Lady of Shalott
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The main symbolism used in this poem was not a direct linkage, but rather a symmetry of ideas. The Lady and her work were equals of Tennyson and his writing. He wrote this poem partly as a quick retort to critics who questioned his muse. Although the poem speaks only of a young girl who called a curse upon herself when she ceased weaving, the threads of the poem's meaning run much deeper. "The meaning of the fable is clear. The artist has no choice. He follows his calling, and fate decides the rest" (Cunliffe 130). It seems, therefore, that the Lady, in fact, embodies all artists as a group, serving as a representation of the inhuman drive to create that they experience. "The artist is . ...