A10
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Volume pubblicato con il contributo del
DIPARTIMENTO DI STUDI COMPARATI
Università degli Studi “G. d’Annunzio” di Chieti-Pescara
Percorsi italo-brasiliani
Dieci anni di convenzione UdA - UFBA
a cura di
Silvia La Regina
Anne Macedo
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I edizione: dicembre 2011
INDICE
Premessa
9
The Lady of Shalott, Lord Tennyson, and other gender re- 13
presentations in the arts
di Silvia M. Guerra Anastácio
Le Memorie di Giuseppe Garibaldi in Sudamerica
di Giovanni Brancaccio
35
Pop literature and mass media
di Décio Torres Cruz
45
Literatura e nacionalidade
di Eneida Leal Cunha
69
Il restauro in aree sismiche
di Marcello D’Anselmo
81
L’internazionalizzazione dell’università: un insegnamento 91
dalla storia
di Paolo De Maria
Segni del Comico nell’immaginario mediterraneo: Shake- 99
speare e Molière in Sicilia
di Rosalba Gasparro
Nações Unidas e a cena do teatro brasileiro nos anos 60
di Evelina Hoisel
115
Cartografia poetica: lugares da cidade na poesia de Gregório 127
de Matos
di Silvia La Regina
À margem da literatura marginal: um estudo sobre a re- 141
cepção crítica da literatura das minorias
di Rachel Esteves Lima
Clarice de Ana Miranda ou Ana Miranda de Clarice?
di Anne Macedo
155
La controversa scoperta del Brasile: Vespucci, Pinzòn, Ca- 169
bral, Pacheco Pereira
di Leo Marchetti
Maschera, gioco, vertigine, abisso: il linguaggio dell’eros in 181
James Merrill
di Andrea Mariani
Il Petrarca di Thomas Wyatt: transizione epistemica e tra- 195
duzione culturale di un modello
di Francesco Marroni
Le comunità straniere residenti in Italia (2002 - 2008). 209
I Brasiliani
di Gerardo Massimi
Il chá de bugre: un fitocomplesso della medicina tradizio- 243
nale brasiliana
di Luigi Menghini
Alice nel paese delle meraviglie semantiche: società indu- 251
striale, comunicazione e logica simbolica negli Alice Books
di Lewis Carroll
di Gabriella Micks
La formazione degli architetti restauratori in Brasile e il con- 261
tributo italiano
di Mário Mendonça de Oliveira
Rocco e i suoi fratelli e il drammatico inserimento dell’emi- 281
grante nella grande città
di Mauro Porru
O regionalismo brasileiro e a obra de Jorge Amado
di Ana Rosa Neves Ramos
293
Entre trutas e periquitos: um diálogo entre Sean O’Faolain e 309
Graciliano Ramos
di Elizabeth Ramos
Un percorso di scintille: Rina Sara Virgillito, da Rainer M. 317
Rilke a Emily Dickinson
di Sergio Romanelli
Il Brasile di Lima Barreto. Un saggio introduttivo
di Cecilia Santanchè
331
Problemi di restauro degli edifici storici in Brasile: il caso 341
delle malte
di Cybèle Celestino Santiago
Variação linguística e conotação de autonímia
di Iracema Luiza de Souza
353
Uma edição revista por Vieira
di Célia Marques Telles
363
Il Rio Grande do Sul in O Continente di Érico Verissimo
di Helena Silveira Netto Trentin
379
Ricostruire l’Italia: monumenti e città nel secondo dopo- 391
guerra
di Claudio Varagnoli
Informazioni sugli autori
407
PREMESSA
Silvia La Regina
Anne Macedo
La convenzione fra l’UdA e l’Universidade Federal da Bahia, UFBA,
ha cominciato a nascere nel 1997, da un’idea comune di Gabriella
Micks, Mauro Porru e Eugenia Galeffi, ed ha interessato inizialmente
le rispettive facoltà, Instituto de Letras dell’UFBA di Salvador e
Facoltà di Lingue e Letterature Straniere dell’UdA di Pescara; è stata
firmata nel 1999 dai Magnifici Rettori dell’UdA, Franco Cuccurullo, e
dell’UFBA, Heonir Rocha, e ha visto le sue prime attività nello stesso
anno. Fin dall’inizio, ancor prima che la convenzione venisse allargata
ad altre facoltà, come vedremo in seguito, essa ha avuto quelle caratteristiche di multi-disciplinarietà e multiculturalità che sono alla base
della sua ispirazione; i numerosi docenti (e i purtroppo non ancora
numerosi studenti di dottorato) che hanno partecipato sono di aree
assai diverse, e proprio l’integrazione e la collaborazione fra discipline
non tradizionalmente associate danno il tono e la caratteristica della
convenzione, nel senso più alto ed etimologico di università.
