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A10792

Volume pubblicato con il contributo delDIPARTIMENTO DI STUDI COMPARATI

Università degli Studi “G. d’Annunzio” di Chieti-Pescara

Percorsi italo-brasilianiDieci anni di convenzione UdA - UFBA

a cura diSilvia La Regina

Anne Macedo

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ISBN 978–88–548–4449–0

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I edizione: dicembre 2011

INDICE

Premessa

9

The Lady of Shalott, Lord Tennyson, and other gender re-

presentations in the arts

di Silvia M. Guerra Anastácio

13

Le Memorie di Giuseppe Garibaldi in Sudamerica

di Giovanni Brancaccio

35

Pop literature and mass media

di Décio Torres Cruz

45

Literatura e nacionalidade

di Eneida Leal Cunha

69

Il restauro in aree sismiche

di Marcello D’Anselmo

81

L’internazionalizzazione dell’università: un insegnamento

dalla storia

di Paolo De Maria

91

Segni del Comico nell’immaginario mediterraneo: Shake-

speare e Molière in Sicilia

di Rosalba Gasparro

99

Nações Unidas e a cena do teatro brasileiro nos anos 60

di Evelina Hoisel

115

Cartografia poetica: lugares da cidade na poesia de Gregório

de Matos

di Silvia La Regina

127

À margem da literatura marginal: um estudo sobre a re-

cepção crítica da literatura das minorias

di Rachel Esteves Lima

141

Clarice de Ana Miranda ou Ana Miranda de Clarice?

di Anne Macedo

155

La controversa scoperta del Brasile: Vespucci, Pinzòn, Ca-

bral, Pacheco Pereira

di Leo Marchetti

169

Maschera, gioco, vertigine, abisso: il linguaggio dell’eros in

James Merrill

di Andrea Mariani

181

Il Petrarca di Thomas Wyatt: transizione epistemica e tra-

duzione culturale di un modello

di Francesco Marroni

195

Le comunità straniere residenti in Italia (2002 - 2008).

I Brasiliani

di Gerardo Massimi

209

Il chá de bugre: un fitocomplesso della medicina tradizio-

nale brasiliana

di Luigi Menghini

243

Alice nel paese delle meraviglie semantiche: società indu-

striale, comunicazione e logica simbolica negli Alice Books

di Lewis Carroll

di Gabriella Micks

251

La formazione degli architetti restauratori in Brasile e il con-

tributo italiano

di Mário Mendonça de Oliveira

261

Rocco e i suoi fratelli e il drammatico inserimento dell’emi-

grante nella grande città

di Mauro Porru

281

O regionalismo brasileiro e a obra de Jorge Amado

di Ana Rosa Neves Ramos

293

Entre trutas e periquitos: um diálogo entre Sean O’Faolain e

Graciliano Ramos

di Elizabeth Ramos

309

Un percorso di scintille: Rina Sara Virgillito, da Rainer M.

