Thursday, January 27, 2011

The Lady of Shalott...











Willows whiten, aspens quiver,
Little breezes dusk and shiver
Through the wave that runs for ever
By the island in the river
    Flowing down to Camelot.
Four grey walls, and four grey towers,
Overlook a space of flowers,
And the silent isle embowers
    The Lady of Shalott.

By the margin, willow-veil'd,
Slide the heavy barges trail'd
By slow horses; and unhailed
The shallop flitteth, silken-sail'd
    Skimming down to Camelot
Yet who hath seen her wave her hand?
Or at the casement seen her stand?
Or is she know in all the land,
    The Lady of Shalott?

Only reapers, reaping early,
In among the beared barley
Hear a song that echoes cheerly
From the river winding clearly,
    Down to towered Camelot:
And by the moon the reaper weary,
Piling sheaves in uplands airy,
Listening, whispers, " 'Tis the fairy
    Lady of Shalott."

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 through 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 through 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 through 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.

A bow-shot from her bower-eaves,
He rode between the barley sheaves,
The sun came dazzling thro' the leaves,
And flamed upon the brazen greaves
    Of bold Sir Lancelot.
A red-cross knight for ever kneeled
To a lady in his shield,
That sparkled on the yellow field,
    Beside remote Shalott.

The gemmy bridle glitter'd free,
Like to some branch of stars we see
Hung in the golden Galaxy.
The bridle bells rang merrily
    As he rode down to Camelot:
And from his blazon'd baldric slung
A mighty silver bugle hung,
And as he rode his armor rung
    Beside remote Shalott.

All in the blue unclouded weather
Thick-jewell'd shone the saddle-leather,
The helmet and the helmet-feather
Burn'd like one burning flame together,
    As he rode down to Camelot.
As often thro' the purple night,
Below the starry clusters bright,
Some bearded meteor, trailing light,
    Moves over still Shalott.

His broad clear brow in sunlight glow'd;
On burnish'd hooves his war-horse trode;
From underneath his helmet flow'd
His coal-black curls as on he rode,
    As he rode down to Camelot.
From the bank and from the river
He flashed into the crystal mirror,
"Tirra lirra," by the river
    Sang Sir Lancelot.

She left the web, she left the loom,
She made three paces through the room,
She saw the water-lily bloom,
She saw the helmet and the plume,
    She look'd down to Camelot.
Out flew the web and floated wide;
The mirror crack'd from side to side;
"The curse is come upon me," cried
    The Lady of Shalott.

In the stormy east-wind straining,
The pale yellow woods were waning,
The broad stream in his banks complaining.
Heavily the low sky raining
    Over tower'd Camelot;
Down she came and found a boat
Beneath a willow left afloat,
And around about the prow she wrote
    The Lady of Shalott.

And down the river's dim expanse
Like some bold seer in a trance,
Seeing all his own mischance --
With a glassy countenance
    Did she look to Camelot.
And at the closing of the day
She loosed the chain, and down she lay;
The broad stream bore her far away,
    The Lady of Shalott.

Lying, robed in snowy white
That loosely flew to left and right --
The leaves upon her falling light --
Thro' the noises of the night,
    She floated down to Camelot:
And as the boat-head wound along
The willowy hills and fields among,
They heard her singing her last song,
    The Lady of Shalott.

Heard a carol, mournful, holy,
Chanted loudly, chanted lowly,
Till her blood was frozen slowly,
And her eyes were darkened wholly,
    Turn'd to tower'd Camelot.
For ere she reach'd upon the tide
The first house by the water-side,
Singing in her song she died,
    The Lady of Shalott.

Under tower and balcony,
By garden-wall and gallery,
A gleaming shape she floated by,
Dead-pale between the houses high,
    Silent into Camelot.
Out upon the wharfs they came,
Knight and burgher, lord and dame,
And around the prow they read her name,
    The Lady of Shalott.

Who is this? And what is here?
And in the lighted palace near
Died the sound of royal cheer;
And they crossed themselves for fear,
    All the Knights at Camelot;
But Lancelot mused a little space
He said, "She has a lovely face;
God in his mercy lend her grace,
    The Lady of Shalott."

