Lady of Shalott

Here is the John William Waterhouse painting of The Lady of Shalott as it hangs in the Tate Gallery in London. The Lady of Shalott is a victorian ballad written by none other than Sir Alfred Lord Tennyson. It is the story of a Lady who lives alone in a castle looking out upon the world through the aid of a mirror. Simply watching and then weaving what she sees into a tapestry. Upon seeing the reflection of Sir Lancelot, though forbidden, she leaves her castle. Then finds a boat upon which she writes her name and then sets adrift towards Camelot. Singing her death song.

Tennyson's Window

Caerleon in Wales is often tied to the legend of King Arthur with literary connection clear back to Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniæ written around 1136. Granted most locations tied to the legend have very little probability of being correct but one locations claims are factual…at least in the literary world. In 1856, Alfred Lord Tennyson stayed at the Hanbury Arms where he began writing his famous Morte d'Arthur which was later incorporated into his Idylls of the King. This window inside the pub of Hanbury Arms is known as Tennyson's Window. This is were Tennyson would sit while looking over the River Usk and working on his masterpiece. They were gracious enough to let me photograph before they opened and then I had a meat pie for lunch at this very table.