Inspired by the 13th-century Italian short prose text Donna di Scalotta, the poem tells the tragic story of Elaine of Astolat, a young noblewoman stranded in a tower up the river from Camelot.

The vivid medieval romanticism and enigmatic symbolism of "The Lady of Shalott" inspired many painters, especially the Pre-Raphaelites and their followers, as well as other authors and artists.

Like Tennyson's other early works, such as "Sir Galahad", the poem recasts Arthurian subject matter loosely based on medieval sources.

LXXXII in the collection Il Novellino: Le ciento novelle antike);[3] the earlier version is closer to the source material than the latter.

[4] Tennyson focused on the Lady's "isolation in the tower and her decision to participate in the living world, two subjects not even mentioned in Donna di Scalotta.

"[5] Tennyson also wrote "Lancelot and Elaine",[6] a poem based on Thomas Malory's version of the story from Le Morte d'Arthur, which he included in his Idylls of the King.

And in the lighted palace near Died the sound of royal cheer; And they crossed themselves for fear, All the Knights at Camelot; But Lancelot mused a little space He said, "She has a lovely face; God in his mercy lend her grace, The Lady of Shalott."

[9] Christine Poulson discusses a feminist viewpoint and suggests: "the Lady of Shalott's escape from her tower as an act of defiance, a symbol of female empowerment."

Based on Poulson's view, escaping from the tower allows the Lady of Shalott to emotionally break free and come to terms with female sexuality.

[5] In 1848, Dante Gabriel Rossetti and William Holman Hunt made a list of "Immortals", artistic heroes whom they admired, especially from literature, some of whose work would form subjects for PRB paintings, notably including John Keats and Tennyson.

The scene fascinated Hunt, who returned to the composition at points throughout his life and finally painted a large scale version shortly before his death.

This deeply conceived evocation of the Lady, ensnared within the perfect rounds of her woven reality, is an apt illustration of the mythology of the weaving arts.

Poulson argues that Waterhouse's impressionistic painting style in his 1894 rendering of The Lady of Shalott evokes a "sense of vitality and urgency".

[9] In 1915, Waterhouse painted I Am Half-Sick of Shadows, Said the Lady of Shalott, as she sits wistfully before her loom; this work is now in the Art Gallery of Ontario.

In some novels, the poem is also referenced within the plot by characters, as in Nancy Mitford's Love in a Cold Climate (1949),[17] Bel Kaufman's Up the Down Staircase (1965), David Benedictus's Floating Down to Camelot (1985), Diana Wynne Jones' Hexwood (1993), Libba Bray's A Great and Terrible Beauty (2003), and Jilly Cooper's Wicked!

The only known performance of Rootham's op 33 The Lady of Shalott was given in the School Hall at Eton College on 18 September 1999, with the Broadheath Singers and the Windsor Sinfonia conducted by Robert Tucker.

Danish composer Bent Sørensen created a piece for viola solo, based on Waterhouse's painting The Lady of Shalott.

For instance, folk duo the Indigo Girls refer to the Lady of Shalott in "Left Me a Fool" from their 1987 album Strange Fire and Swedish pop band The Cardigans quotes it "Give Me Your Eyes", a bonus track on Super Extra Gravity.