The Lady of Shalott (1832)
BY ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON
.
Part IV


A B/A
In the stormy east-wind straining,
D F#m
The pale yellow woods were waning,
D F#m
The broad stream in his banks complaining,
A Bm
Heavily the low sky raining
A G D
Over tower'd Camelot;
A Bm
Outside the isle a shallow boat
D F#m
Beneath a willow lay afloat,
A G
Below the carven stern she wrote,
D
The Lady of Shalott.

F#m A
A cloudwhite crown of pearl she dight,
F E
All raimented in snowy white
D A Bm
That loosely flew (her zone in sight
A E D A
Clasp'd with one blinding diamond bright)
A G D
Her wide eyes fix'd on Camelot,
F#m A E D
Though the squally east-wind keenly
F#m D A E
Blew, with folded arms serenely
Bm A
By the water stood the queenly
A G D
Lady of Shalott.

G Am D Em
With a steady stony glance—
Em Am G Bm
Like some bold seer in a trance,
C G Am Em
Beholding all his own mischance,
Am G F Em
Mute, with a glassy countenance—
Am F Em
She look'd down to Camelot.
Am G
It was the closing of the day:
Am G
She loos'd the chain, and down she lay;
C G Am Em
The broad stream bore her far away,
Am F Em
The Lady of Shalott.

F Am
As when to sailors while they roam,
F C Dm Am
By creeks and outfalls far from home,
F C Dm E7
Rising and dropping with the foam,
Am G F Am
From dying swans wild warblings come,
Dm E7
Blown shoreward; so to Camelot
F C Dm Am
Still as the boathead wound along
F C Dm E7
The willowy hills and fields among,
Am G F Am
They heard her chanting her deathsong,
Dm E7
The Lady of Shalott.

Bm/D Am/D
A longdrawn carol, mournful, holy,
Em A
She chanted loudly, chanted lowly,
Em A
Till her eyes were darken'd wholly,
Am Em
And her smooth face sharpen'd slowly,
G A B7
Turn'd to tower'd Camelot:
Em D
For ere she reach'd upon the tide
Am B7
The first house by the water-side,
Em A
Singing in her song she died,
G A B7
The Lady of Shalott.

Under tower and balcony, [chords as per verses 1 and 2]
By garden wall and gallery,
A pale, pale corpse she floated by,
Deadcold, between the houses high,
Dead into tower'd Camelot.
Knight and burgher, lord and dame,
To the planked wharfage came:
Below the stern they read her name,
The Lady of Shalott.

They cross'd themselves, their stars they blest,
Knight, minstrel, abbot, squire, and guest.
There lay a parchment on her breast,
That puzzled more than all the rest,
The wellfed wits at Camelot.
'The web was woven curiously,
The charm is broken utterly,
Draw near and fear not,—this is I,
The Lady of Shalott.'