The Lady of Shalott

"The broad stream bore her far away,

The Lady of Shalott"

The Lady of Shalott

by Alfred Lord Tennyson

On either side the river lie,

Long fields of barley and of rye,

That clothe the world and meet the sky,

And thro' the field the road runs by,

To many-tower'd Camelot.

Up and down the people go,

Gazing where the lilies blow,

Round an island there below,

The island of Shalott.

Willows whiter, aspens quiver,

Little breezes dusk and shiver,

Thro' the wave that runs for ever,

By the island in the river,

Flowing down to Camelot.

Four grey walls and four grey towers,

Overlook a space of flowers,

And the silent isle embowers,

The Lady of Shalott.

By the margin willow veil'd

Slide the heavy barges trail'd

By slow horses and unhail'd

The shallop fitteth silken-sail'd

Skimming down to Camelot.

But who hath seen her wave her hand,

Or at the casement seen her stand,

Or is she known is all the land,

The Lady of Shalott?

Only reapers reaping early,

In among the bearded barley,

Hear a song that echos cheerly,

From the river winding clearly,

Down to tower'd Camelot.

And by the moon the reaper weary,

Piling sheaves in uplands airy,

Listening whispers 'Tis the fairy,

Lady of Shalott.'

There she weaves by night and day,

A magic web with colours gay,

She has heard a whisper say,

A curse is on her if she stay,

To look down to Camelot.

She knows not what the cures may be,

And So she weaveth steadily,

And little other care hath she,

The Lady of Shalott.

And moving through a mirror clear,

That hangs before her all the year,

Shadows of the world appear,

There she sees the highway near,

Winding down to Camelot.

There the river eddy whirls,

And the surly village churls,

And the red cloaks of market girls,

Pass onward from Shalott.

Sometime a troop of damsels glad,

An abbot on an ambling pad,

Sometimes a curly shepherd lad,

Or long-hair'd page in crimson clad,

Goes by to tower'd Camelot.

And sometimes through the mirror blue,

The Knights come riding two by two,

She hath no loyal Knight and true,

The Lady of Shalott.

But in her web she still delights

To weave the mirror's magic sights

For often through the silent nights

A funeral with many plumes and lights,

And music went to Camelot.

Or when the moon was overhead,

Came two young lovers lately wed,

'I am half sick of shadows' said,

The Lady of Shalott.

A bow-shot from her bower-eaves,

He rode beneath the barley sheaves,

The sun came dazzling thro' the leaves

And flamed upon the brazen greaves,

Of bold Sir Lancelot.

A red-cross knight for ever kneel'd,

To a lady in his shield,

That sparkled on the yellow field,

Beside remote Shalott.

The gemmy bridle glitter'd free,

Like some branch of stars we see,

Hung in the golden galaxy,

The bridle bells rang merrily,

As he rode down to Camelot.

And from his blazon'd baldric slung,

A mighty silver bugle hung,

And as he rode his armor rung,

Beside remote Shalott.

All in the blue unclouded weather,

Thick-jewell'd shone the saddle leather,

The helmet and the helmet-feather,

Burn'd like one burning flame together,

As he rode down to Camelot.

As often thro' the purple light,

Below the starry clusters bright,

Some bearded meteor burning bright,

Moves over still Shalott.

His broad clear brow in sunlight glow'd,

On burnish'd hooves his war-horse trode,

From underneath his helmet flow'd,

His coal black curls as on he rode,

As he rode down to Camelot.

From the bank and from the river,

He flashed into the crystal mirror,

'Tirra lirra' by the river,

Sang Sir Lancelot.

She left the web she left the loom,

She made three paces through the room,

She law the water-lily bloom,

She saw the helmet and the plume,

She look'd down to Camelot.

Out flew the web and floated wide,

The mirror crack'd from side to side,

'The curse had come upon me' cried,

The Lady of Shalott.

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.

Down she came and found a boat,

Beneath the willow left afloat,

And around about the prow she wrote,

The Lady of Shalott.

Down the river's wide expanse,

Like some bold seer in a trance,

Seeing all his own mischance -

With a glassy countenance,

Did she look to Camelot. 

And at the closing of the day,

She loosed the chain and down she lay,

The broad stream bore her far away,

The Lady of Shalott.

Lying robed in snowy white,

That loosely flew to left and right -

The leaves falling on her light -

Thro' the noises of the night,

She floated down to Camelot.

As the boat-head wound along,

The willowy hills and fields among,

They heard her singing her last song,

The Lady of Shalott.

