The scene of The Lady of Shallot that intrigued me the most is when she first begins looking at Sir Lancelot through the mirror, and the idea of her desiring him in a possibly romantic and/or sexual way is introduced. I found this scene most intriguing because of the nature of how it is written tied into her character - The Lady of Shallot is trapped, and as such she is presented to the readers as a character that is unable to act upon her desires since she cannot leave the tower. The very act of her looking at Sir Lancelot through the mirror can be read as going against the expectations that are set out for her, since it is her gaze that causes her to act out of the established norm as the poem progresses. The image that my group curated, which was the Hunt illustration of the Lady herself, was exemplary of this scene and placed the illustrators own ideas (based on the time of which they were being curated) onto the scene. It depicts the Lady as being one that, although trapped,...
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Description
Students in Lorraine Janzen Kooistra's English Capstone Seminar at Ryerson University in Toronto in F2020 aim to make a virtue of pandemic necessity by engaging collaboratively and critically with the digital surrogates of a wide variety of Victorian illustrated books published between 1843 and 1899.
Using the interpretive model of image/text/context for both synchronic and diachronic analyses, and drawing on a range of digital tools, this course aims to understand the past through the present and the present through the past.
Our study begins with Charles Dickens's iconic Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story of Christmas, illustrated by John Leech (1843), then turns to two examples of poetry and illustration: Alfred Tennyson's "The Lady of Shalott," illustrated by Pre-Raphaelite artists William Holman Hunt and Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1857); and Christina Rossetti's "Goblin Market," illustrated by her brother, Dante Gabriel (1862). These mid-century works will provide the foundation for our study of the illustrated books that proliferated at the end of the century. We'll analyze a variety of fin-de-siècle genres and styles, starting with Arthur Conan Doyle's popular detective stories, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, illustrated by Sydney Paget (1892). Next up is Salome: A Tragedy in One Act, Oscar Wilde's censored play based on a biblical story, which was infamously "embroidered" by decadent artist Aubrey Beardsley (1894). Fairy tales and fantasies aimed at adult audiences allowed counter-cultural writers and artists to protest existing norms and imagine other worlds; our examples are Laurence Housman's self-illustrated collection, The House of Joy (1895) and Clemence Housman's gothic novella The Were-Wolf, with wood-engraved illustrations by the author after her brother Laurence's designs (1896). The Annancy Stories, a self-illustrated collection of folktales by Pamela Colman Smith, is the first-known publication featuring this Jamaican trickster figure (1899). Students examine the final work, A Christmas Carol: The Graphic Novel (2019), for evidence of the legacy of Victorian illustrated books today.
The following texts are available in COVE (see D2L for the other digital surrogates):
Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story of Christmas (1843): A COVE Studio Text for class annotation
Clemence Housman, The Were-Wolf (1896): A COVE Annotated Edition
Christina G. Rossetti, Goblin Market (1862): A COVE Annotated Edition
Alfred Tennyson: The Lady of Shalott (1857): A COVE Studio text for class annotation
Victorian illustrated books resulted from the collaboration of a number of social agents, including authors, artists, engravers, editors, publishers, and readers. Using the COVE toolset, students and instructor work collaboratively to build resources that critically curate Victorian illustrated books in cultural contexts ranging from the nineteenth century to the present.
We will use the COVE annotation tool to hone our close reading and editorial skills. In COVE Studio, each student will provide TWO TEXTUAL ANNOTATIONS, one on "content," one on "craft," for Dickens's A Christmas Carol and Tennyson's "The Lady of Shalott."
We will use the Gallery Image tool to provide bibliographic and contextual information and iconographic commentary and analysis on illustrations, and to associate these with events in the Timeline and places in the Map.
We will use the Gallery Exhibition tool to critically curate illustrated books in cultural contexts, situating works synchronically, within their originating moment of production and reception, and diachronically, in terms of their ongoing moments of production and reception.
We will use the COVE Timeline tool to provide information about historical events relevant to Victorian illustrated books, both at the time of their first publication, and in their ongoing re-production over time and across media.
We will use the COVE Map tool to associate places relevant to illustrated books and their makers and the cultural contexts that we showcase in the Gallery and on the Timeline.
Individual Entries
Specifically looking at The Moxon Tennyson (1857) that contained the illustrated image by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, it was quite dark to me. The image looked quite medival while Lancelot finds the Lady’s dead body and stands over her. This particular image helped me with better understanding the innocence that the Lady carries. The symbolism of her purity and femininity is shown here through the setting. The water and swans show her delicance as well as her body being placed so graciously. This helped engage me with the text more as I was able to visualize a grieving scene through an image; "Died themselves of royal cheer;/And they'd cross themselves with fear;." There is also a subtle message of male dominance in the image as Lancelot stands over the Lady's dead body, possibly demonstrating his power over her. In text that is associated with this image, Lancelot also states "'She has a lovely face'", almost implying that he only sees her for who she...
moreI really enjoyed reading the 1857 Moxon publication of The Lady of Shalott this week. In short conversation at the beginning of the lecture, a few important details stuck with me and further developed my understanding of the poem as a work in time. To begin, the fact that The Lady of Shallot was a poem that came before the 1857 publication, speaks lengths to the interpretive aspects of the art that was later included. I thought it was interesting that the artists had grown up reading and forming their own opinions on the text, before making their own illustrations.
Although both artists use the wood engraving method of print, their visual representations of The Lady highlight contrasting character/content interpretations. With William...
moreI really enjoyed reading Alfred Tennyson's, Lady of Shalott this week. I have studied it in the past and it continues to be one of my favourite texts from the Victorian era. I was surprised to learn that the actual poem was published twenty-five years before it was actually illustrated by the numerous artists. I do believe that it impacted the overall reception of the poem as by the time it was illustrated, there was a growing middle class in England and an increased demand for domesticated artwork through books. The intricate wood engraving illustrations certainly helped Tennyson's book of poems do really well in the marketplace. In terms of annotating the poem, I found that it was much easier than last week's exercise. I found this poem to use simple language and had less Victorian cultural references. I think this really helps the poem remain timeless, which is why I enjoy it so much. Tennyson's use of the Arthurian legend and its characters such as Sir Lancelot also...
moreThis week's class presented many interesting challenges as we began our first annotation assignment for Charles Dickens classic A Christmas Carol. I found the process of annotation to be incredibly interesting and engaging. Through these annotations I was presented with a great opportunity to research and analyze the text in more detail than I otherwise would be. I was able to learn about the historical context of many of the themes presented throughout the text. Victorian colloquialisms and societal conflict surrounding class and industry were all things that I was able to expand my knowledge of through these annotations. John Leech’s illustrations were particularly striking. I was unaware going in just how much effort was put into the complex process of creating and reproducing these images. Furthermore the incredible detail in each image, each so full of thematic...
moreThis week’s discussion about the images in Dickens’ A Christmas Carol was really useful to me. I have next to no experience interpreting images, so that was the thing I was most anxious about going into this course. I’ve spent years building my skills at interpreting and analyzing words, but doing so with images is a whole new world. It was really helpful sitting together as a class and working through the images together to see what purposes we thought each image served.
One thing that really stood out to me regarding the images themselves is the way John Leech used his interpretations of the characters to illuminate Dickens’ themes. My group had looked at the image “Mr. Fezziwig’s Ball” and one of the things we noticed right away about the image was how much detail and colour was put into the drawings of Mr. and Mrs. Fezziwig. On the other hand, his workers were drawn with less detail, very little colour, and seemed to...
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