There she weaves by night and day, A magic web with colors 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 curse may be, And so she weaveth steadily, And little other care hath she, The Lady of Shalott.
Interpretation
The quote describes the artistic creation of the Lady of Shalott, who is trapped in her own world as she weaves. Her isolation and the curse reflect the struggle of an artist in pursuit of inspiration.
In this excerpt from The Lady of Shalott by Alfred Lord Tennyson, the imagery of the lady weaving a 'magic web with colors gay' symbolizes the creative process of an artist. However, this creative activity is also shrouded in mystery and a sense of foreboding due to the curse that prevents her from looking towards Camelot, representing the outside world. The lady's steady weaving indicates her dedication to art, but her ignorance of the curse highlights the potential dangers and sacrifices that artists may face in their pursuit of beauty and expression.
In practice
During a lecture on the struggles of artists, one might use this quote to illustrate the theme of isolation in creativity.
Twilight and evening bell, And after that the dark! And may there be no sadness of farewell, When I embark; For though from out our bourne of Time and Place The flood may bear me far, I hope to see my Pilot face to face When I have crossed the bar.
How many a father have I seen, A sober man, among his boys, Whose youth was full of foolish noise.
O Love! what hours were thine and mine, In lands of palm and southern pine; In lands of palm, of orange-blossom, Of olive, aloe, and maize and vine!
Earth is dry to the centre,_x000D_ But spring, a new comer,_x000D_ A spring rich and strange,_x000D_ Shall make the winds blow_x000D_ Round and round,_x000D_ Thro' and thro',_x000D_ Here and there,_x000D_ Till the air_x000D_ And the ground_x000D_ Shall be fill'd with life anew.
O love, O fire! once he drew With one long kiss my whole soul through My lips, as sunlight drinketh dew.
But thy strong Hours indignant work’d their wills, And beat me down and marr’d and wasted me, And tho’ they could not end me, left me maim’d To dwell in presence of immortal youth, Immortal age beside immortal youth, And all I was, in ashes. - Tithonus
In general, writers shouldn't be killed for what they write, though I can think of exceptions.
It's a fundamental, social attitude that the 1% supports symphonies and operas and doesn't support Johnny learning to program hip-hop beats. When I put it like that, it sounds like, 'Well, yeah,' but you start to think, 'Why not, though?' What makes one more valuable than another?
The world is filled with archaic objects - mailboxes which look like alarm boxes, banks which look like places to break out of rather than places to enter.
Honest criticism and sensitive appreciation are directed not upon the poet but upon the poetry.
When the writer (or the artist in general) says he has worked without giving any thought to the rules of the process, he simply means he was working without realizing he knew the rules.
Art is not a pastime but a priesthood.
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