There is a deep connection between Tennyson’s poem ‘The Lady of Shalott’ and the Jessica Anderson's novel “Tirra Lirra by the river. Anderson uses the lady of shallot as a constant reference throughout the novel relating to nora and memories of her past. The deliberate parallels established between tirra lirra by the river and the lady of shalott enhance our understanding of her life experiences.

Although nora isn't physically trapped in a tower like the lady of shalott, she to spends the majority of her life suspended in a state of becoming, always waiting to escape. Both women are trapped by the expectations that society has placed upon them, belittled by those around them and forced to conform. The metaphorical towers in which they are trapped mean that they are alienated from the rest of society and leave them searching for lancelot, the ideal man, which ultimately leads to their destruction. This is evident for the lady of shalott when she expresses her desire to be a part of reality, “I'm half sick of shadows”. The images of shadows represents a weakened or diluted sense of what reality actually is. The idealised lancelot leads the lady to leave the confinements of her tower, into the outside world which in turn precipitates her death. Nora longs for a Sir lancelot who will provide deliverance from the loneliness that seems to dominate her life. Her romantic aspirations and desperate need to escape have made her vulnerable. It is because of this that nora believes that Collin is her knight in shining armor, her lancelot, ready to take her to camelot where she can finally start living as a part of reality. “Do this, Collin Porteous would say, do that. And i would do this an that and not to whether to laugh or cry in my misery.” However, similar to the lady, her life continues to lack substance and her supposed lancelot leaves her feeling more trapped than ever.

Nora’s life journey can be seen as a search or quest for a true sense of place, an ideal location, a camelot, that remains unreachable. Whether it be fleeing from her small town family or her oppressive marriage to an aloof husband, Nora is in a constant search for camelot as to is the lady of shalott. Their search for the fantastical world of camelot prevents them from truly living their lives leaving them with a lack of fulfillment in their lives. Living and experiencing life through the mirror becomes unfulfilling for the lady of shalott as she sees and hears life in many different aspects outside. “with a glassy countenance, did she look to camelot.” Even when she escapes her tower, as she looks down the river and sees her doom, she can feel the weight of the curse and she knows she wont make it to camelot, at least not alive. For both women camelot represents an elusive idealised version of the world and holds great appeal. Nora's life experiences are similar to those of the lady. She never truly experiences the feeling of being at home. Nora feels as though real life is happening elsewhere but that even when she arrives else where it still seams to escape her. In her youth, Nora was stifled by the smallness of life in rural Queensland and later alienated from suburban sydney. “If i had to live here i would die”. This sense of alienation heightens her feelings of difference from others and motivates her search for a more fulfilling place in which to belong. However, no matter where she travels to her camelot a place where individuality and beauty are treasured remains an elusive ideal. They are both trapped in their own attempt to reach camelot and in doing so, it is destined to be destroyed.

Both Nora and the lady of shalott use their art as a means to escape the confinements of reality. The lady only sees life through a mirror of shadows, and from this reflection she weaves a tapestry. “She knows not what the curse may be, and so she weaveth steadily”. She complacently spends her days weaving, thereby remaining cut off from the opportunities that await just outside her window. Nora's equivalent of the lady’s mirror, the medium through which the external world is transmuted is her creative imagination, which does not produce realistically but transforms the external world into a unique artistic form. At first she allows her artistic ability to be suppressed by Collin and doesn't value her budding creativity. However, later nora uses designing and embroidery as a way of alleviating her discontent. Nora moves to London where she focuses all her energy on her artistic talents becoming a skilled dressmaker. Similar to the lady, nora does not take part in reality but merely mimics the world in which she is entrapped in. “I raise my eyebrows and stare, so astonished by the excellence of the design and the beauty of the colour that i cannot speak”. This suggests that creativity and art do not only provide an escape for nora from an unsatisfactory physical reality, but can also transform that reality into something much more beautiful than it actually is. Both Nora and the lady of shalott use their imagination of an inner world of fantasy portrayed through their artworks to proved an alternative to their mundane surroundings.