You have quoted the stanza that opens the second section
of this famous poem. This stanza actually gives us key information about the Lady of
Shalott and the kind of life that she leads, and in particular the curse that she lives
under. Note the way that the first half of this stanza indicates that, as the Lady is
unable to participate in life, she spends her time weaving a representation of the
sights that she sees through the mirror, a "magic web with colours gay." Because the
curse forbids her to look down to Camelot and see reality with her naked eye, she has to
have reality mediated through the mirror, and records her sights in the weaving that she
spends all day doing, "weaving steadily," having little else to engage her
attentions.
You might like to think about how this stanza
presents one of the key conflicts in the poem, which is between art and life. The Lady
of Shalott is removed by the curse from participating in life, and tries to record life
through the art of her weaving. Yet it is very clear that this is only a pale imitation
of the life that she desires, as her decision to break the curse and look down upon Sir
Lancelot indicates.
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