceived immaculately (that is, without Original Sin) and in turn, conceived Jesus miraculously in a virginal state. [See an example of the Virgin Mary as hortus conclusus here.] Tennyson’s use of the trope is linked to Victorian conceptions of the feminine ideal – that of a reserved and industrious lady with elevated sanctity. Commentators have remarked that the Lady of Shalott’s escape from the tower is an instance of female empowerment – an act of defiance and a kind of coming to terms with one’s sexuality. Others see the narrative as a tale of temptation, with death as a timely event that preserves the lady’s innocence and keeps her from indulging in a potentially dangerous liaison. Then there are those who connect the lady’s passivity more with a mysterious and ambiguous “sleep” than with a final and irrevocable death (as in the fairy tales of Snow White and Sleeping Beauty) and simultaneously find suggestions of sustained virginity and sexual fulfillment therein.

i wander the sad, desolate streets of my city quite alot while i’m alone

because i did a very bad job, every other time

ps. i thought i had made it. the elastics ripped off again. they noted in class i should never pursue being a surgeon. very gore