The poem that Anne and her friends are reenacting in Chapter 28 is "Lancelot and Elaine," from Idylls of the King by Alfred, Lord Tennyson. The short version is that Elaine of Astolat fell in love with Lancelot and died of a broken heart after he rejected her (because he was totally sweet on Arthur's queen, Guinevere. Um, spoilers?) Per her orders, her body is placed in a boat, holding a lily in one hand and a letter in the other, then floated down the Thames towards Camelot. Her body's discovered by King Arthur's folks, whereupon Lancelot reads the letter and feels all angsty. You may know her better as the Lady of Shalott, by which name Tennyson wrote not one, but TWO poems telling her story. Tennyson... really liked this one, I guess.
Oh, you'll also know her from that poster that friend of yours had in college:
 |
| Yup. You know the one. Maybe YOU were the friend that had it. |
Less romanticized, we see Anne here clinging to the bridge pile being rescued by Gilbert:
 |
| 21:38 - "He pulled her close to the pile and extended his hand." |
Oh, and in case you were curious, that boat there in the picture is what they've been calling a dory. It's basically exactly what you see in your head when you think "rowboat." And... look. I haven't actually read the rest of the Avonlea series yet, but I know it follows Anne well into adulthood and picks up at one point with her own children (I have the rest of the series, and have read their backs, okay?) You can't possibly tell me that Gilbert's not gonna be her husband eventually after all this. Seriously.
Also, this time I get to apologize to Italians, and probably also to German Jews. It... it was a different time.
If you would like to read along, the text can be found at Project Gutenberg. No reading ahead, though!
No comments:
Post a Comment