30 Hear a song that echoes cheerly
From the river winding clearly, Down to towered Camelot;
And by the moon the reaper weary,
Piling sheaves in uplands airy,
35 Listening, whispers ' 'Tis the fairy
Lady of Shalott.'
Part 2
There she weaves by night and day
A magic web with colors gay.
She has heard a whisper say, 40 A curse is on her if she stay0 pauseTo look down to Camelot.
She knows not what the curse may be,
And so she weaveth steadily,
And little other care hath she,
45 The Lady of Shalott.
And moving through a mirror clear2
That hangs before her all the year,
Shadows of the world appear.
There she sees the highway near
50 Winding down to Camelot; There the river eddy whirls,
And there the surly village churls,0 peasantsAnd the red cloaks of market girls,
Pass onward from Shalott.
55 Sometimes a troop of damsels glad, An abbot on an ambling pad,? eas)-paced horse Sometimes a curly shepherd lad,
Or long-haired page in crimson clad,
Goes by to towered Camelot;
60 And sometimes through the mirror blue
The knights come riding two and two:
She hath no loyal knight and true,
The Lady of Shalott.
But in her web she still delights
65 To weave the mirror's magic sights,
For often through the silent nights
2. Weavers used mirrors, placed facing their looms, to see the progress of their work.
.
1 138 / ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON
A funeral, with 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.
70
Part 3
A bowshot from her bower eaves,
He rode between the barley sheaves, 75 The sun came dazzling through the leaves, And flamed upon the brazen greaves3
Of bold Sir Lancelot. A red-cross knight forever kneeled To a lady in his shield,
That sparkled on the yellow field, Beside remote Shalott.
80
The gemmy bridle glittered free, Like to some branch of stars we see Hung in the golden Galaxy.
85 The bridle bells rang merrily
As he rode down to Camelot; And from his blazoned baldric4 slung A mighty silver bugle hung, And as he rode his armor rung,
90 Beside remote Shalott.
All in the blue unclouded weather Thick-jeweled shone the saddle leather, The helmet and the helmet-feather