Heard a carol mournful holy,
Chanted loudly chanted lowly,
'Til her blood was frozen slowly,
And her eyes were darkened wholly,
Turn'd to tower'd Camelot.
'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 gleaming shape she floated by,
Dead pale between the houses high,
Silent into Camelot.
Out upon the wharves they came,
Knight and Burgher, Lord and Dame,
And around the prow they read her name,
The Lady of Shalott.

Who is this and what is here?
And in the lighted palace near,
Died the sound of royal cheer,
And they crossed themselves for fear,
All the Knights at Camelot.
But Lancelot mused a little space,
He said 'She had a lovely face,
God in his mercy lend her grace,
The Lady of Shalott.'

Well, if you just read that poem and have reached all the way down here you, congratulations! You just read my favourite poem of all time! You deserve a cookie! Here, have one.

Now that you've had your cookie (yum!) let me explain the poem to you. The Lady of Shalott was a character created by Tennyson as a preferred admirer of Sir Lancelot than Queen Guinevere. The Lady of Shalott has been cursed to stay in her tower all her life, seeing the world outside only through a mirror and, if she ever looks outside her window to Camelot, she will die. For most of her time, she in content to weave all she sees in her mirror, only once in the poem saying that she is tired of seeing life this way saying 'I am half sick of shadows'. One day, she sees Sir Lancelot in her mirror, falls in love with him and makes the decision to leave the tower and look to Camelot. The painting below by William Holman Hunt shows his interpretation of this moment.

"Out flew the web and floated wide,

The mirror cracked from side to side,

The curse has come upon me cried,

The Lady of Shalott."

The Lady, now knowing her time is short, leaves her tower and finds a boat moored to a willow tree and gets in before sending it town river towards Camelot. She writes her name around the prow, so that people will know who she is. She sings as she floats along, tiring and eventually lying down as she dies. Eventually, she passes on, a song on her lips. She floats still down river, dead and still, and the people stare and whisper. The Knights of Camelot fear that she may be a spirit or apparition, and look to the Lord for protection, but Sir Lancelot, alone of all the Knights, sees her beauty and prays that she may enter heaven. 

I studied this poem in year ten literature, and it was then I fell in love with it, but it wasn't until this year at university that I got to delve a little deeper into it when we studied King Arthur (he was good for something after all). I didn't do one of the Lady of Shalott pictures for my visual analysis (the two I have place here were available for us to use), because I was worried I would have too much to say on the subject and my limit was 500 words. But, on my blog, I don't have a word limit. I am not, however, going to analyse the poem or the paintings, I just wanted to share them with you.

Now, why do I love this poem so much? I think it is the ethereal quality to it. She is described as a fairy by the barley reapers and she must have had some contact with the supernatural in the past for her to have been put in the tower and cursed. There is also a 'What If?' element to the poem because, has she not seen Sir Lancelot ride by, she would have remained in her tower with her weaving and never had to worry about the curse. What if she had never looked to Camelot?

Whatever my reasons, I do so love this poem. Maybe I should share more poetry with you, or maybe not. I don't know, I'll see how I feel next time I blog.

Regards until then,

~ Australian Kiwi

Coffee with that?

So, finally, after months of unsuccessfully applying for jobs, I have landed an interview at Gloria Jeans in Centro, those from my ares know where I'm talking about.

I'm quite hopeful for this job, because they advertised that they just wanted new staff who were passionate and wanted to learn how to make coffee, no experience required. Experience has been the killer for me in all the jobs I've gone for, because I have never had a part time job before I have no experience and everyone (EVERYONE) wants experience. Another good thing about this job is that it wasn't advertised in the local paper, only in the Gloria Jeans store. Most people in my area do their shopping in the other mall in town, and a lot of other job hunters I know didn't even know this position was available, so hopefully there won't be so many applicants to compete with.

Keep your fingers crossed for me and, with any luck, the next time I blog I will be able to tell you all that I have a job!

~ Australian Kiwi

Like souls that balance joy and pain

My last Myth, Legend and History assignment before the exam in November is a 500 word visual analysis. We have to choose a character or a theme from Arthurian Legend (see the lists below) and then pick an image from the selection given to us on the LaTrobe Moodle (LMS). I have chosen to do Lancelot and Guinevere, because even though two characters is not encouraged, it is allowed and these two are so closely linked in poetry of the time and in my chosen artwork that it seems silly not to analyse them together. The artwork I have chosen is Dante Gabriel Rossetti's Arthur's Tomb: The Last Meeting of Lancelot and Guinevere, which is a water colour on paper done between 1854-5.

Arthur's Tomb: The Last Meeting of Lancelot and Guinevere

I chose this image because I feel that it is very powerful. It shows Guinevere, covered in her nuns garb, farewelling the husband she betrayed, and Lancelot, either trying to kiss her or persuade her to come with him, over the tomb of his dead king and friend. Guinevere is rejecting his advances, but I believe it has more to do with the guilt of betraying Arthur and the location of their meeting than to do with her recently taken vows of chastity. I can only imagine that, after the two parted ways, Guinevere returned to the convent to atone for her sins and Lancelot ventured out into the world, probably taking a lover's vows to never forget the Queen he so loved.

