It depicts a scene from Tennyson's poem in which the poet describes the plight and the predicament of a young woman, loosely based on the figure of Elaine of Astolat from medieval Arthurian legend, who yearned with an unrequited love for the knight Sir Lancelot, isolated under an undisclosed curse in a tower near King Arthur's Camelot.

In the poem, the Lady had been confined to her quarters under a curse that forbade her to go outside or even look directly out of a window; her only view of the world was through a mirror.

Waterhouse's close attention to detail and colour, the accentuation of the beauty of nature, realist quality, and his interpretation of her vulnerable, wistful face are further demonstrations of his artistic skill.

Her despair was heightened when she saw loving couples entwined in the far distance, and she spent her days and nights aching for a return to normal.

Her frozen body was found shortly afterwards by the knights and ladies of Camelot, one of whom is Lancelot, who prayed to God to have mercy on her soul.

From part IV of Tennyson's poem: And down the river's dim expanse Like some bold seer in a trance, Seeing all his own mischance With glassy countenance Did she look to Camelot.

[1] Tennyson also reworked the story in Elaine, part of his Arthurian epic Idylls of the King, published in 1859, though in this version the Lady is rowed by a retainer in her final voyage.