In seguito la convenzione è stata allargata alle Facoltà di Architettura e Farmacia dell’UdA e a quelle di Arquitetura, Escola Politécnica,
Farmácia e Química dell’UFBA, ampliando quindi il carattere multidisciplinare di una convenzione attiva da ormai più di dieci anni e che,
per essere completa, deve solo attivare pienamente lo scambio di studenti, non solo del dottorato ma anche dei corsi di laurea, come
peraltro sembra stia per accadere già nel 2011.
Con regolarità talora offuscata da questioni amministrative, nel corso degli anni sono state realizzate 5 Settimane Italo-Brasiliane (presso
l’UdA) e 7 Semanas UFBA-UdA (presso l’UFBA), l’elenco dei cui
partecipanti è proposto in appendice a questa premessa.
9
10
Silvia La Regina, Anne Macedo
Questa raccolta di saggi, oltre che giusto omaggio a quanti negli
anni hanno presentato il frutto delle proprie ricerche in incontri svoltisi sui due emisferi, è anche una celebrazione dei 10 anni della convenzione, con la speranza che essa continui a dare i suoi frutti per altri
decenni, a rinsaldare i rapporti fra le due Istituzioni così come fra i
Paesi che esse rappresentano. La scelta di disporre i contributi per ordine alfabetico del cognome dell’autore ha una ragione precisa, perché, invece di dividere i testi per Ateneo (così da isolare i partecipanti
delle due università in blocchi distinti) o per area di interesse scientifico, si è voluto riunire tutti gli autori in un’unica lista, a sottolineare
il carattere aperto, di scambio intellettuale e infine, ancora una volta,
multidisciplinare, della convenzione e dei saggi che la rappresentano,
senza frapporre steccati linguistici o disciplinari. E davvero ricco è il
ventaglio di studi proposto in italiano, portoghese o inglese: dalla
teoria letteraria al restauro, dalla letteratura inglese a Garibaldi, da un
fitocomplesso brasiliano al cinema, dalla geografia delle migrazioni
alla letteratura brasiliana, alla filologia, al teatro, alla traduzione, ed
altri temi ancora. La varietà e la qualità dei contributi, dunque, ribadisce l’importanza e la vitalità della nostra convenzione, ai cui
partecipanti va un caldo ringraziamento.
1999 – agosto I Semana UFBA – UdA, Salvador: Aniello Angelo
Avella (Letteratura Portoghese e Brasiliana), Gabriella Micks (Letteratura Inglese), Antonio Sorella (Storia della Lingua Italiana e Filologia Italiana).
1999 – dicembre I Settimana Italo-brasiliana, Pescara: Eugenia
Maria Galeffi (Lingua e Letteratura Italiana), Elizabeth Hazin (Letteratura Brasiliana), Lys Miréia Santanché (Lingua e Letteratura Italiana).
2000 – dicembre II Semana UFBA – UdA, Salvador: Rosalba Gasparro (Letteratura Francese) e Antonio Sorella (Storia della Lingua
Italiana e Filologia Italiana).
