“And I, of ladies most deject and wretched,
That suck’d the honey of his music vows,
Now see that noble and most sovereign reason,
Like sweet bells jangled out of tune and harsh,
That unmatch’d form and feature of blown youth
Blasted with ecstasy. O, woe is me
T’have seen what I have seen, see what I see.”
Hamlet, Act III, Scene i
Ophelia (John William Waterhouse)
(Source: russianelfinprincess)
Miranda, The Tempest (John William Waterhouse)
I adore this painting…I’ve always felt like the ship was too close, and that by expanding the landscape he’d have made it even more desolate…but I love the figure of Miranda.
Ophelia (Sir John Everett Millais)
My favourite painting since I was about seven years old. I found an enormous print of it and wanted it framed and on my wall, but my mother was concerned that she was dead, and that it was weird. I still regret not fighting my cause…
Under tower and balcony,
By garden-wall and gallery,
A gleaming shape she floated by,
Dead-pale between the houses high,
Silent into Camelot.
Out upon the wharfs they came,
Knight and Burgher, Lord and Dame,
And around the prow they read her name,
The Lady of Shalott.
‘The Lady of Shalott’ (Tennyson)
Painting: The Lady of Shalott (John William Waterhouse)
