Please describe the following lines from "The Lady of Shallot" in detail.On either side the river lie Long fields of barley and of rye, That clothe...

You have quoted the first two stanzas of this excellent
and famous poem. You will want to think of the function of these two stanzas. What do
they achieve? How do they introduce the poem and its central concepts and ideas? In
particular, note the way that both stanzas introduce a contrast between the world of
Camelot and the secluded island of Shalott. For example, in the first stanza, the
majesty of "many-towered Camelot" contrasts with the rural setting and the separate
island of Shalott. In the second stanza, this contrast is heightened in the way that
lines 10-14 suggest a setting alive with colour and movement with reference to the
"Little breezes" that "dusk and shiver." In contrast to this, note how lines 15-18
suggest drabness and silence with the repetition of "grey" in the description of the
island of Shalott and how it keeps the Lady of Shalott "imbowered" in her own separate
world that is distant from the movement, colour and activity of the outside world. Thus,
we could argue that these two opening stanzas are important in the way that they present
the division between the world of Camelot and real life, and then the world of the Lady
of Shalott and that of art. This is a conflict that characterises the entire
poem.