Literature Blog
Lady of Shalott Review


     Published in 1833 by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, this is a beautiful poem about woman who weaves the view she sees of Camelot. The woman lives in a tower and directly below the tower is the boat and the river she weaves in. She is known as "The Lady of Shalott."           
     The woman is happy to weave, but another part of her is unhappy because she is just tired of only looking at life as a reflection. There is also a curse on the woman. She can't look directly out of the window, so she instead views the references of her artwork through a mirror that is beside her. 

     One day Sir Lancelot is riding by in a jolly mood, looking handsome as usual. The woman is attracted and looks out the window, breaking the curse. She then runs down and writes"The Lady of Shalott" on the side of the boat, and floats off toward Camelot. As she floats away peacefully, she dies. When boat floats past Camelot, all of the knights make the sign of the cross, because of the corpse they see. But Lancelot simply remarks how beautiful her face is.

     This is a favorite poem of mine because I can relate to the artistic side of it. Of course I love my art, but there are many things, other than the art that I become tired of. I become tired of being "just an average artist", or  tired of even just feeling  "average." We all tend to get tired of simple things in life that cause us to stress, and sometimes we just need to cut those things out and realize they aren't worth our time. But we all seem to have our own curse, because it's hard to let go of certain things. Lady Of Shalott is a generally happy woman, with a repetitive life and no escape. Sadly, her escape is her fate, but she has no choice because of the curse.




http://www.online-literature.com/donne/720/

"Like Whataver..." Summary and Annalysis

        In Taylor Mali's poem, "Like Whatever...", he shares his thoughts about speaking with conviction.
Taylor starts with indroducing the fact that "It doesn't seem popular nowadays to know what you're talking about." He goes on to speak about how the "thing" seems to be speaking interrogitavely  and questioning your own thoughts. In other words, most teens ramble on like a bunch of stoners, thinking they sound smart, but in reality they sound very unsure of what they are saying or asking. Questions turn into statements, and statements tun into questions. Taylor thinks that this is rather silly.
         I agree with Taylor in this situation, even though I am guilty of it myself sometimes. In my case, however, I tend to speak "like whatever", when I'm feeling nervous, or stressed for a reason. (ex- my mind is on something else and i'm caught off guard.- or, I am unsure of what I feel.) I don't just do it all the time, because I'm an english honors student and like to sound professional when i speak. Taylor's way of sharing his thoughts on this every day problem is funny, and he does a good job imitating it. I can say that he does a good job because I sit in class with people guilty of this every day.

Angie