The Lady of Shalott, Alfred, Lord Tennyson. Illustrated by Charles Keeping
In this narrative poem of isolation, love and death, The Lady of Shalott sits in a castle overlooking a river which flows to
Camelot. She is cursed never to look directly out into the world, but instead must observe the comings and goings from
the Arthurian court through a mirror and weave on her loom the scenes she sees. One day she sees in her mirror the
knight Sir Lancelot passing and is so struck with love, she leaves her seat and looks out of her window. Her mirror cracks
and she realises she has brought the curse upon herself. The Lady of Shalott leaves her castle, and coming to the river,
writes on the prow of a boat her name, before getting in and floating towards Camelot, singing a sad song. By the time
she arrives at Camelot the Lady is dead and all the knights, ladies and tradespeople of Camelot come out to see her float
by and are afraid. Lancelot, seeing her, reacts differently and commenting on her beauty, commends her to God. The
poem is accompanied by evocative illustrations by Charles Keeping, which complement the poem’s mood and themes.
Overall aims of this teaching sequence.
To explore, interpret and respond to a narrative poem
To make inferences and refer to evidence in a poem
To apply a growing knowledge of vocabulary, grammar and text structure to students’ writing
To write poetry and other imaginative writing
This teaching sequence is designed for a Year 7 class.
Overview of this teaching sequence.
This teaching sequence is approximately three weeks long if spread out over 15 sessions.
The poem raises many questions about characters’ actions, causality and the role of the artist in society. It offers good
opportunities for discussing different interpretations of the same text and a solid model upon which students can write
their own narrative poems.
National Curriculum 2014 Links
Reading: (Word reading / Comprehension)
Writing: (Transcription / Composition)
To make inference and refer to evidence in the text
To write poetry and other imaginative writing
To develop an appreciation and love of reading
To summarise and organise material, and
supporting ideas and arguments with any necessary
To understand increasingly challenging texts
factual detail
through making inferences and referring to
evidence in the text
To consider how their writing reflects the
audiences and purposes for which it was intended
To read critically through knowing how language,
including figurative language, vocabulary choice,
To amend the vocabulary, grammar and structure
grammar, text structure and organisational
of their writing to improve its coherence and
features, presents meaning
overall effectiveness
To recognise a range of poetic conventions and
understanding how these have been used
To study setting, plot, and characterisation, and the
effects of these
Speaking and Listening: (Spoken English)
To use Standard English confidently in a range of formal and informal contexts, including classroom discussion.
To give short speeches and presentations, expressing own ideas and keeping to the point.
To improvise, rehearse and perform poetry in order to generate language and discuss language use and meaning,
using role, intonation, tone, volume, mood, silence, stillness and action to add impact.
To participate in informal group or paired discussions.
©The Centre for Literacy in Primary Education.
You may use this teaching sequence freely in your school but it cannot be commercially published or reproduced or used for anything other than educational purposes
without the express permission of CLPE.
Cross Curricular Links
Art:
Key Stage 3 subject content link: to use a range of techniques and media, including painting. Students could study
from a wide range of visual interpretations of the Lady of Shalott in art and decide on an alternative artistic style
in which to depict a scene from the poem. This could link to any artistic style or movement being studied and
allows for the development of a wide range of artistic techniques while maintaining a focus for comparison.
Music:
Key Stage 3 subject content link: to play and perform confidently in a range of solo and ensemble contexts using
their voice, playing instruments musically, fluently and with accuracy and expression As the poem is one which
conveys a strong mood, students could compose their own score to accompany a reading of the poem
Teaching Approaches
Writing Outcomes
Visual approaches
Reading aloud and rereading
‘Tell me’
Retelling
Drawing, annotating and mapping
Role-play and drama
Shared writing
Writing in role
Drawing and annotating
Note writing and writing in role as character
Story-mapping
Character description
Notes for oral presentation
Diary writing
Writing a narrative poem
Links to other texts and resources.
