The Modern Lady of Shalott

    As I was reading “The Lady of Shalott” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, I immediately thought of “If I Die Young” by The Band Perry. There are parts of the song that remind me of the poem, but the music video really brings this to life. This poem is retold through a modern perspective. Although not obvious at first, this song has several references to the poem. 

    One of the first lines in the song says "Send me away with the words of a love song". Although it is not clear what the lady of Shalott is singing, as the boat travels down the river, she could be heard "singing her last song". The song is important to the poem because it is all the villagers know about the lady. They do not see her and she only sees a reflection of them. Her song is the last thing anyone hears from her.

    Perry also sings "And I'll be wearing white, when I come into your kingdom" which parallels that the lady is "robed in snowy white". The white represents how innocent she is, but also how little she has been able to experience life. Being locked in a tower, she has not been able to live the life everyone else has. 

    In the music video, lead singer Kimberly Perry is seen lying in a boat and her brothers send her down the river. She is holding a book of poems by Tennyson and, in the last frame, the book opens to “The Lady of Shalott”. This allusion is intentional, as Perry mentions in an interview which can be read here. Being in the boat is the biggest allusion, besides showing the poem itself, because the lady travels towards Camelot in a boat. This is what leads to her death, though. Since she left the tower, she has been cursed and knows she will die, but it is worth it to her. 

    Luckily for Kimberly Perry, she sits up when her boat begins to sink and her brothers save her. The real lady of Shalott is not quite as lucky. She does not arrive to her destination alive due to the curse that has been placed upon her. The Band Perry is able to bring "The Lady of Shalott" to life, though. Since Kimberly had read the poem several times before writing this song, it only makes sense that the imagery would find its way into her lyrics. Tennyson's poem has beautiful imagery that is worth bringing to life. 

Not Your Average Fairytale

    Very few people would classify Great Expectations by Charles Dickens as a fairytale, but it is hard to miss the similarities. In fact, Pip even believes that Miss Havisham intends for him to “do all the shining deeds of the young Knight of romance, and marry the Princess”. Of course he believes Estella to be his princess. There are other fairytale aspects, though. Young Pip is an orphan being raised by his sister and brother-in-law who is a blacksmith. Pip does not come from money until he receives his great expectations. He comes into money because he did a good deed. This money, though, seems to take our shining knight and turn him into a beast.

    Of all the fairy tales, I noticed a strong connection to “Beauty and the Beast”. When Pip receives his great expectations, he quickly becomes similar to Beast. At first Pip does not want to leave Joe, but as soon as he gets a taste of this new life, he becomes cold hearted. Pip does not start out as a selfish character, arguably, but he is very selfish when he comes into money. He becomes embarrassed of who he was and makes no effort to return home, unless it is to see Estella or Miss Havisham. He, like Beast, is not an easy character to like. They both seem incapable of being loved and do not seem like characters who should be forgiven. 

    Love, though, is what changes Beast to a human and reminds Pip of where he came from. Beast is changed by the love of Belle, the common princess; Pip is changed by the love of Joe. Joe is not a princess, and that is not an argument I wish to begin, but he is forgiving like Belle. Both Joe and Belle love their beasts through everything. This love breaks the actual spell cast on Beast and the spell of money that was cast upon Pip. Joe and Belle know who Pip and Beast can be, so they are able to see past the cold hearted appearance. 

    Great Expectations is not a fairytale at first glance, but looking for similarities does not require much effort. Pip may not be a prince, and Estella is not the average princess, but Pip does learn important lessons. The most important being that money is not important. Love changes both Pip and Beast, though it is a different kind of love. They both discover their selfish needs are not as important as they had once thought. It is not clearly stated if Pip lives happily ever after or not, but it’s nice to believe he does. 

Romance or Romanticism?

        When Taylor Swift sings “New Romantics”, I doubt she is referring to the Romantic literary period. The Romantics of the 18^th and 19^th century set out to inspire some kind of change, but they also seemed to have a “romantic” outlook on life. There were calls for change and an abundance or poems about nature. Basically nature is your best friend, if you're a romantic. Most importantly, though, Romanticism is about individuality.

           The Romantics were all about change, especially the women. Mary Wollstonecraft wrote “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman” in 1792. Wollstonecraft fought for the education of women. Sure, it was so they could “become the companion of man” but she also points out that women can only “be expected to co-operate unless she know why she ought to be virtuous”. Women need to be educated, even if it is so they can better serve their husbands. She believed in a cause and wrote about it, which did help to inspire change. She may not have been fighting for full rights of women, but she was fighting for something. That is what women of the time did. Feminists of this time were not what we now think of, but these women began the fight for equality.

            Nature is one of the biggest parts of Romanticism. William Wordsworth is a great example of this. In 1804, he wrote “I wandered lonely as a cloud”. He uses his memory, and Dorothy Wordsworth’s journal, to write about seeing “golden daffodils”. Wordsworth romanticizes nature through his descriptions. He also mentions that he always thinks of the daffodils when in a "pensive mood" and that his hear fills with pleasure and "dances with the daffodils". His individual experience is shown through this poem and that is what makes it worth writing about. 

            Taylor Swift’s song may be called “New Romantics”, and probably not have much to do with Romanticism, but there is one important component; her song is all about individuality. She writes about her own experience and how it has shaped her. Swift writes that she, along with her friends, are “too busy dancing to get knocked off our feet”. This song is full of emotion and how life will not get her down. Unlike the literary Romantics, though, Swift’s song is closer to what we think of as romantic.  

            So, the Romantic period may not have been all about romance, but this is still a time fueled by emotion. They focused on how the individual reacted to certain events and sometimes that fueled a need for change. Sometimes it focused on the memories of the writers and how they reflect on those memories. Although Taylor Swift is more modern romantic than the Romantics, there are probably some ideas they could get behind.