My 12th grade English teacher loved Tennyson's The Lady of Shalott, so when he asked us to write a sonnet, I immediately thought of this painting (see below). Later that same semester, my Creative Writing teacher asked for poems based on a piece of artwork, so I killed two birds with one stone with this poem.
Waterhouse's The Lady of Shalott
A brief and breathless moment when all the world
Stood still and swirled her mind in endless waves
Between decision and doubt. Is't death she craves,
To end her life in chill and wat'ry grave?
If she lived, she'd age and gray, her gnarled
Hands would fail, while loneliness encroached.
With shadows as her only friends, she'd weave
Into her careworn loom and learn to grieve
The lack of courage necess'ry to heave
The anch'ring chain. But when the knight approached
Her bower, she knew her life was lost to love.
Her magic mirror's visions held no more delight,
And weaving could no longer give her sight.
She dropped the chain and gave the boat a shove.
(1998)
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