In performing annotations for both image and text there were a number of things that I found particularly engaging both within the text and the context of “The Lady of Shalott”. Firstly, I will say that I found the text itself to be incredibly engaging. This is the first poem that we have studied in this course and I found the medium to be one that I particularly enjoyed. The way in which Tennyson was able to weave together a narrative while retaining the flow of his poetry was impressive.

This week, we looked at the poem "The Lady of Shalott", and had a chance to annotate parts of it individually, and then together, for the image portion of the text. My group annotated William Holman Hunt's illustration for the text; this image is a wood-engraved framed inset illustration, denoted by the linear border that surrounds it on the page. What I found most fascinating about this image is how it essentially encapsulates the entirety of the poem.

I enjoyed doing the annotations on content and craft last week, but I felt as though doing them for “The Lady of Shalott” proved to be very helpful. I often struggle to understand poetry, therefore it was helpful to have the opportunity to take a close look into the text. I also enjoyed listening to what my group members had to say, but also being able to see what other students wrote for the parts we were not assigned to. We were assigned the first image by WHH, therefore there were a lot of details that I did not notice.

Annotating "The Lady of Shalott" was an engaging process. Tennyson layers references and commentary on the social position of women and their lack of social mobility. The first impression of the poem is the base description of the Lady falling to her doom through her attraction to Lancelot. However, there are more intricate details within the poem that come to light through a focused critical analysis. The text is rife with allusions but what I enjoyed most was the symbols of the constrained life of the Lady of Shalott.

This week's class was once again focused on the text-image relationship but it was also very much focused on the weekly reading which gave great historical context on illustrators and how they went about illustrating their images. For example, as mentioned in class, the poem itself was published 25 years before its illustrations were released which not only shows how popular the poem was 2 decades after its releas, but also how the ilustrators grew up reading the poem since childhood.

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.

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.

I 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.