Appeal to the reader Essay

      In the poem Tennyson uses rhyme to add to the atmosphere and aid the performance. Rhyme improves the reader’s recital of the poem because rhyme adds to the poem’s rhythm and means the performer can predict the flow. They flow can be predicted because the rhyme pattern is regular which means it is the same in all the verses. If they know what is going to happen next it will improve the presentation and mean any embarrassing stumbles over words are avoided. Also rhyme keeps each line catchy and simple. The poem will flow better and could increase understanding because certain words are stressed and emphasised more than others. In the Lady of Shallot the rhyme scheme is A, A, A, A, B, C, C, C, B. Rhythm is used to keep the poem flowing and sometimes to support or boost understanding. It improves understanding because sometimes the feelings in a poem are portrayed by the way it is performed. For example if a poem is read slowly in a sad tone then the poem is likely to have a sad subject, like death or illness. The Lady of Shallot has many emotions but I think it should be read at a slow pace because it is quite complex and has quite a lot of miserable and gloomy parts. Also if you say a poem at a slower speed it creates more tension because the person listening wants to find out what is going to happen next and wants to find out more. The Lady of Shallot is a ballad so the structure is partly like a story and partly like a poem. It is in stanzas (verses), which are a property of a poem, which separates the text making it easier to process rather than having long pieces of text. The poem is separated into parts which are similar to chapters; they rise to a climax before they end. Each one develops the story further and separated the different subjects. For example, part 2 is about what she can see through her mirror, where as part 3 is about Sir Lancelot and the beginning of her escape. This could be confusing if it was one part because the action would be constant. However as it is in parts it makes more sense because the reader is almost encouraged to stop after each part and reflect of the work that they have just read. This gives the reader time to process what they have read and make sure they understand, before continuing. It may also be confusing because some parts may be similar and easy to mistake. Plus it keeps the reader interested. The Lady of Shallot has quite an individual style. It is like a story but yet it is a poem. It has chapter like sections that follow the journey of one woman. It was written in 1842 so it is quite old fashioned, not only the language, but also the general opinions of people of the time are portrayed in the poem. What I mean by this is because it was written in Victorian times; it reflects some of the common views from those times. For example some parts of it could be thought of as sexist. The points are The Lady of Shallot was expected to stay in the tower, which is similar to the expectation that a woman should stay at home.   She was expected to sew a web, similar to the expectation that women should be housewives. She was the one that died for a man, maybe a subtle way of showing that a man is better and more important that a woman. I think Tennyson uses poetic devices well in the poem, the Lady of Shallot. He uses them to imply many things and from analysing different quotes I have realised he uses many more subtle ones than first recognisable Targets: Use key vocabulary Try to explore how text informed by time and place.