Photograph: John Bennett

Down she came and found a boat
Beneath a willow left afloat,
And around about the prow she wrote
The Lady of Shalott.

About the Film

2009 is the bicentenary of the birth, in Lincolnshire, of Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-1892), Poet Laureate. As part of the international bicentenary celebrations, WAG Screen has made a short, filmed dramatisation of his poem The Lady of Shalott.

A reading of the poem forms the backbone of the dramatisation whose pace it dictates. Inspiration for the visual imagery comes from the many Pre-Raphaelite paintings that the poem inspired, but most especially the paintings of the artist John William Waterhouse.

The majority of the filming was done in and around Lincoln.
The dramatisation can be seen at the Collection from the 30th May 2009. We also filmed the reading of the poem by Tennyson to an after dinner audience at Christmas 1856. These two ten-minute films will be available on DVD from May 2009.

Above: Ben Poole as Tennyson.
Picture By: John Bennett

We have booked the exhibition space at Lincoln's Central Library for a Tennyson and Lady of Shalott Film related exhibition. We have also made a short documentary with Grace Timmins of the Tennyson Research Centre to show at this venue.  The Tennyson Resource Centre is housed at the Central Library. Second year undergraduates of Heritage Studies at Bishop Grossesteste University College will manage the exhibition.

The Lady of Shalott Film will premiere at the Odeon Cinema, Lincoln on Friday 15th May 2009.