List of Characters

• Arthur
• Guinevere
• Lancelot
• Galahad
• Isolde
• The Lady of Shallot

List of Themes

• Knighthood
• Chivalry
• Courtly Love
• Women and Gender
• Spiritual Quests/The Holy Grail

Day of Burning: 9/11 Ten Years On

In 2001, when the Manhattan's twin towers came down in the wake of a terrorist attack, I was eight years old. I have two vivid memories of this time. The first is sitting in my lounge room, my breakfast in my lap, turning on the TV to watch some cartoons before school. Instead, all I see are two, very tall, buildings. One is still standing, intact, but in the other there is a massive hole with smoke pouring from it. Distressed, I turned off the TV and went to find my parents. My next memory is of sitting with my friends on the floor of my primary school classroom, listening to my teacher tell us that something bad had happened in America and a lot of adults would be worried. One of the boys asked what had happened and my teacher said 'two planes flew into a building'. My thoughts: It must have been an accident.

Ten years on, I still struggle to understand how anyone, regardless of their religion, race, or political beliefs, could kill over three-thousand innocent people in one fell swoop. The footage of this terrible event  is shocking, and disturbingly graphic. The towers belch smoke, a massive fireball where the plane has struck the building explodes out of the images, those videos of the attacks are accompanied by the soundtrack of people screaming and general panic. As an eight year old, I couldn't understand it, so I put it to the back of my mind. As I grew older, the events of September 11 itched like an allergy and I would re-examine them from time to time. Like everyone else I asked the question: Why? Why would anyone do something like this? I think we will continue to ask this question as long as their is terrorism in our world. Now, as an eighteen year old with more of an understanding as to what the world is really like, I can no longer put the events of that day to the back of my mind. These events have been the catalyst to, what I believe, has become World War Three. But, this time, our enemy is not a nation (although the United States and its allies, Australia included, continue to cause unheard of damage and loss of life in their fruitless campaigns in the Middle East), but an idea: terror. Unfortunately, even with the death as al-Queda leader Osama bin-Laden, I do not believe we are any closer to wiping out terror than we were ten years ago.

The events that unfolded on September 11 2001 were to this century what the outbreak of World War One was last century, a baptism by fire, and a catalyst to spreading fear, hate, and intolerance. But we must never forget September 11, if only to remember that over three thousand innocent people lost their lives.

American Airlines Flight 11 struck the North Tower at 8:46am; 92 lives lost.
American Airlines Flight 175 stuck the South Tower at 9:03am; 65 lives lost.
American Airlines Flight 77 stuck the Pentagon at 9:38am; 64 lives lost.
American Airlines Flight 93 crashed into a field in Pennsylvania at 10:06am after passengers and crew overwhelmed the hijackers; 45 lives lost.
The Towers collapsed at 9:59am (South Tower) and 10:20am (North Tower); 2734+ lives lost.

Note: the above figures to do not include the hijackers aboard the planes, they are the innocent lives only.

~ Australian Kiwi

Goodbye Greek Mythology, Hello Arthurian Legend

Well, Australian Kiwi is sad to announce that the time of studying Greek myth at university is (sob, sob) over! Yes, it's heartbreaking, I know, but I think I'll survive. Somehow, I will get through this.

The lecture this morning was on the context of the legend of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. This is probably one of the most famous legends of all time, but I have to admit that it is not one of my favorites. I find the round table to be lacking in something very important: PEACE! The round table is essentially a war council, run by a king who, although he is loved by his people and has united his kingdom, has killed many men do to it and won't hesitate to kill even more should the need arise. He even tries to kill his wife and his friend when he finds out they are sleeping together. Rational discussion? Please! Arthur would rather grab a sword and kill the nearest thing than talk to Lancelot and Guinevere about how their behaviour was inappropriate.

Of course, not all portrayals of Arthurian myth and legend are quite so bad. I have to admit being quite fond of the TV series The Adventures of Merlin which deals with the exploits of Merlin, Arthur, Lancelot, Guinevere and other important characters before mythology takes hold. Currently having completed three seasons, this highly successful, popular portrayal of Arthurian myth and legend is due for a forth season to come out early-mid 2012. I am looking forward to that.