Rilke a Emily Dickinson

di Sergio Romanelli

317

Il Brasile di Lima Barreto. Un saggio introduttivo

di Cecilia Santanchè

331

Problemi di restauro degli edifici storici in Brasile: il caso

delle malte

di Cybèle Celestino Santiago

341

Variação linguística e conotação de autonímia

di Iracema Luiza de Souza

353

Uma edição revista por Vieira

di Célia Marques Telles

363

Il Rio Grande do Sul in O Continente di Érico Verissimo

di Helena Silveira Netto Trentin

379

Ricostruire l’Italia: monumenti e città nel secondo dopo-

guerra

di Claudio Varagnoli

391

Informazioni sugli autori 407

9

PREMESSA

Silvia La Regina

Anne Macedo

La convenzione fra l’UdA e l’Universidade Federal da Bahia, UFBA,

ha cominciato a nascere nel 1997, da un’idea comune di Gabriella

Micks, Mauro Porru e Eugenia Galeffi, ed ha interessato inizialmente

le rispettive facoltà, Instituto de Letras dell’UFBA di Salvador e

Facoltà di Lingue e Letterature Straniere dell’UdA di Pescara; è stata

firmata nel 1999 dai Magnifici Rettori dell’UdA, Franco Cuccurullo, e

dell’UFBA, Heonir Rocha, e ha visto le sue prime attività nello stesso

anno. Fin dall’inizio, ancor prima che la convenzione venisse allargata

ad altre facoltà, come vedremo in seguito, essa ha avuto quelle carat-

teristiche di multi-disciplinarietà e multiculturalità che sono alla base

della sua ispirazione; i numerosi docenti (e i purtroppo non ancora

numerosi studenti di dottorato) che hanno partecipato sono di aree

assai diverse, e proprio l’integrazione e la collaborazione fra discipline

non tradizionalmente associate danno il tono e la caratteristica della

convenzione, nel senso più alto ed etimologico di università.

In seguito la convenzione è stata allargata alle Facoltà di Architet-

tura e Farmacia dell’UdA e a quelle di Arquitetura, Escola Politécnica,

Farmácia e Química dell’UFBA, ampliando quindi il carattere multi-

disciplinare di una convenzione attiva da ormai più di dieci anni e che,

per essere completa, deve solo attivare pienamente lo scambio di stu-

denti, non solo del dottorato ma anche dei corsi di laurea, come

peraltro sembra stia per accadere già nel 2011.

Con regolarità talora offuscata da questioni amministrative, nel cor-

so degli anni sono state realizzate 5 Settimane Italo-Brasiliane (presso

l’UdA) e 7 Semanas UFBA-UdA (presso l’UFBA), l’elenco dei cui

partecipanti è proposto in appendice a questa premessa.

10 Silvia La Regina, Anne Macedo

Questa raccolta di saggi, oltre che giusto omaggio a quanti negli

anni hanno presentato il frutto delle proprie ricerche in incontri svol-

tisi sui due emisferi, è anche una celebrazione dei 10 anni della con-

venzione, con la speranza che essa continui a dare i suoi frutti per altri

decenni, a rinsaldare i rapporti fra le due Istituzioni così come fra i

Paesi che esse rappresentano. La scelta di disporre i contributi per or-

dine alfabetico del cognome dell’autore ha una ragione precisa, per-

ché, invece di dividere i testi per Ateneo (così da isolare i partecipanti

delle due università in blocchi distinti) o per area di interesse scien-

tifico, si è voluto riunire tutti gli autori in un’unica lista, a sottolineare

il carattere aperto, di scambio intellettuale e infine, ancora una volta,

multidisciplinare, della convenzione e dei saggi che la rappresentano,

senza frapporre steccati linguistici o disciplinari. E davvero ricco è il

ventaglio di studi proposto in italiano, portoghese o inglese: dalla

teoria letteraria al restauro, dalla letteratura inglese a Garibaldi, da un

fitocomplesso brasiliano al cinema, dalla geografia delle migrazioni

alla letteratura brasiliana, alla filologia, al teatro, alla traduzione, ed

altri temi ancora. La varietà e la qualità dei contributi, dunque, riba-

disce l’importanza e la vitalità della nostra convenzione, ai cui

partecipanti va un caldo ringraziamento.

1999 – agosto I Semana UFBA – UdA, Salvador: Aniello Angelo

Avella (Letteratura Portoghese e Brasiliana), Gabriella Micks (Lette-

ratura Inglese), Antonio Sorella (Storia della Lingua Italiana e Filo-

logia Italiana).

1999 – dicembre I Settimana Italo-brasiliana, Pescara: Eugenia

Maria Galeffi (Lingua e Letteratura Italiana), Elizabeth Hazin (Lette-

ratura Brasiliana), Lys Miréia Santanché (Lingua e Letteratura Ita-

liana).