Premessa
11
2000 – dicembre II Settimana Italo-brasiliana, Pescara: Miriam de
Almeida Souza (Letteratura Inglese) e Raimunda Bedasee (Lingua e
Letteratura Francese).
2001 – novembre III Semana UFBA-UdA (inserita nell’ambito del
IX Congresso ABPI, Associação Brasileira dos Professores de Italiano), Salvador: Marilena Giammarco (Letteratura Italiana) e Francesco Marroni (Letteratura Inglese), Andrea Santurbano (dottorando
UdA).
2001 – dicembre III Settimana Italo-brasiliana, Pescara: Mauro Porru (Lingua e Letteratura Italiana) e Iracema Luiza de Souza (Lingua
Portoghese).
2003 – gennaio IV Semana UFBA-UdA, Salvador: Leo Marchetti
(Letteratura Inglese), Andrea Mariani (Letteratura Angloamericana),
Antonio Sorella (Storia della Lingua Italiana e Filologia Italiana).
2005 – gennaio IV Settimana Italo-brasiliana, Pescara: Silvia Maria
Guerra Anastácio (Letteratura Inglese), Décio Torres Cruz (Lingua e
Letteratura Inglese) e Sergio Romanelli (dottorando UFBA).
2006 – ottobre V Semana UFBA-UdA, Salvador: Paolo de Maria
(Delegato del Rettore ai Rapporti Internazionali) e Luigi Menghini,
Facoltà di Farmacia di Chieti, Leo Marchetti (Letteratura Inglese),
Andrea Mariani (Letteratura Angloamericana), Andrea Pasquino (Letteratura Francese), Cecilia Santanché (Lingua Portoghese), della Facoltà di Lingue e Letterature Straniere di Pescara;.
2007 – dicembre V Settimana Italo-brasiliana, Pescara: Eneida Leal
Cunha (Letteratura Brasiliana), Ana Rosa Neves Ramos (Letteratura
Francese), Elizabeth Ramos (Letteratura Inglese), Célia Marques Telles
(Filologia Romanza) dell’Instituto de Letras da UFBA, Mário Mendonça de Oliveira (Tecnologia della Conservazione e del Restauro),
Cybéle Celestino Santiago (Scienza e Tecnologia dei Materiali) della
Escola Politécnica da UFBA, Anne Macedo (dottoranda UFBA): nel
2007 per la prima volta la Settimana Italo-brasiliana a Pescara ha visto
12
Silvia La Regina, Anne Macedo
la partecipazione attiva di numerosi colleghi dell’UdA: Giovanni
Brancaccio (Storia Moderna e Contemporanea), Silvia La Regina
(Letteratura Portoghese e Brasiliana), Andrea Mariani (Letteratura
Angloamericana), Geraldo Massimi (Geografia Economica), Elena
Ricci (Letterature Comparate), Cecília Santanché (Lingua Portoghese), Helena Trentin (Lingua e Mediazione Portoghese e Brasiliana). In
ottobre erano stati a Salvador Antonella Fontana e Nazareno Re, della
Facoltà di Farmacia di Chieti, per stabilire contatti e firmare accordi di
ricerca con colleghi dell’UFBA.
2008 – settembre VI Semana UFBA-UdA, Salvador: Rosalba
Gasparro (Letteratura Francese) e Andrea Mariani (Letteratura Angloamericana), nuovamente in un evento che ha visto la partecipazione di
numerosi colleghi dell’UFBA: Sílvia Maria Guerra Anastácio (Letteratura Inglese), Décio Torres Cruz (Lingua e letteratura Inglese), Evelina Hoisel (Teoria della Letteratura), Rachel Esteves Lima (Letteratura Brasiliana), Mauro Porru (Lingua e Letteratura Italiana).
