Poetry · Chapter
Lullaby explained
A lyrical, dreamlike chapter describing a tower where three maidens spin night and day, transforming into swans at evening to fly around the woods singing a lullaby.
What happens
A lyrical, dreamlike chapter describing a tower where three maidens spin night and day, transforming into swans at evening to fly around the woods singing a lullaby.
Themes in this chapter
Illusion vs. Reality
The transformation of maidens into swans and the enchanted tower blur the line between the real and the fantastical.
Mortality and Transience
The spinning 'both night and day until the stars do pass away' evokes the endless yet fleeting nature of time and existence.
Key passages
“Lullaby! Lullaby! There’s a tower strong and high Built of oak and brick and stone, Stands before a wood alone.”
A lullaby describes a solitary tower made of oak, brick, and stone standing at the edge of a forest.
Opening lines establish the setting and lullaby form.
“And maidens three are living there All in the upper chamber fair, Hung with silver, hung with pall, And stories painted on the wall.”
Three maidens dwell in a beautifully decorated upper room with silver hangings and painted murals.
Introduces the three maidens and their ornate chamber.
“But every night at evèning. The window open wide they fling, And one of them says a word they know And out as three white swans they go.”
Each evening, they open the window and, at a secret word, transform into white swans and fly out.
Describes the nightly transformation and flight of the maidens.