2000 – dicembre II Semana UFBA – UdA, Salvador: Rosalba Ga-

sparro (Letteratura Francese) e Antonio Sorella (Storia della Lingua

Italiana e Filologia Italiana).

Premessa 11

2000 – dicembre II Settimana Italo-brasiliana, Pescara: Miriam de

Almeida Souza (Letteratura Inglese) e Raimunda Bedasee (Lingua e

Letteratura Francese).

2001 – novembre III Semana UFBA-UdA (inserita nell’ambito del

IX Congresso ABPI, Associação Brasileira dos Professores de Ita-

liano), Salvador: Marilena Giammarco (Letteratura Italiana) e Fran-

cesco Marroni (Letteratura Inglese), Andrea Santurbano (dottorando

UdA).

2001 – dicembre III Settimana Italo-brasiliana, Pescara: Mauro Por-

ru (Lingua e Letteratura Italiana) e Iracema Luiza de Souza (Lingua

Portoghese).

2003 – gennaio IV Semana UFBA-UdA, Salvador: Leo Marchetti

(Letteratura Inglese), Andrea Mariani (Letteratura Angloamericana),

Antonio Sorella (Storia della Lingua Italiana e Filologia Italiana).

2005 – gennaio IV Settimana Italo-brasiliana, Pescara: Silvia Maria

Guerra Anastácio (Letteratura Inglese), Décio Torres Cruz (Lingua e

Letteratura Inglese) e Sergio Romanelli (dottorando UFBA).

2006 – ottobre V Semana UFBA-UdA, Salvador: Paolo de Maria

(Delegato del Rettore ai Rapporti Internazionali) e Luigi Menghini,

Facoltà di Farmacia di Chieti, Leo Marchetti (Letteratura Inglese),

Andrea Mariani (Letteratura Angloamericana), Andrea Pasquino (Let-

teratura Francese), Cecilia Santanché (Lingua Portoghese), della Fa-

coltà di Lingue e Letterature Straniere di Pescara;.

2007 – dicembre V Settimana Italo-brasiliana, Pescara: Eneida Leal

Cunha (Letteratura Brasiliana), Ana Rosa Neves Ramos (Letteratura

Francese), Elizabeth Ramos (Letteratura Inglese), Célia Marques Telles

(Filologia Romanza) dell’Instituto de Letras da UFBA, Mário Men-

donça de Oliveira (Tecnologia della Conservazione e del Restauro),

Cybéle Celestino Santiago (Scienza e Tecnologia dei Materiali) della

Escola Politécnica da UFBA, Anne Macedo (dottoranda UFBA): nel

2007 per la prima volta la Settimana Italo-brasiliana a Pescara ha visto

12 Silvia La Regina, Anne Macedo

la partecipazione attiva di numerosi colleghi dell’UdA: Giovanni

Brancaccio (Storia Moderna e Contemporanea), Silvia La Regina

(Letteratura Portoghese e Brasiliana), Andrea Mariani (Letteratura

Angloamericana), Geraldo Massimi (Geografia Economica), Elena

Ricci (Letterature Comparate), Cecília Santanché (Lingua Portoghe-

se), Helena Trentin (Lingua e Mediazione Portoghese e Brasiliana). In

ottobre erano stati a Salvador Antonella Fontana e Nazareno Re, della

Facoltà di Farmacia di Chieti, per stabilire contatti e firmare accordi di

ricerca con colleghi dell’UFBA.

2008 – settembre VI Semana UFBA-UdA, Salvador: Rosalba

Gasparro (Letteratura Francese) e Andrea Mariani (Letteratura Anglo-

americana), nuovamente in un evento che ha visto la partecipazione di

numerosi colleghi dell’UFBA: Sílvia Maria Guerra Anastácio (Lette-

ratura Inglese), Décio Torres Cruz (Lingua e letteratura Inglese), Eve-

lina Hoisel (Teoria della Letteratura), Rachel Esteves Lima (Lettera-

tura Brasiliana), Mauro Porru (Lingua e Letteratura Italiana).