2009 – novembre VII Semana UFBA-UdA, Salvador: Silvia La
Regina (Letteratura Portoghese e Brasiliana) e Elena Ricci (Letterature Comparate).
Infine, un doveroso e speciale ringraziamento a chi, dalle due sedi
universitarie, è stato responsabile della Convenzione: Mauro Porru,
Lys Miréia Santanchè, Francesco Marroni, Gabriella Micks, Andrea
Mariani. Dedichiamo il volume alla memoria di Gabriella Micks.
THE LADY OF SHALOTT, LORD TENNYSON AND OTHER GENDER
REPRESENTATIONS IN THE ARTS
Sílvia Maria Guerra Anastácio
INTRODUCTION
The Choice of the Theme: Intention and Justification
The chosen theme proposes the study of female representations
produced in the XIX century. The selection of texts stems from the
poem, The Lady of Shalott, an emblematic figure from English literature, which depicts a woman so typical of her age, an icon so eloquent,
that she was the inspiration of a huge variety of paintings influenced
by the imagetic power of Tennyson‟s verses.
With the aim of proposing a discussion regarding feminist discourse,
the poem, which has motivated this study, invites an incursion into the fine
arts, in the extent that the selected works amplify our understanding of
the discourse under analysis. In this study, it is intended not only to
describe female imagery centred in a determined epoque, but also to
question what a twentieth century critic can infer from the whole
semiotic network which has been woven around the female form.
1 PULLING THE FIRST NARRATIVE THREADS: CONCEPTS
AND REPRESENTATIONS
It is important to start by conceptualising “feminism”, as well as
the notion of “gender”. According to Pam Morris, “Feminism is a kind
of political perception based on at least two essential ideas: that gender
difference is the basis of a structural inequality between men and women,
13
14
Sílvia Maria Guerra Anastácio
which is responsible for social injustice to women; and that the inequality
between the sexes is a sociocultural construction rather than a biological
necessity1.
Regarding the cultural conceptions of male and female, they are:
complementary (...) categories into which (...) human beings are placed
constitute within each culture a gender system, a symbolic system or system
of meanings, that correlates sex to cultural contents according to social values
and hierarchies. Although the meanings vary with each culture, a sex-gender
system is interconnected with political and economic factors in each society.
The sex-gender system is both a sociocultural construct and a semiotic
apparatus, a system of representation which assigns meaning (identity, value,
prestige, status...) to individuals within the society 2.
Works of art can suggest representations of gender associated to
sexuality, and this mediation is processed through images and transmitted as verbal or frequently physical signs. When dealing with the
representation of feminism, especially in literature, but also
concerning arts in general, it is necessary to understand a little about
its foundations.
Looking back through time, the vast majority of Western myths
linked to the creation of man perceive the woman‟s role as secondary:
“not only is woman created after man, but also she is seen as inferior
to him in terms of perfection”3. Woman appears as the “Other”, discursive precedency pertains to the male. Simone de Beauvoir, in The
Second Sex, develops the concept of the “Other”, recognising the fact
that it is only possible to admit the sense of our own identity from the
existence of another or in opposition to that identity. According to Simone
de Beauvoir, the woman is seen as a being which is “inessential before
the essential. The male is the subject and the absolute; Woman is but
the „Other‟”4.
This inequality is present in the very core of Western myths and
assumes a deeply-rooted, symbolic force in the history of these cul1
P. MORRIS, Literature and Feminism, Oxford, Blackwell, 1993, p.1.
T. LAURETIS, Technologies of Gender, Bloomington, Indiana Press, 1987, p.5.
3
N. TUANA, The Less Noble Sex, Indianopolis, Indiana University Press, 1993, p.3.
4
S. de BEAUVOIR, O Segundo Sexo, trad. Sérgio Milliet, 2 vols., Rio de Janeiro, Nova
Fronteira, 1980, I, pp.10-11.
