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Sunday, May 09, 2004
Paint me a rainbow
Your thin end for today:
"But in her web she still delights
To weave the mirror's magic sights,
For often thro' the silent nights
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
Alfred Lord Tennyson (1809 - 1892) wrote this classic four-part elegy supposedly about Elaine, Fair Maid of Astolat who has been the basis of many works of poetry, fiction and art.
In this poem (original version, 1833; revised version, 1842), she is cursed to never look out her window. She is allowed to view the world only by looking into her mirror. She spends her days weaving the images she sees in her mirror, her "shadows of the world". One day, the handsome Lancelot passes by the window, and she forgets the curse and looks out her window to try and catch a glimpse of him. Her mirror cracks, and the curse is upon her. The Lady of Shalott goes down to the river, finds a boat, unties it and lays down. Her blood freezes and she dies. Her boat floats towards Camelot, and people come out to see this sight. In the crowd is Lancelot, and he looks down at her and says, "She has a lovely face: God in his mercy lend her grace, The Lady of Shalott".
One of those captivated by the poem was John William Waterhouse truly a painter of great skill and emotion.
This is one of my most favourite paintings, rating above many Constable ones for me (and they don't come much finer than John Constable).
Shari has a framed print of this on her lounge wall and I have a copy rolled up somewhere in my wardrobe, awaiting the day when it gets to hang on my wall. I got a few pictures put away like that - I seriously gotta marry a picture-framer next time. Better still, marry someone rich enough to buy me the originals. There are at least half a dozen other Waterhouse pieces I want, too.
Those were the days, when Chivalry was everything and Knights all had shining white horses, or something...
I, too, am sick of shadows.
~~ "Once a King, Always a King, But once a Knight's enough." ~~
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"But in her web she still delights
To weave the mirror's magic sights,
For often thro' the silent nights
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
Alfred Lord Tennyson (1809 - 1892) wrote this classic four-part elegy supposedly about Elaine, Fair Maid of Astolat who has been the basis of many works of poetry, fiction and art.
In this poem (original version, 1833; revised version, 1842), she is cursed to never look out her window. She is allowed to view the world only by looking into her mirror. She spends her days weaving the images she sees in her mirror, her "shadows of the world". One day, the handsome Lancelot passes by the window, and she forgets the curse and looks out her window to try and catch a glimpse of him. Her mirror cracks, and the curse is upon her. The Lady of Shalott goes down to the river, finds a boat, unties it and lays down. Her blood freezes and she dies. Her boat floats towards Camelot, and people come out to see this sight. In the crowd is Lancelot, and he looks down at her and says, "She has a lovely face: God in his mercy lend her grace, The Lady of Shalott".
One of those captivated by the poem was John William Waterhouse truly a painter of great skill and emotion.
This is one of my most favourite paintings, rating above many Constable ones for me (and they don't come much finer than John Constable).
Shari has a framed print of this on her lounge wall and I have a copy rolled up somewhere in my wardrobe, awaiting the day when it gets to hang on my wall. I got a few pictures put away like that - I seriously gotta marry a picture-framer next time. Better still, marry someone rich enough to buy me the originals. There are at least half a dozen other Waterhouse pieces I want, too.
Those were the days, when Chivalry was everything and Knights all had shining white horses, or something...
I, too, am sick of shadows.
~~ "Once a King, Always a King, But once a Knight's enough." ~~
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