Title and author
Weblinks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QuMwgPGvoOk - a short, filmed dramatisation of The Lady of Shalott.
http://www.pinterest.com/geritorres/lady-of-shalott/ and http://www.pinterest.com/villon/the-lady-of-shalott/ - a great
selection of images of paintings, prints and illustrations of The Lady of Shalott.
https://vimeo.com/6820476 - a video exploring J M Waterhouse's painting, The Lady of Shalott.
Resources
Song of the Sparrow, Lisa Ann Sandell – a young adult novel writing in lyrical form, exploring the story of the Lady of
Shalott.
The Once and Future King, T H White – classic children’s Arthurian literature.
Avalon High, Meg Cabot – the Arthurian legend brought up to date.
The Dark is Rising, Susan Cooper – a contemporary fantasy novel based on the Arthurian legend.
Across the Wall – A Tale of Abhorsen and Other Stories, Garth Nix – this collection of short stories includes two (Under the
Lake and Heart’s Desire) based on the Arthurian legend.
Arthur, High King of Britain/ The Sleeping Sword/ Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Michael Morpurgo – three novels by
on of the nation’s favourite authors based on the Arthurian Legend.
©The Centre for Literacy in Primary Education.
You may use this teaching sequence freely in your school but it cannot be commercially published or reproduced or used for anything other than educational purposes
without the express permission of CLPE.
Teaching Sessions
Session one: Visual approaches
Learning Objective:
Students are able to make informed predictions based on evidence in illustrations
Students are able to create short oral presentations using Standard English
Before reading the poem or even the poem’s title, share with the students several of Charles Keeping’s
illustrations from different sections of the poem in sequential order (this could be in storyboard style or displayed
on an IWB).
Students work in small groups to discuss the style and mood of the drawings and the content of the illustrations.
Ask the students to gather their information under two headings: evidence we can gather about the story from
the content of the illustrations; words and phrases that sum up the mood of the illustrations.
Ask the students, in groups, to prepare a short verbal presentation on what they think the story will be about and
the evidence they have used to support their theory.
Discuss as a class different interpretations of the illustrations and see if you can come up with a class answer to
the question ‘From looking at the paintings what do you think the tone and themes of the poem will be?’
Follow this up by looking at several other painted depictions of the Lady of Shalott and discuss as a class any
further information we are able to gather from these other interpretations of the same story.
As a whole class, attempt to predict the story sequence of The Lady of Shalott, using evidence from Keeping’s
illustrations.
Session two: Reading aloud and Tell Me
Learning Objective:
Students can make inferences and refer to evidence in the text.
Students can express their own ideas and keep their answers to the point.
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Read the poem aloud to the class (you might need to do this twice or more, for the students to understand the
story and start to understand the rhythm and language).
On the second reading through, ask the children to start to formulate their own questions about the poem (in
notebooks or on shared pieces of paper. What puzzles them and does the poem relate to anything else they have
read.
Ask the Tell Me questions – below are a selection from which to start:
Tell me what you liked about the poem. Was there anything that caught your attention?
What images stuck in your mind and why? (start to draw out some of the language which students feel has an
effect on the listener).
Was there anything you disliked about the poem?
Was the story what you had expected it to be, having looked at the illustrations beforehand?
What puzzled you about the poem? Was there anything you didn’t understand? (use some of the children’s own
questions about the poem at this point).
Did the story remind you of any other stories you have read, or films you have seen?
Discuss as a class any of the links the students have made with other stories they know (for example, any
knowledge they have about the broader Arthurian legend, about the character of Lancalot).
Ask the children to discuss in pairs their own personal response to the poem. Discuss some of these responses as
a class.
Sessions three and four: mapping and retelling
Learning Objective:
Students are able to recall and retell key events in the narrative
In pairs, students to retell the story verbally to each other, using words and phrases remembered from the poem.
©The Centre for Literacy in Primary Education.
You may use this teaching sequence freely in your school but it cannot be commercially published or reproduced or used for anything other than educational purposes
without the express permission of CLPE.