2
The Lady of Shalott, Lord Tennyson, and other Gender Representations
15
tures. The word “myth” is derived from the Greek word mythos, and
means “word, speech, and history of the Gods”. It is a narrative which
indicates the values of a specific society, offering an insight into the
probable attitude of those that believe in such stories and making the
reconstruction of the way in which people think possible. The myths
are “symbolic representations of our ideas”, and it is important to have
in mind, that the myths and imaginary versions of real social
relationships, which constitute ideology, “are not simply a set of
illusions, but a system of representations (discourses, images, myths)
concerning the real relations in which people live”5.
Ideology “is a permanent search for values”, which affects the
individual or collective discourse6, for the act of observation is not na
ingenuous one; it is weighed down with meanings and a stanceis
adopted before the world.
Since every utterance reflects a socio-ideological structure, it is known
that the sign and the social organisation are interlinked, as all signs are
ideological. Semiotic systems always reflect an ideology, and a word
is a supreme ideological sign. But not just a word, all artistic-symbolic
imagery is a form of utterance, which may be viewed as an ideological
sign, reflecting a cosmovision and revealing a series of values, which
the artist may support or condemn.
Intersemiotic Strategies
A preoccupation with intersemiotic strategies is transfigured in the
present comparative study, just as verbal and physical signs are woven
around the poem The Lady of Shalott. Semiotics is a recognised
method of scientific investigation within the behavioural, cognitive
and social sciences, which refers to the study of the capacity of human
beings to produce and understand signs of all types. The word “sign”
comes from the Greek word sema, “mark, signal”; it “represents
something to someone, in some way”7.
5
R. COWARD and J. ELLIS, Language and Materialism, London, Routledge & Kegan Paul,
1977, p. 101.
6
A.J. GREIMAS, J. COURTÉS, Dicionário de Semiótica, trad. Alceu Dias Lima et alii,. São
Paulo, Cultrix, 1979, pp. 224-225.
7
C.S. PEIRCE, Collected Papers, ed. Philip Weiner, 8 vols, Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1958, p.2228.
16
Sílvia Maria Guerra Anastácio
The principal components of the semiotic, mental process are: the
sign (a representative image or an icon, a word or a gesture, etc.); the
object referred to (which may be concrete or abstract); and the meaning, which results from an association between the sign and its object.
The human, cognitive system operates on the basis of this triadic axis8.
According to the ideas of Charles Peirce (1839-1914), each sign
determines an interpretant, “that is itself a sign; it may be an equivalent sign, or perhaps it may be more developed than the initial sign”9. It
is through the interpretant that a new element enters into the system,
permitting in this way, a better understanding of the immediate object.
The intersemiotic translations, like the verbal and non-verbal signs,
include paintings, sculptures, etc. are interpretants which tend to
increase the comprehension of the object10.
The semiotic process is, thus, inherent in the innate ability of the
mind to transform sensorial impressions into signs cognitively. All
creatures are destined to emit “signs of life”, because life is semiosis
or the action of the sign11.
2 DELINEATING FEMALE REPRESENTATIONS WOVEN
FROM THE ICON – THE LADY OF SHALOTT
What images of women were depicted in the artistic production of
the 19th century and why is that century being especially privileged in
our present study? According to the opinion of the feminist critics, M.
Gilbert and Susan Gubar, these images of women were, largely, masculine fantasies, constructed by authors that belonged to a patriarchial
system12. They were narratives, which frequently, focussed on marginalised female figures, and, among these texts, which reflected on
the exclusion and the silence of women, the poem by Alfred Tennyson,
8
T.A. SEBEOK, Signs. An Introduction to Semiotics, Toronto, University of Toronto Press,
1994, p. xi-xiii.
9
C. S. PEIRCE, Collected Papers, 1958, p.2228.
10
T.A. SEBEOK, 1994, pp.6-14.