2009 – novembre VII Semana UFBA-UdA, Salvador: Silvia La

Regina (Letteratura Portoghese e Brasiliana) e Elena Ricci (Lettera-

ture Comparate).

Infine, un doveroso e speciale ringraziamento a chi, dalle due sedi

universitarie, è stato responsabile della Convenzione: Mauro Porru,

Lys Miréia Santanchè, Francesco Marroni, Gabriella Micks, Andrea

Mariani. Dedichiamo il volume alla memoria di Gabriella Micks.

13

THE LADY OF SHALOTT, LORD TENNYSON AND OTHER GENDER

REPRESENTATIONS IN THE ARTS

Sílvia Maria Guerra Anastácio

INTRODUCTION

The Choice of the Theme: Intention and Justification

The chosen theme proposes the study of female representations

produced in the XIX century. The selection of texts stems from the

poem, The Lady of Shalott, an emblematic figure from English litera-

ture, which depicts a woman so typical of her age, an icon so eloquent,

that she was the inspiration of a huge variety of paintings influenced

by the imagetic power of Tennyson‟s verses.

With the aim of proposing a discussion regarding feminist discourse,

the poem, which has motivated this study, invites an incursion into the fine

arts, in the extent that the selected works amplify our understanding of

the discourse under analysis. In this study, it is intended not only to

describe female imagery centred in a determined epoque, but also to

question what a twentieth century critic can infer from the whole

semiotic network which has been woven around the female form.

1 PULLING THE FIRST NARRATIVE THREADS: CONCEPTS

AND REPRESENTATIONS

It is important to start by conceptualising “feminism”, as well as

the notion of “gender”. According to Pam Morris, “Feminism is a kind

of political perception based on at least two essential ideas: that gender

difference is the basis of a structural inequality between men and women,

14 Sílvia Maria Guerra Anastácio

which is responsible for social injustice to women; and that the inequality

between the sexes is a sociocultural construction rather than a biological

necessity1.

Regarding the cultural conceptions of male and female, they are:

complementary (...) categories into which (...) human beings are placed

constitute within each culture a gender system, a symbolic system or system

of meanings, that correlates sex to cultural contents according to social values

and hierarchies. Although the meanings vary with each culture, a sex-gender

system is interconnected with political and economic factors in each society.

The sex-gender system is both a sociocultural construct and a semiotic

apparatus, a system of representation which assigns meaning (identity, value,

prestige, status...) to individuals within the society2.

Works of art can suggest representations of gender associated to

sexuality, and this mediation is processed through images and trans-

mitted as verbal or frequently physical signs. When dealing with the

representation of feminism, especially in literature, but also

concerning arts in general, it is necessary to understand a little about

its foundations.

Looking back through time, the vast majority of Western myths

linked to the creation of man perceive the woman‟s role as secondary:

“not only is woman created after man, but also she is seen as inferior

to him in terms of perfection”3. Woman appears as the “Other”, dis-

cursive precedency pertains to the male. Simone de Beauvoir, in The

Second Sex, develops the concept of the “Other”, recognising the fact

that it is only possible to admit the sense of our own identity from the

existence of another or in opposition to that identity. According to Simone

de Beauvoir, the woman is seen as a being which is “inessential before

the essential. The male is the subject and the absolute; Woman is but

the „Other‟”4.

This inequality is present in the very core of Western myths and

assumes a deeply-rooted, symbolic force in the history of these cul-

1 P. MORRIS, Literature and Feminism, Oxford, Blackwell, 1993, p.1. 2 T. LAURETIS, Technologies of Gender, Bloomington, Indiana Press, 1987, p.5. 3 N. TUANA, The Less Noble Sex, Indianopolis, Indiana University Press, 1993, p.3. 4 S. de BEAUVOIR, O Segundo Sexo, trad. Sérgio Milliet, 2 vols., Rio de Janeiro, Nova

Fronteira, 1980, I, pp.10-11.

