The Chronically Ill Woman Sits Alone at the Bay Window

Thoughts, Poetry, and Creative Writing Prompts on Longing, as Inspired by "The Lady of Shalott"

The Lady of Shalott, by John William Waterhouse, 1888

“‘I am half-sick of shadows,’ said the Lady of Shalott.”

—Alfred, Lord Tennyson

A LITERATURE LESSON ON LONGING

This post tonight is fun and sad. It’s fun because it’s just a tad different from my usual offerings. And it’s sad because the circumstances that inspired it are less than desirable. Whether you consider yourself bookish or not, I still think this post is for you. I hope to take you on a journey through longing and end with a new poem and a creative writing prompt for all you writers out there. And I hope to teach you a thing or two along the way.

As many of you know, I am a longtime English teacher turned professor, and I have taught AP Language and AP Literature, as well as Creative Writing, College Rhetoric, and more, for two decades. My education, profession, and life commitment to literature and the arts have shaped the way I see the world. I can’t help but live and breathe the literary canon throughout my own experiences. When I am grasping too much at the past or the present, I think of Fitzgerald’s Jay Gatsby. When I am overwhelmed by existential angst in this modern world and trying to find my purpose in it, I think of Hemingway and his Jake Barnes. If I am yearning to be seen and known for who I truly am and not just a woman who is sick and limited, I think of Jane Eyre. When I want more meaning than the domestic sphere and feel like the writing life is my dearest muse, I think of Jo March.

Truly, the list can go on and on.

So, when I found myself missing out on the beautiful things we planned for this vacation—again and again—and when I found myself in bed or on the couch—day after day—yearning for the world outside, you can bet I was thinking of “The Lady of Shalott” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson.

“The Lady of Shalott” is a poem by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, and it explores themes of isolation, artistry, and the tension between reality and imagination. It tells the story of a mysterious woman, Elaine, who lives alone in a tower on the island of Shalott, upstream from Camelot. Cursed to weave a magic web without ever looking directly at the outside world, she views life only through the reflections in her mirror. The poem contrasts the confined, shadowy existence of the Lady with the vibrancy of the world she longs to join, symbolizing the struggle between creative isolation and the desire for human connection.

The lore surrounding Tennyson’s Lady has inspired a cult following and a myriad of artistic iterations, most notably the Pre-Raphaelites of the Victorian Period and John William Waterhouse’s painting, which is featured in the dominant photo above.

I have always been taken by “The Lady of Shalott,” as have been my students, because of the many ways one can interpret the lyrical ballad. Yes, Tennyson intended it to be a creative meditation of the artist’s lot—being that the artist must endure great isolation to refine and produce their craft—but my students, over the many years, have read themselves into Elaine’s longing. And I have, too.

One can insert whatever personal struggles they have experienced as their “curse” and “how” and “why” they must interact with the outside world. Some students understood the poem through a gendered perspective, which is a frequent reading: “It is hard for women to be in the world of men,” some would say. Other students resonated with the role of outsider: “I come from Cuba. My parents immigrated here when I was little. I feel lost between two worlds.” Or “I have always felt alone in this world because I’m too introverted… I’m too smart… I’m too sensitive… I’m too depressed… I’m too anxious…”