I enjoyed annotating "The Lady of Shalott“ poem as it really added more information and considerations into a poem that has been read numerous times. It makes the experience more unique, so to speak. I hadn't really thought too deeply about the poem previously, save for the examination of its content generally. But to add it into the context of the Victorian period and understanding what influenced the illustrations - the pre-Raphelites, gender roles etc - it adds a whole new layer. The detail in the wood engravings was also pleasing to look at, seeing the effort and time it took into having it all done - I could really see the effort put into illustrations (how it naturally draws the eye into looking at the finer details of the art - the mirror, the way the Lady looks, the detail of each strand of hair).

I found it interesting how heavily the cultural context  impacts the way an artist will do their illustration for a piece of literature. More specifically, how much tension there is for an artist in the possibility in not following the context of the culture they reside in. It's like how negatively the Cleopatra illustration was given because the author hadn't thought of her being dark-skinned. But it does open the floor to examining how different social norms from 1850s and modern time is for an illustrator (there are more liberties, I'd like to believe, when they make their art for various works).