The Lady of Shalott, Lord Tennyson, and other Gender Representations 15

tures. The word “myth” is derived from the Greek word mythos, and

means “word, speech, and history of the Gods”. It is a narrative which

indicates the values of a specific society, offering an insight into the

probable attitude of those that believe in such stories and making the

reconstruction of the way in which people think possible. The myths

are “symbolic representations of our ideas”, and it is important to have

in mind, that the myths and imaginary versions of real social

relationships, which constitute ideology, “are not simply a set of

illusions, but a system of representations (discourses, images, myths)

concerning the real relations in which people live”5.

Ideology “is a permanent search for values”, which affects the

individual or collective discourse6, for the act of observation is not na

ingenuous one; it is weighed down with meanings and a stanceis

adopted before the world.

Since every utterance reflects a socio-ideological structure, it is known

that the sign and the social organisation are interlinked, as all signs are

ideological. Semiotic systems always reflect an ideology, and a word

is a supreme ideological sign. But not just a word, all artistic-symbolic

imagery is a form of utterance, which may be viewed as an ideological

sign, reflecting a cosmovision and revealing a series of values, which

the artist may support or condemn.

Intersemiotic Strategies

A preoccupation with intersemiotic strategies is transfigured in the

present comparative study, just as verbal and physical signs are woven

around the poem The Lady of Shalott. Semiotics is a recognised

method of scientific investigation within the behavioural, cognitive

and social sciences, which refers to the study of the capacity of human

beings to produce and understand signs of all types. The word “sign”

comes from the Greek word sema, “mark, signal”; it “represents

something to someone, in some way”7.

5 R. COWARD and J. ELLIS, Language and Materialism, London, Routledge & Kegan Paul,

1977, p. 101. 6 A.J. GREIMAS, J. COURTÉS, Dicionário de Semiótica, trad. Alceu Dias Lima et alii,. São

Paulo, Cultrix, 1979, pp. 224-225. 7 C.S. PEIRCE, Collected Papers, ed. Philip Weiner, 8 vols, Cambridge, Harvard Univer-

sity Press, 1958, p.2228.


The principal components of the semiotic, mental process are: the

sign (a representative image or an icon, a word or a gesture, etc.); the

object referred to (which may be concrete or abstract); and the mean-

ing, which results from an association between the sign and its object.

The human, cognitive system operates on the basis of this triadic axis8.

According to the ideas of Charles Peirce (1839-1914), each sign

determines an interpretant, “that is itself a sign; it may be an equi-

valent sign, or perhaps it may be more developed than the initial sign”9. It

is through the interpretant that a new element enters into the system,

permitting in this way, a better understanding of the immediate object.

The intersemiotic translations, like the verbal and non-verbal signs,

include paintings, sculptures, etc. are interpretants which tend to

increase the comprehension of the object10

.

The semiotic process is, thus, inherent in the innate ability of the

mind to transform sensorial impressions into signs cognitively. All

creatures are destined to emit “signs of life”, because life is semiosis

or the action of the sign11

.

2 DELINEATING FEMALE REPRESENTATIONS WOVEN

FROM THE ICON – THE LADY OF SHALOTT

What images of women were depicted in the artistic production of

the 19th

century and why is that century being especially privileged in

our present study? According to the opinion of the feminist critics, M.

Gilbert and Susan Gubar, these images of women were, largely, mas-

culine fantasies, constructed by authors that belonged to a patriarchial

system12

. They were narratives, which frequently, focussed on mar-

ginalised female figures, and, among these texts, which reflected on

the exclusion and the silence of women, the poem by Alfred Tennyson,

8 T.A. SEBEOK, Signs. An Introduction to Semiotics, Toronto, University of Toronto Press,

1994, p. xi-xiii. 9 C. S. PEIRCE, Collected Papers, 1958, p.2228. 10 T.A. SEBEOK, 1994, pp.6-14. 11 M. DANESI quoted in SEBEOK, Signs, 1994, pp. xi-xiii. 12 M. GILBERT and S. GUBAR quoted in T. MOI, Sexual/Textual Politics: Feminist Literary

Theory, Massachusetts, Methuen, 1985, p.57.