Students to create story-maps for the poem, leaving enough spaces in between events to add in further detail
later.
As a whole class, build a fuller story-map of the poem, using elements from individuals’ story-maps.
Class discussion - where are the areas in which we have the majority of our puzzles or questions about the text?
Discuss in more detail what is happening in these sections, re-reading sections as necessary (for example, the
events surrounding the Lady’s death).
Sessions five and six: Drawing, annotating and mapping (conceptual mapping)
Learning Objective:
Students are able to investigate the poet’s choice of language
Students can read poetry critically and check their understanding to make sure what they have read makes sense
Students can learn new vocabulary, relating it explicitly to known vocabulary and understand it with the help of
context and dictionaries
The aim of this session is for students to find and note interesting and memorable words or phrases they think are
effective explain why and to investigate the meaning of unknown words.
Expanding on the previous session, students to re-read Part I and in pairs, create concept maps of words and
phrases which which strike them as particularly powerful and which contribute to the overall mood of the poem,
and also marking up unknown words. Demonstrate categorising their word and phrase choices under headings
such as ‘death’ (picking out for example, the phrase ‘By the margin, willow-veil’d’), ‘isolation’ etc.
Discuss as a class the phrases and words students remembered – what makes these words memorable?
Students to investigate the meanings of unknown words and discuss the use of those words, to gather and share
the meanings of unknown words and share any puzzles at word level, questioning the poet’s use of vocabulary.
Students could continue to extend their concept maps independently by investigating stanzas in Part II.
Use students’ concept maps to explore the overarching mood of the poem. Ask the children what is the mood
created by Tennyson and how does he convey the mood/ atmosphere? Share answers and discuss the range of
evidence for this. Discuss other aspects we need to explore in addition to the language used? For example, the
characterisation – the isolated character of the Lady, made more isolated by the farmers, who never meet her,
but who hear her and create stories about this character.
Refer back to session one and compare the results of looking at the illustrations alone and analysing the text. How
similar were the results and where did they differ?
Session seven: Drama and role-play
Learning Objective:
Students can understand characters’ points of view
Split the students into groups of three. Give each group a small mirror and split the groups into different
characters (the Lady, and two students having a conversation about something that interests them both). Two
students in each group are to hold a conversation and the third is to observe their conversation by only looking
through the mirror. The student with the mirror is not allowed to interact with the other two, nor are they
allowed to communicate with the mirror holder.
Rotate the members of the group so each person in the group gets to experience observing through the mirror.
Students to discuss the experience of observing through a mirror? How did it make them feel? Did they feel
comfortable, or removed from the conversation? How does the experience of watching something through a
mirror differ from watching it directly? How would they feel if they had to do this for a long period of time and
were not able to talk to other people?
Gather a collection of words for the experience and store for the students’ own writing later.
Discuss the theory that Tennyson was not only trying to tell the story of the Lady of Shalott, but that he was
talking about the experience of being an artist or writer, not being part of society, but observing it from a distance
instead.
Session eight: Drama and roleplay (hot-seating)
©The Centre for Literacy in Primary Education.
You may use this teaching sequence freely in your school but it cannot be commercially published or reproduced or used for anything other than educational purposes
without the express permission of CLPE.
Learning Objective:
To make inferences based on evidence from a poem.
Remind the students of the experience of observing life through a mirror and recap on their personal experience
of being isolated from the group.
Re-read Part II to remind the students of the predicament of the Lady and the choice she has to make.
Individually, students to prepare questions they would want to ask the Lady about her life in the tower, about the
curse and the experience of weaving the stories she sees in her mirror. Why does she decide to look out upon the
world? Does she understand the consequences of the action and if so why does she choose to bring the curse
upon herself?
Use the hot-seating model, in which one student ‘becomes’ The Lady, and the rest of the group asks that person,
who remains in character, their questions.