- Alfred Tennyson
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The Lady of Shalott is a magical being who lives alone on an island upstream from King Arthur's Camelot. Her business is to look at the world outside her castle window in a mirror, and to weave what she sees into a tapestry. She is forbidden by the magic to look at the outside world directly. The farmers who live near her island hear her singing and know who she is, but never see her.
The Lady sees ordinary people, loving couples, and knights in pairs reflected in her mirror. One day, she sees the reflection of Sir Lancelot riding alone. Although she knows that it is forbidden, she looks out the window at him. The mirror shatters, the tapestry flies off on the wind, and the Lady feels the power of her curse.
An autumn storm suddenly arises. The lady leaves her castle, finds a boat, writes her name on it, gets into the boat, sets it adrift, and sings her death song as she drifts down the river to Camelot. The locals find the boat and the body, realize who she is, and are saddened. Lancelot prays that God will have mercy on her soul.
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For the first part of the poem,
 I took pictures with my 35mm camera
& I developed them in the darkroom at school...
I did this for an assignment last year.

This is my favorite poem.
I love the entire story behind King Arthur and the other medieval characters.
Also, my car's name is Sir Lancelot ;) Haha
<3






Food for Thoughts :)

Smile...

Though your heart is aching

Smile even though it's breaking


When there are clouds in the sky

You'll get by

If you smile through your pain and sorrow

Smile and maybe tomorrow

You'll see the sun come shining through for you

Light up your face with gladness

Hide every trace of sadness

Although a tear may be ever so near

That's the time you must keep on trying

Smile, what's the use of crying

You'll find that life is still worthwhile

If you just smile
-----------------------------------------------------

I have so many things I could say about smiling.
For one: I seriously have never gone a day without smiling.
I consider it something that defines me completely.
Why would you want to go through life being unhappy?
Stop dwelling on the sad, unfortunate things in life and just smile.
That doesn't mean you need to bottle up your feelings and become depressed...
Depression is not in my vocabulary!
I have so many quotes that I live my life by, but to smile...
That's just the easiest way to sum it all up :)

So, SMILE more :)
I dare you all to try and smile more.
I guarantee you'll be a happier person :)





Food for Thoughts :)

Friday, January 21, 2011

Biggest Slacker...

It's been a longer break of blogging than I ever anticipated...
So, I apologize for that.
...On the strange chance that anyone actually reads this.

I have a lot to catch you all up on.
I got my wisdom teeth out!
It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.
But it still hurt... a lot.
Not gonna lie and say it hardly hurt or something!
BUT! If any of you are looking for a great oral surgeon, I highly recommend Dr. Santin.
He seriously did just a great job. There were no complications at all.

I performed Sweeney Todd...
For my MT mini musical :)
It all went swimmingly!

My last semester of high school started...
I like my new classes so far.
I finished Musical Theater & Government
and now I'm in Functions (math) and Study of Film.

Study of Film is where is gets interesting...
I'm the only senior...
Yes, that's right.
It's not exactly anything I would have liked to happen...
But, I like the class so much that I just have to overlook that part.

College is getting closer for my friends and I...
We're all starting to settle into where we are officially going.
I was first though :)
Veronica and I are going to BGSU :)
Michaela is going to Cincinnati
Caitlin is going to OU
Mallory is going to OSU
Chandler and Gea are going to Kent
Tierney is probably going to OU
Katie is either going to OU or BGSU
Ashley is torn between OSU and Cinci
Amy is probably going to OSU
And Jewels, she's crazy and applied to a bunch in Florida :O
BUT she might end up at OSU :P Who knows :)

College is going to be fun :)

The Ohio State University...
Is where Amy, Ashley, Tierney and I spent our day off this past Monday.
We went and checked out the campus & my cousin Krissy gave us a nice little tour :)

I did a pretty decent summary of things!
I'm even going to the Cavs game tonight with Caitlin :)
It should be a grand ol' time.

Tomorrow:
I'm going to Bowling Green for a financial aid meeting :)
& I wanna get some more apparel too :P Haha

Well...
I've gotta get goin' and get ready for the game :)



Food for Thoughts :)