Lady of Shalott, stands out. Gender studies have turned their attention to

these verses with the intention of analysing them from a feminist

perspective.

One of the landmarks of the 19th

century was the beginnings of a

feminist movement13. After the industrial revolution, women‟s demands

intensified, especially after their entrance into the work-force in ex-

change for lower salaries than those received by men, which meant

that they constituted a threat. Society tried to control women, by lim-

iting their liberty and trying to lead them back to the home and to

domestic chores14

. Feminists stood up against this dichotomy between

public and private spaces, saying that all dichotomies reduce the com-

plexity of a situation and that, in practice, these spaces frequently

overlap.

2.1 Establishing a dialogue with the poem The Lady of Shalott

The narrative poem of the Victorian epoque, The Lady of Shalott,

by Alfred Tennyson (1809-1892) reflects on the question of the place

occupied by the women of that society. In this period, more interest

started to be generated regarding questions relating to sexuality and

the role of women within and outside of family life. Writers and paint-

ers reflected on these issues through their cultural production; each

expressing, in his/her own way, the dominant values and a possible

multiplicity of discourses15

.

The Origins of the Poem

Tennyson wrote two versions of the poem: one was published in

1833 and the other in 1842, the latter is the subject of this study and

was illustrated on canvas by the painter John William Waterhouse

among others.

13 K. MILLET, The Debate over Women in the Victorian Age, Indianopolis, Indiana,

University Press, 1973, p.121. 14 S. BEAUVOIR, 1980, p.xxix. 15 W. HOUGHTON, The Victorian Frame of Mind, Connecticut,Yale University Press,

1957, p.9.


To write this poem, Alfred Tennyson, one of the most represent-

ative authors of the Victorian age, was inspired by the character of

Elaine, by Thomas Malory (1394?-1471), who was in love with Sir

Lancelot, one of the knights of the Round Table. Malory, in his turn,

took his inspiration from the stories and legends of King Arthur as he

wanted to recapture the times of chivalry marked by the Middle Ages.

The Lady of Shalott is a ballad with a tragic tone. The word ballad

comes from archaic French and means “a song for dancing”. Ballads

were very popular in the Middle Ages and used to sing about love,

courage and death. The ballad‟s melodious refrain helps to emphasise

high points in the narrative16

.

The plot of the poem invokes a polifony of voices among medieval

legends and stories, which interact to give life to the verses of The

Lady of Shalott. High among Tennyson‟s appropriations in writing his

poem are the myths of creation like the one of Penelope, wife of the

warrior Ulysses, who in a way similar to that of The Lady of Shalott is

constantly working on her tapestry. The image of Penelope may refer

to the history of female creativity, and feminist critics, amidst the cul-

tural, patriarchial traditions, have sought more recently to deconstruct

old myths, substituting their nuances, little by little, with new inter-

pretations.

Within the text, multiple voices – consciously or unconsciously –

meet one another, in a phenomenon identified by the linguist Julia

Kristeva as “intertextuality”17

. As Morris remembers, Bakhtin refers

to the question of appropriation. For him, texts are seen as: “Spaces of

dialogical or intertextual conflict, arguing that feminist writers (...) have

appropriated male authors‟ forms, their language, their myths to reinvent

their own meanings”18

.

