Literary Devices Used In Tennyson's The Lady Of Shalott

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The Lady of Shalott is an amazing poem written by Tennyson Alfred that is portrayed by a random person who heard the story before from someone else. The poem intertwines literary devices, figurative language, and other poetic tools to create an abstract poem that efficiently tells the story of the legend of the mysterious Lady of Shalott.
This poem gives a connection between the busy, outside world and the isolate life of the Lady of Shalott. This connection represents the theme in which Tennyson is trying to portray. The Lady of Shalott lives a remote life in a large grey tower, unable to look outside of her window at the fields of flowers and the river below due to a curse that was put upon her. The only views of the outside world that the lady has are the ones in the reflection of her hanging mirror, which she uses to weave beautiful webs. Upon seeing a man on a horse, Sir Lancelot, the lady cannot control her longing to view outside of …show more content…

Allusion plays a big part in the setting of the poem. The Lady of Scalott takes place near a village named Camelot, which, in reality, is a fictional place in the renaissance era. The world Camelot is referenced and used throughout the poem. One of the characters, Sir Lancelot, is also an allusion. In reality, Sir Lancelot is a knight from the King Arthur legend, yet he is used as a knight in this poem. Personification is also used throughout the poem. In the second stanza, Tennyson expresses that “willows whiten, aspens quiver”, however, aspen trees cannot quiver. Another example is in line 11 when he says, “little breezes dusk and shiver” even though breezes cannot actually dusk and shiver. Personification is a great tool that enhances small details throughout the poem. Tennyson also uses alliteration throughout the entire poem. In line 37, the phrase “reapers, reaping” and “bearded barley” are both examples of