There she weaves by night and day
A magic web with colours gay.
She has heard a whisper say,
A curse is on her if she stay 
          To look down to Camelot.
She knows not what the curse may be,
And so she weaveth steadily,
And little other care hath she,
          The Lady of Shalott. 
 
And moving thro' a mirror clear
That hangs before her all the year,
Shadows of the world appear.
There she sees the highway near
          Winding down to Camelot: 
There the river eddy whirls,
And there the surly village-churls,
And the red cloaks of market girls,
          Pass onward from Shalott.
 
Sometimes a troop of damsels glad, 
An abbot on an ambling pad,
Sometimes a curly shepherd-lad,
Or long-hair'd page in crimson clad,
          Goes by to tower'd Camelot;
And sometimes thro' the mirror blue 
The knights come riding two and two:
She hath no loyal knight and true,
          The Lady of Shalott.
 
But in her web she still delights
To weave the mirror's magic sights, 
For often thro' the silent nights
A funeral, with plumes and lights,
          And music, went to Camelot:
Or when the moon was overhead,
Came two young lovers lately wed; 
'I am half sick of shadows,' said
          The Lady of Shalott.

About the headline (FAQ)

Confirmed with Quiller-Couch, Arthur Thomas, Sir. The Oxford Book of English Verse. Oxford: Clarendon, 1919, [c1901]; Bartleby.com, 1999. www.bartleby.com/101/700.html.

Text Authorship:

• by Alfred Tennyson, Lord (1809 - 1892), no title, appears in The Lady of Shalott, no. 2 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

• by Wilfred Ellington Bendall (1850 - 1920), "There she weaves by night and day ", published 1884 [ soprano, SSA chorus, orchestra ], from cantata The Lady of Shalott, no. 2, London, Novello [sung text not yet checked]
• by Carl Reinhold Busch (1862 - 1943), "There she weaves by night and day ", published 1894 [ soprano, mixed chorus, orchestra ], from cantata The Lady of Shalott, no. 2, Boston, White-Smith [sung text not yet checked]
• by Christopher Montague Edmunds (1899 - 1990), "There she weaves by night and day ", published 1926 [ SA chorus, orchestra ], from cantata The Lady of Shalott, no. 2, London, Stainer & Bell [sung text not yet checked]
• by Maurice Jacobson (1896 - 1976), "There she weaves by night and day ", published 1942 [ tenor, SATB chorus, orchestra ], from cantata The Lady of Shalott, no. 2, London, Curwen [sung text not yet checked]
• by John Theodore Livingston Raynor (1909 - 1970), "There she weaves by night and day", op. 36 no. 2 (1944) [ voice and piano ], from The Lady of Shalott, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Phyllis Margaret Duncan Tate (1911 - 1987), "There she weaves by night and day ", 1956 [ tenor, viola, percussion, 2 pianos, cello ], from cantata The Lady of Shalott, no. 2, London, Oxford University Press [sung text not yet checked]

The text above (or a part of it) is used in the following settings:

• by Cecil Armstrong Gibbs (1889 - 1960), "The Lady of Shalott", published 1929 [ mezzo-soprano, SA chorus, piano, optional strings ], London, Curwen
  • View the full text. [sung text not yet checked]
    
• by Cyril Bradley Rootham (1875 - 1938), "The Lady of Shalott", 1909-10 [ mezzo-soprano, SATB chorus, orchestra ]
  • View the full text. [sung text not yet checked]
    

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

• FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2015-02-19
Line count: 36
Word count: 208