Thus, Tennyson, in the poem The Lady of Shalott, entered into dia-

logue, with many other texts, seeking to express in a romantic tone,

the moral preoccupations of the age in which he lived. Although some

of the elements of Malory‟s narrative have continued in the poem,

Tennyson‟s Lady of Shalott has a different profile, the central character

16 <http://www.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/shalott.htm> Acessado em janeiro de 2000. 17 J. KRISTEVA, The Kristeva Reader, Oxford, Blackwell, 1986. 18 P. MORRIS, 1993, p.156.


resembles a figure from a fairy tale. The idea that the young woman

could only observe the world through a mirror, is also of Tennyson‟s

creation, as it was a custom at the time for weavers to always have a

mirror before them, in which they could contemplate their production.

Tennyson‟s verses are characterised by their escapism, suggesting

an apparent sanctuary from the social reality of the time, from the

social problems of the Victorian epoque (1837-1901), exacerbated by

the Industrial Revolution. By electing the medieval world as the source of

his inspiration, Tennyson‟s romantic narratives offered an escape

valve to an exotic place.

Tennyson gives a tragic tone to the story, portraying a mysterious

young woman who lives in a high tower on the island of Shalott, situated

in the middle of a river which flows past the court of King Arthur.

Day and night, she works at her loom, forbidden to look out of her

window, lest a terrible punishment befall her. Thus she can only glimpse

at the multiple towers of Camelot and the shadows of the world

outside that are reflected in a mirror which is hung in front of her.

Perspectives and the Symbolism of the Poem

It is a narrative poem told in third person and composed of four

parts: the first and second parts have four stanzas each, while the third

has five and the last part has six stanzas. Each stanza of the ballad has

nine verses and the refrains seem to sew the narrative together.

In scanning the verse, we perceive that a rhythmic scheme of

iambic-tetrameter predominates (an ascending rhythm with four

metric feet), which is frequently alternated with the trochaic tetrameter

(a descending rhythm); the shorter refrains are in iambic trimeter. In

some moments of the narrative, the iambic changes, generally, to the

trochaic, which is its opposite. The long narrative with its high ca-

dence causes a hypnotic effect, enchanting the listener, which is a common

effect in fairy tales. The verses expand and contract. The refrains mark the

movement of contraction, as though emphasing the atmosphere of

oppression, related to the theme of the poem.

The first stanza, the panoramic flight of a bird, shows us how it

would be to search the countryside below from up on high. An aerial

take, which starts to narrow until it hits the target: the island of Shalott

(a solitary, geographical accident, separate from the rest of the con-


tinent). The word Shalott may be an anagram of Astolat, the house of

Malory‟s heroine.

On either side the river lie

Long fields of barley and of rye,

That clothe the wold and meet the sky;

And through the field the road runs by

To many-towered Camelot.

And up and down the people go,

Gazing where the lilies blow

Round an island there below.

The island of Shalott.

The sense which predominates is that of vision. A fixed stare,

attentive, emphasised by the verb gaze. A gaze from which nothing

escapes: the river; the long fields of rye and barley, which seem to

clothe the plains in a delicate metaphor; the people wandering up and

down; The towers of the court of Camelot probably of varying heights.

The cineomatic vision of these verses is one of ondulation, of movement,

which is also suggested by the movement of the lilies balancing in the

wind and probably perfuming the fields. Everything moves in

harmony with the form, with the silhouette of the verses in expansion

and contraction. Everything or almost everything.

The two refrains orchestrate the inicial point and counter-point of

the narrative. Camelot and Shalott in perfect formal symmetry. On the

one side, the court of Camelot, full of life and movement, while on the

other, the island of Shalott, motionless, where the Lady of Shalott lives

between four grey walls and four grey towers. Below, one can see

flowers and white trees, silver willows and white-trunked poplars,

possibly reflecting the purity of the Lady of Shalott. The alliteration at

the beginning of the stanza (willows, whiten) highlight the pureness

which they are supposed to signal:

Willows whiten, aspens quiver,

Little breezes dusk and shiver,

Four gray walls, and four gray towers,

Overlook a space of flowers,

And the silent isle imbowers

The Lady of Shalott

bd= - aracne editrice · università degli studi “g. d’annunzio” di chieti-pescara. percorsi...

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