Welcome back to the Daily Poem here in the Close Reeds Podcast Network. I'm David Curran.

Today's poem is by Alfred Lord Tennyson, and it's called The Lady of Shalot.

Tennyson wrote many famous poems, including Break, Break, Break, The Charged the Light Brigade,

Tears, Idol Tears, Crossing the Bar, The Idols of the charge of the Light Brigade, tears, idle tears, crossing the bar,

the idols of the king, Ulysses,

I mean, he wrote many, many things,

and may have produced more recognizable lines of poetry

than anyone not named Shakespeare.

That's not a claim that I'm making as a thesis statement.

It's just something that I think is possible.

I'm sure there's some kind of scholarship out there

which can prove or disprove that idea.

It's a pretty lengthy poem.

So instead of offering some comments and reading it twice,

I'm just going to read this whole thing, all four parts of it.

So if you want to do this in a couple of sittings,

then I obviously feel free to do so.

But this is the Lady of Shalot by Alfred Lord Tennyson, Part 1.

On either side of the river lie long fields of barley and of rye that clothe the walled and meet the sky.

And through the field the road runs by to many towered Camelot.

And up and down the people go,

gazing where the lilies blow, round an island there below, the island of Shalot.

...