After Schiller

“I’m half sick of shadows, said The Lady of Shalott” – John William Waterhouse (1915)

Knight, a true sister-love
This heart retains;
Ask me no other love,
That way lie pains!

Calm must I view thee come,
Calm see thee go;
Tale-telling tears of thine
I must not know!

These lines from Hardy put me in mind of J.W. Waterhouse, and in particular his “I’m half sick of shadows…” painting completed in 1915, illustrating Tennyson’s famous lines:

But in her web she still delights
To weave the mirror's magic sights,
For often thro' the silent nights
A funeral, with plumes and lights
And music, went to Camelot:
Or when the moon was overhead,
Came two young lovers lately wed:
"I am half sick of shadows," said The Lady of Shalott.

Excerpt from 'The Lady of Shalott' - Tennyson, 1842