But now, getting back on topic, if this morning's lecture was anything to go by, King Arthur is going to be pretty boring. The lecturer was dull as they come, constantly stumbling over her words and her powerpoint left much to be desired. When powerpoint is used well, it can really add to a lecture. The lecturer that I had on Greek mythology used powerpoint extremely well and this really added to the quality of information he was giving. But this powerpoint was sloppy with bad animation and poor timing. She used a red background with yellow writing that made my eyes sting and water and (horror or all horrors!) she read off her slides! Although, as my friend and I agreed at the end of the lecture, it will get better because it can't possibly get any worse! Hopefully Jennifer can liven things up in the tutorial tomorrow.

Alright, I'd better go and finish writing my assignment. Check in tomorrow to hear if Arthur got any better.

See ya!

~ Australian Kiwi

Wear It Purple Day!

Good morning followers!

Did you know that today, the 2nd of September, is Wear It Purple Day?

In September 2010, a young man threw himself to his death in the United States after his roommate posted footage of him and another man having a sexual encounter. After this event occurred, the media went into something of a frenzy and report after report poured in about young people committing suicide because of homophobia and homophobic bullying.

Wear It Purple was started by Katherine Hudson and Scott Williams, in response to these alarming statistics. In just a few short weeks, the event went viral and now Wear It Purple Day is an annual event in many parts of the world.

Here's a picture of me (and the flowers in the garden) Wearing It Purple!

Wanna get involved? It's easy! Just wear something purple today. A purple hat. A purple bandanna. A purple t-shirt. A pair of purple shorts or a purple skirt. Purple thongs or tennis shoes. A purple wristband. Maybe even a purple ribbon in your hair. Also, make sure you check out the Wear It Purple website (click on the link above) and their facebook and twitter pages.

Hope to see you Wearing It Purple!

~ Australian Kiwi

New Books!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you don't know how much I love reading, I suspect you are a new follower to my blog. If you are new, welcome to Australian Kiwi, in fact, welcome to you if you're an old follower too. Welcome to my slightly crazy blog about my life. But, the purpose of this post is not to distribute welcome here, there, and everywhere, it is to announce the arrival of some brand new books!

On the 4th of August, I ordered five books from Amazon.com (aka HEAVEN!) and was told they would arrive around the 22nd of September. I was a little sad that they would take so long, but, then again, the best things come to those who wait. Imagine my absolute delight when someone knocked on the door this morning and, when I opened it, it turned out to be the postie with a parcel addressed to yours truly from Amazon.com. Now, here's the part that won't surprise you, they're all about ancient Greece. Four of them are works from the period of time itself, and one of them is a historical work about the time period. The books (and the photos of them) are below and displayed in alphabetical order of author last name.

Book One
The Homeric Hymns by Homer and Susan C. Shelmerdine

This book contains the hymns Homer wrote in honor of the Olympian deities and other important Gods and Goddesses (such as Mother Earth), each with an introduction by Susan C. Shelmerdine. I have only read one hymn, that is the Hymn to Apollo, which tells the story of his birth. If all the hymns are as interesting as that one was then this will be a fascinating read. I love reading works written in the ancient times, because it gives you a glimpse at a people lost to us.


Book Two
The Iliad by Homer (Translated by Samuel Butler)

This is, in my opinion, one of the most amazing works ever written. One of only two epic poems to survive from ancient times, the Iliad tells the story of the wrath of Achilles when the beautiful Burseius is taken from him by Agamemnon. The furious warrior goes to his tent and only rejoins the fighting when his friend is killed. I haven't read it in its entirety yet, but I know from the snatches of it that I have read that it is excellent.


Book Three
The Histories by Hereodotus

Another classic treasure, The Histories was the first book to ever be written in prose (a post on prose and poetry will be coming soon). Herodotus, the father of history, wrote this book about how the Greek city states repelled the Persian army in around 500BC. Or, that's what it is supposed to be about, I hear that his natural curiosity gets the better of him several times and he rambles on about Egypt and how much he enjoys it there, but that's OK. Looking forward to reading this one.


Book Four
Theogony and Works and Days by Hesiod

Again, this one is a primary source (if you don't know what that means you didn't pay attention in history class at school). It is a genealogy of the Gods as the Greeks saw it at the time and tells how they came to rule over Chaos. It's only a little book, so it won't take me very long to read. I'll read it once I finish the book below, I think, then I'll write a review.



Book Five
Ancient Greece from Prehistoric to Hellenistic Times by Thomas R. Martin


This one is the only book that doesn't have its origins in ancient Greece. Written by a distinguished classical scholar, this compact edition of Greek history is reputed to be perfect for all readers. I'm reading it at the moment and, even when it talks about the periods of Greek history I'm not interested in, it has me absolutely enthralled. I'll write an in depth review of it once I finish.



So, there you have it, my five new books. As I finish reading them, I will write reviews of them and post them here.

~ Australian Kiwi