What are the main themes in Alfred Lord Tennyson"s "The Lady of Shalott", and how are they presented? Alfred Lord Tennyson was born in Somersby, Lincolnshire on August 6, 1809. It was his father, Reverend George Tennyson, who initially educated him and recognised his poetic abilities, whilst he was still in his early teens. Tennyson wrote, The Devil and the Lady, when he was just fourteen. The atmosphere in which Tennyson was raised was one of bitterness and relative poverty. Tennyson lived an extremely troubled life; the death of his friend Arthur Hallam shocked him most profoundly. This grief led...
fifth line of the ninth stanza and the ninth line of the twelfth stanza. I feel that this is meant to symbolise how the Lady"s new-found love for him brings to an end her task and allows her to escape the tower. I will now go on to discuss the themes within the poem and how they are presented. One of the main ideas within the poem is "isolation". At first we feel that the Lady is happy being on her own in the tower, and occupies herself by weaving a tapestry: There she weaves by night and day.