11
M. DANESI quoted in SEBEOK, Signs, 1994, pp. xi-xiii.
12
M. GILBERT and S. GUBAR quoted in T. MOI, Sexual/Textual Politics: Feminist Literary
Theory, Massachusetts, Methuen, 1985, p.57.
The Lady of Shalott, Lord Tennyson, and other Gender Representations
17
Lady of Shalott, stands out. Gender studies have turned their attention to
these verses with the intention of analysing them from a feminist
perspective.
One of the landmarks of the 19th century was the beginnings of a
feminist movement13. After the industrial revolution, women‟s demands
intensified, especially after their entrance into the work-force in exchange for lower salaries than those received by men, which meant
that they constituted a threat. Society tried to control women, by limiting their liberty and trying to lead them back to the home and to
domestic chores14. Feminists stood up against this dichotomy between
public and private spaces, saying that all dichotomies reduce the complexity of a situation and that, in practice, these spaces frequently
overlap.
2.1
Establishing a dialogue with the poem The Lady of Shalott
The narrative poem of the Victorian epoque, The Lady of Shalott,
by Alfred Tennyson (1809-1892) reflects on the question of the place
occupied by the women of that society. In this period, more interest
started to be generated regarding questions relating to sexuality and
the role of women within and outside of family life. Writers and painters reflected on these issues through their cultural production; each
expressing, in his/her own way, the dominant values and a possible
multiplicity of discourses15.
The Origins of the Poem
Tennyson wrote two versions of the poem: one was published in
1833 and the other in 1842, the latter is the subject of this study and
was illustrated on canvas by the painter John William Waterhouse
among others.
13
K. MILLET, The Debate over Women in the Victorian Age, Indianopolis, Indiana,
University Press, 1973, p.121.
14
S. BEAUVOIR, 1980, p.xxix.
15
W. HOUGHTON, The Victorian Frame of Mind, Connecticut,Yale University Press,
1957, p.9.
18
Sílvia Maria Guerra Anastácio
To write this poem, Alfred Tennyson, one of the most representative authors of the Victorian age, was inspired by the character of
Elaine, by Thomas Malory (1394?-1471), who was in love with Sir
Lancelot, one of the knights of the Round Table. Malory, in his turn,
took his inspiration from the stories and legends of King Arthur as he
wanted to recapture the times of chivalry marked by the Middle Ages.
The Lady of Shalott is a ballad with a tragic tone. The word ballad
comes from archaic French and means “a song for dancing”. Ballads
were very popular in the Middle Ages and used to sing about love,
courage and death. The ballad‟s melodious refrain helps to emphasise
high points in the narrative16.
The plot of the poem invokes a polifony of voices among medieval
legends and stories, which interact to give life to the verses of The
Lady of Shalott. High among Tennyson‟s appropriations in writing his
poem are the myths of creation like the one of Penelope, wife of the
warrior Ulysses, who in a way similar to that of The Lady of Shalott is
constantly working on her tapestry. The image of Penelope may refer
to the history of female creativity, and feminist critics, amidst the cultural, patriarchial traditions, have sought more recently to deconstruct
old myths, substituting their nuances, little by little, with new interpretations.
Within the text, multiple voices – consciously or unconsciously –
meet one another, in a phenomenon identified by the linguist Julia
Kristeva as “intertextuality”17. As Morris remembers, Bakhtin refers
to the question of appropriation. For him, texts are seen as: “Spaces of
dialogical or intertextual conflict, arguing that feminist writers (...) have
appropriated male authors‟ forms, their language, their myths to reinvent
their own meanings”18.
Thus, Tennyson, in the poem The Lady of Shalott, entered into dialogue, with many other texts, seeking to express in a romantic tone,
the moral preoccupations of the age in which he lived. Although some
of the elements of Malory‟s narrative have continued in the poem,
Tennyson‟s Lady of Shalott has a different profile, the central character
16
<http://www.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/shalott.htm> Acessado em janeiro de 2000.
