Lady of Shallot

Anyone who's read Anne of Green Gables, or seen the movie, will recall the memorable scene of one of Anne's many scrapes. She reenacts the poem by Alfred Tennyson called "Lady of Shallot." Of course, since she's Anne, it goes terribly.

If I had to choose a favorite Anne moment, that would probably be it. I mean, it's so Anne; she heedlessly takes the opportunity to be as dramatic as possible, waxing the death and despair and the sorrow. Then everything falls apart when the death part becomes a possibility, and the melodrama is suddenly overcome by panic. Oh, then there's Ruby in hysterics, the gallant hero who comes to the rescue, and the timeless quote "What are you doing?"

"fishing for lake trout."

Then I read the original poem by Tennyson. Epic. Quite literally.

I'm a sucker for tragic poems.

The Lady of Shalott started showing up everywhere. There's a country song called "If I Die Young." I don't usually like country, but it's such a tragic song. (maybe "tragic" isn't a word that usually refers to something being likable, but I think it applies in this situation.)

Then I was recently reading a murder mystery book by Agatha Christie called "The Mirror Crack'd" which referenced the line "the mirror crack'd from side to side, "the Curse is come upon me!" cried, the Lady of Shalott." I highly recommend that book.

Oh, and Loreena McKennitt recorded the poem beautifully in song form.

So I finally decided to memorize the poem. I just had to! Six stanzas down, thirteen to go. How cool would it be if someone asked if I'd heard of it, and I could just say "Oh, yes. I have it memorized. I can sing it too, and I have the collectible figurines."

I'm such a geek.

In case you were wondering, not everything I do is related to murder mysteries, Arthurian death legends, and depressing songs. I also like ice cream. :)

Oh, and there are no collectibles figurines. I made that up.