The Lady of Shalott [Hardcover]

Alfred Lord Tennyson (Author), Charles Keeping (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 25, 1987

Illustrated in black and white throughout by Charles Keeping. The romantic story of the Lady of Shalott is here presented in haunting and evocative pictures in this successor to Keeping's award-winning version of `The Highwayman'.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 7 Up The beauty and mystery of Tennyson's poem are reflected in the black-and-white, simple line and wash drawings of this master British illustrator. Through fluid, delicate line, readers see the causeway path to Shalott streaming with villagers and carters; passing knights; reapers in moonlit fields. Then the enigmatic lady is shown, as is her bolting outside after the dazzling Lancelot has passed in her mirror. The stormy skies at nightfall and the wind streaming her hair are wonderfully felt. The illustrations have a muted earthiness that helps place the pictured events in the realm of fancy; the unknowing Lancelot's few words of sympathy add the grace note to the close, where Keeping's cluster of knights' faces seem more human than traditionally heroic. The endpapers view the lady from above, lying in the boat as ``singing in her song she died.'' Several typos mar the text, but where a single illustrated poem can be used, this is a good if stark production. Ruth M. McConnell, San Antonio Public Library, Tex.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Gr. 5-7. The pictures in this small book bring an early-twentieth-century urban setting to Tennyson's classic Arthurian poem, written in 1842, about a young woman imprisoned in a tower, endlessly weaving what she sees in the mirror, until she dares to break free and look outside. Tennyson's "four gray walls and four gray towers" is a city building, the river goes under a bridge, and the "knights" come riding in an old-fashioned automobile. Sir Lancelot is a soldier on horseback. With illustrated poetry there is always the danger that overelaborate pictures will overwhelm the words, but Cote's quiet line-and-watercolor and pastel artwork opens up the story, preserving the romance and mystery without filling in too much. The final notes on the poem and the art will make readers go back and look again, and then think about the final picture, which shows a butterfly flying free. This will appeal both to those who know the rhythmic, haunting lines as well as those reading and hearing them for the first time. Hazel Rochman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 12 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (June 25, 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0192760572
• ISBN-13: 978-0192760579
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 7.2 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,058,534 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars The Lady of Shallot, the Genevieve Cotes Edition: A Pictorial Travesty!, August 15, 2011

By 

T. M. Johnson "TMJ" (Monroe, WA USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Lady of Shalott (Visions in Poetry) (Hardcover)

When I opened my copy of the Visions in Poetry edition of Tennyson's "The Lady of Shalott," I was first astounded and then bewildered by Genevieve Cotes' illustrations of the Tennyson poem. The purpose of pictorial content is to support the text. That's what I expected and thus my criticism of this edition. The poem is given in its entirety, its flights of fancy as beautiful and poignant as ever: the poem itself is impeachable. The illustrations, however, show little regard for the subject matter or chronology of the poem. With Ms. Cotes it seems the artwork is what's important here and not the text. Didn't she read the poem? Cotes' illustrations are anachronisms and this is the problem. The setting appears to be France, Camelot depicted as an early twentieth century French city. (I know the character of Lancelot is a French contribution to the Arthurian Legend, but Cotes' interpretation is ridiculous!) The first illustration presents what appears to be a Parisian couple dressed in 1920's couture. In the background one sees an auto on a bridge and a city skyline hardly medieval.

Tennyson's poem, composed between the years of 1832-42, drew its inspiration from Sir Thomas Malory's "Le Morte Darthur," a compilation of Arthurian romances printed by William Caxton in 1485, in particular the romance "The Fair Maid of Astolat" in which a summary states: "(And, as the booke sayth, she keste such a love unto sir Launcelot that she cowde never withdraw hir loove, wherefore she dyed. And her name was Elayne le Blanke.)" Tennyson takes the story of Elaine and Lancelot and restructures it ("Lancelot and Elaine") in blank verse in his "Idylls of the King." Elaine's story further inspired "The Lady of Shalott," in which the maiden's unrequited love is a kind of curse which causes her to live a life of illusion through the images in the mirror on her wall. The curse "is on her" if she turns her back on the mirror, the life it reflects, turns to the window of her tower and looks out upon the reality of the outside world. The only way she can connect with reality and the world beyond and escape the curse is to weave the mirror's images into a tapestry.

For textual support, then, one would expect artwork depicting medieval dress and architecture, knights with heraldic crests on their shields. Cotes' Lancelot, though astride a charger, wears a military trenchcoat vintage WWI, sports a medal-laden lapel and what appears to be "motorcycle" goggles riding above the brim of his helmet. Where's the rendering of the Golden Age of Chivalry?? In Part One, stanza three, "heavy barges" and "the shallop," (a small sailboat), are given as a modern fishing boat with one of the crew setting or pulling a net. In the next stanza we see "reapers reaping early" wearing sunglasses as protection from the morning glare. In Part iv, stanza four, Cotes has the dead Fairy Lady float past a river or canal front, drifting by the facade of a twentieth century city (hardly the Camelot I envision) and promenade replete with sidewalk cafe and lounging patrons. (Strange, too, that Cotes' "Fairy Lady" sprouts wings when she's outside her tower. Perhaps the Lady only wears them when she "goes out?") Before Cotes sat down at her easel or drawing board, perhaps she should have consulted two beautiful nineteenth century renderings of The Lady of Shalott by William Holman Hunt and John William Waterhouse. Both paintings capture faithfully the medieval times of Arthuriana; it is apparent both artists read the text.

If it weren't for its helpful back material, I would have given this edition only a one star rating. I recently shared Tennyson's beautiful story with my mother and purchased this illustrated version for her birthday present. What a disappointment! In the case of this illustrated version of "The Lady of Shalott," the "search inside this book" feature would have been most helpful.

5.0 out of 5 stars R&T Books / Lady of Shalott, January 18, 2011

By 

alirose - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Lady of Shalott (Hardcover)

Lady of Shalott with illustrations by Howard Pyle:
Book is wonderful to read, illustrations are Museum Quality Beautiful-Seller was DELIGHTFUL and very helpful!!

5.0 out of 5 stars Litland loves The Lady of Shalott illustrated!, August 22, 2010

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Litlandcom Reviews (Bellingham, WA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Lady of Shalott (Visions in Poetry) (Paperback)

"She knows not what the curse may be..."

Living as a recluse, denying the inevitable curse of mankind---our mortality--- the Lady of Shalott finally breaks free of her prison when faced with a vision of love she cannot resist: Sir Lancelot. The artist's rendition of a final metamorphosis can be interpreted many ways, but at the least signifies how the beauty of our nature as Created beings is exposed when we follow the path for which we were created. See our full review with suggested teaching activities at our website.