Session nine and ten: Drama and role-play, shared writing, writing in role
Learning Objective:
Students are able to support their ideas with details from the poem
Teacher to read Part III, while students get into the role of the Lady, as Lancelot passes by actions. Act and freezeframe the final stanza of Part II, in particular, the moment the Lady looks away from her mirror. Teacher to
question children in role their thoughts, emotions, intentions at this moment.
Introduce the writing task: explain the students will be writing a diary entry as the Lady of Shalott, just before she
decides to look out onto the world, exploring her inner thoughts and the feelings, thoughts and events that have
led up to this moment.
Shared write the opening paragraph of the Lady’s diary entry, focusing on the conflict of emotions and the
dilemma she faces.
Students to stay in role as the Lady, and, inviting the students to use their story maps, concept maps and other
materials used to explore the poem so far, to write in role as the Lady as she makes the decision to bring the
curse upon herself.
At regular intervals, encourage children to reread sections of the text, make revisions and check the actions,
emotions and thoughts discussed in the diary entry are consistent with Tennyson’s telling of the story.
Session 11: Writing in role
Learning Objective:
To explore the perspectives of different characters in a narrative poem.
The purpose of this session is to identify how different characters in The Lady of Shalott respond to the events of the
poem. The outcome will be a dramatized conversation between two of the minor characters’ perspectives.
Identify the minor, or supporting, characters in the poem - the farmers, who hear her singing and speculate as to
who she is, and the people from Camelot, who see her body as she floats by.
Students to choose either to explore the perspective of the farmers or the citizens of Camelot.
In groups, students to reread the relevant sections of the poem (Part I for the farmers and Part IV for the people
of Camelot) and to consider
In pairs, students to orally rehearse a conversation with each other their response to the situation as they see it
(for the people of Camelot, this would be exploring their shock and sense of fear as the body floats by – what
would they have made of the appearance of the Lady and what significance would they have put on the event?
And for the farmers, who have only ever heard the Lady from her tower, what would they have made of her
disappearance? What stories did they tell each other to explain the mysterious singing from the castle? How did it
make them feel?
Following the oral rehearsal, in pairs, draft the main structure of a short conversation in note form.
Individually, write the conversation between the characters in the form of a playscript.
Record or perform some of the conversations as a starting point for a class discussion about different
©The Centre for Literacy in Primary Education.
You may use this teaching sequence freely in your school but it cannot be commercially published or reproduced or used for anything other than educational purposes
without the express permission of CLPE.
interpretations.
Sessions 12 - 15: Story-mapping, storytelling
Learning Objective:
Students can plan, draft, write and publish their own narrative poem
Explain to students are going to plan a narrative poem of their own, focusing on one of the characters other than
the Lady.
They could choose from either Lancelot (from returning to Camelot from his quest, to seeing the body of the Lady
in the boat and the response it brings about in him), one of the lords and ladies from Camelot (who, seeing the
crowds gathering by the river, rushes down to see the body in the boat and creates a story of their own about this
character. This perspective could explore why the lords and ladies ‘cross’d themselves for fear’) or the farmers,
who hear the lady singing in the tower and who tell the stories that it is a fairy. How do they explain her absence,
or the absence of her singing?).
Students start by discussing ideas in groups, then individually drawing story-maps for their poems.
It would be a good idea to spend a session investigating the rhyme structure and stanza construction of The Lady
of Shalott – to give the students a structure for their poems. Perhaps with students writing an additional stanza
for one Part of the poem as an example.
Follow a process of draft, redraft and write, with the students refining their word choices and building up imagery
appropriate to the mood of their poems through discussion with others, sharing drafts and peer assessment.
Accompany the finished poems with illustrations which will help the reader in their understanding and which
complement the mood of the students’ poems.
Publish – If you have a class blog, publish the poems, or create a class collection of the finished poems extending
the story of the Lady of Shalott.
©The Centre for Literacy in Primary Education.
You may use this teaching sequence freely in your school but it cannot be commercially published or reproduced or used for anything other than educational purposes
without the express permission of CLPE.