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What is the significance of the shallop flitting away unhail'd?

The lady's tower is a grey prison. Outside the tower wall, the poet describes the many signs of life. There are fields of barley and rye. The roads running through the fields are full of people. In other words, the world outside of her tower is teeming with life. She is stuck in a drab, lifeless interior. The small boat (shallop) flows down the river. She waves but they do not see her. The shallop floats freely. In contrast, the lady is not free to move about. She is imprisoned. The other significant aspect is that she is a mystery to the people of the outside world. In the next stanza, the speaker says that only the reapers hear her in the early morning. They conclude that it is the "fairy Lady of Shallot."


She is the damsel in distress or the damsel imprisoned. Like Penelope waiting for Ulysses or Rapunzel waiting for a prince, the Lady waits for Sir Lancelot. She waits while everyone outside moves freely. The boat (shallot) moves freely and does not hail her. This emphasizes her loneliness and her dilemma of being trapped and unacknowledged. Unlike the boat, she is not free to flow toward Camelot.

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