J. KRISTEVA, The Kristeva Reader, Oxford, Blackwell, 1986.
18
P. MORRIS, 1993, p.156.
17
The Lady of Shalott, Lord Tennyson, and other Gender Representations
19
resembles a figure from a fairy tale. The idea that the young woman
could only observe the world through a mirror, is also of Tennyson‟s
creation, as it was a custom at the time for weavers to always have a
mirror before them, in which they could contemplate their production.
Tennyson‟s verses are characterised by their escapism, suggesting
an apparent sanctuary from the social reality of the time, from the
social problems of the Victorian epoque (1837-1901), exacerbated by
the Industrial Revolution. By electing the medieval world as the source of
his inspiration, Tennyson‟s romantic narratives offered an escape
valve to an exotic place.
Tennyson gives a tragic tone to the story, portraying a mysterious
young woman who lives in a high tower on the island of Shalott, situated
in the middle of a river which flows past the court of King Arthur.
Day and night, she works at her loom, forbidden to look out of her
window, lest a terrible punishment befall her. Thus she can only glimpse
at the multiple towers of Camelot and the shadows of the world
outside that are reflected in a mirror which is hung in front of her.
Perspectives and the Symbolism of the Poem
It is a narrative poem told in third person and composed of four
parts: the first and second parts have four stanzas each, while the third
has five and the last part has six stanzas. Each stanza of the ballad has
nine verses and the refrains seem to sew the narrative together.
In scanning the verse, we perceive that a rhythmic scheme of
iambic-tetrameter predominates (an ascending rhythm with four
metric feet), which is frequently alternated with the trochaic tetrameter
(a descending rhythm); the shorter refrains are in iambic trimeter. In
some moments of the narrative, the iambic changes, generally, to the
trochaic, which is its opposite. The long narrative with its high cadence causes a hypnotic effect, enchanting the listener, which is a common
effect in fairy tales. The verses expand and contract. The refrains mark the
movement of contraction, as though emphasing the atmosphere of
oppression, related to the theme of the poem.
The first stanza, the panoramic flight of a bird, shows us how it
would be to search the countryside below from up on high. An aerial
take, which starts to narrow until it hits the target: the island of Shalott
(a solitary, geographical accident, separate from the rest of the con-
20
Sílvia Maria Guerra Anastácio
tinent). The word Shalott may be an anagram of Astolat, the house of
Malory‟s heroine.
On either side the river lie
Long fields of barley and of rye,
That clothe the wold and meet the sky;
And through the field the road runs by
To many-towered Camelot.
And up and down the people go,
Gazing where the lilies blow
Round an island there below.
The island of Shalott.
The sense which predominates is that of vision. A fixed stare,
attentive, emphasised by the verb gaze. A gaze from which nothing
escapes: the river; the long fields of rye and barley, which seem to
clothe the plains in a delicate metaphor; the people wandering up and
down; The towers of the court of Camelot probably of varying heights.
The cineomatic vision of these verses is one of ondulation, of movement,
which is also suggested by the movement of the lilies balancing in the
wind and probably perfuming the fields. Everything moves in
harmony with the form, with the silhouette of the verses in expansion
and contraction. Everything or almost everything.
The two refrains orchestrate the inicial point and counter-point of
the narrative. Camelot and Shalott in perfect formal symmetry. On the
one side, the court of Camelot, full of life and movement, while on the
other, the island of Shalott, motionless, where the Lady of Shalott lives
between four grey walls and four grey towers. Below, one can see
flowers and white trees, silver willows and white-trunked poplars,
possibly reflecting the purity of the Lady of Shalott. The alliteration at
the beginning of the stanza (willows, whiten) highlight the pureness
which they are supposed to signal:
Willows whiten, aspens quiver,
Little breezes dusk and shiver,
Four gray walls, and four gray towers,
Overlook a space of flowers,
And the silent isle imbowers
The Lady of Shalott