La Belle Dame sans Merci
John Keats
About the Poet
● John Keats was born on October 31,1795 in London,England and died on
February 23,1821 of tuberculosis.
● Keats used vivid imagery thats expressed a philosophy through classic
legend.
● His work was heavily criticized during his short lived
career until his death he began to get recognized.
● Keats didn’t have it easy, he lost his parents at a young
age and his brother later on.
● He met Franny a beloved of his who is believed to be
the reason behind La Belle Dama sans Merci due to
some similarities between the knight and himself.
● Most of his exceptional work from 1818 to 1821 is
influenced by her presence in his life.
About the Poem
● Its is a oldschool medieval fairytale about a
knight who is telling his story/dream to an
unknown speaker about his encounter with a
faery lady.
● The problem is that he is in a critical state when
found and alone on the cold hillside with no clue
on what to do. It is unclear whether it takes place
in a fairytale or reality.
Structure
● It is a ballad, which is a old fashioned folk style poem that
tells a story.
● divided into twelve quatrains (4 line stanzas)
● ABCB pattern rhyme scheme
● iambic tetrameter (4 iambs per line)
ex: “O what/ can ail/thee, knight/ at arms,”
● fourth line of each quatrain has only three stressed syllables
Tone
● knight and speaker sound the same to create a sense of unity
to the poem like a folk song which is recited by one
individual
● tone- somber and sorrowful
ex: woebegone, sighed, gloam, and alone
● poem set in late autumn to reflect the mood of the knight like
the cold, whithering sedge, and no bird singing
Figures of Speech
●
●
●
●
●
●
line 2: alone and palely loitering - alliteration
line 9; lily on thy brow - metaphor
line 11: on thy cheeks a fading rose - metaphor
line 14: Full beautiful, a faery’s child - alliteration
line 25: roots of relish, sighed full sore- alliteration
line 30,31,33, and 34: And there…- anaphora (repetition of a
word, phrase or clause at the beginning)
● line 37-39: I saw pale Kings, and Princes too/Pale warriors,
death pale were they all - alliteration
O what can ail thee, Knight at arms,
Alone and palely loitering?
The sedge has withered from the Lake
And no birds sing!
Ail- troubled
O what can ail thee, Knight at arms,
So haggard, and so woebegone?
The squirrel’s granary is full
And the harvest’s done.
Withered- become dry and shriveled.
I see a lily on thy brow
With anguish moist and dew,
And on thy cheeks a fading rose
Fast withereth too.
Palely- without physical or emotional color
Loitering- linger without any purpose
Sedge- plant with pointed leaves and tiny flowers
Haggard- exhausted and unwell, especially from
fatigue, worry, or suffering
Woebegone- mournful, sorrowful, miserable
Granary-a storehouse for threshed grain
Dew- tiny drops of water that form on cool surfaces at
night, when atmospheric vapor condenses.
Line 1
O what can ail thee, Knight at arms,
Alone and palely loitering?
The sedge has withered from the Lake
And no birds sing!
● The poem starts with a third
person narrator as a rhetorical
presence. The narrator asked a
question to the "knight at arms"
asking why is he "ail"
● The narrator gives us adjectives
of the knight pale and worried
Line 3
● The narrator says that all grass
has dried around the lake and “no
birds sing” because all birds have
migrated. This gives us a hint that
it might be early winter
● The words “knight at arms” gives
an illusion of a fairy tale
Line 1
●
O what can ail thee, Knight at arms,
So haggard, and so woebegone?
The squirrel’s granary is full
And the harvest’s done.
This line repeats stanza one.It seems as if
the knight has not responded to the
speaker so he has torepeat himself
This time we have more adjectives about
the knight "haggard" and "woebegone”.
These are qualities of depression or
illness
Line 2
● the last two lines set the: scene the
squirrels are getting ready for the winter
● according to the speaker everything looks
dreary now that it is autumn and harvest
is done
● autumn is when things die so it gives a
death reference as well
●
I see a lily on thy brow
With anguish moist and dew,
And on thy cheeks a fading rose
Fast withereth too.
Line 1
● So now it changes to first
person as he himself
becomes the knight. the
knight is suggesting he is a
pale as a lily
Line 2
● There is also death imagery
in this line because the
knights cheeks are a fading
rose so he is slowly dieing
like the rose and the lily is
white and in Western culture
is associated with death.
“I met a Lady in the Meads,
Full beautiful, a faery’s child,
Her hair was long, her foot was light
And her eyes were wild.
“I made a Garland for her head,
And bracelets too, and fragrant Zone;
She looked at me as she did love
And made sweet moan.
“I set her on my pacing steed
And nothing else saw all day long,
For sidelong would she bend and sing
A faery’s song.
Meads - meadow
Garland - flowers or leaves worn on the
head or used as a decoration
“I met a Lady in the Meads,
Full beautiful, a faery’s child
● Point of view changes; the
speaker is now “I”
● He met a beautiful lady in
the meadow
● Defined as a mythical
creature , a fairy
● Described with long hair and
attractive wild eyes
“I made a garland for her head, And bracelets too, fragrant
Zone”
● He tried wooing the fairy
over by making garlands
and bracelets
● Fragrant Zone: Belt of
flowers or be referred to it’s
double meaning which is
lady parts
● He places the lady in his
“pacing speed”, which is his
horse or erection
● All he saw was the fairy as
she sang
“She found me roots of relish sweet,
And honey wild and manna-dew
And sure in language strange she said
‘ I love thee true.’
“She took me to her elfin grot
And there she wept and sighed full sore,
And there I shut her wild wild eyes
With kisses four.
“ And there she lulled me asleep,
And there I dreamed, Ah Woe betide!
The latest dream I ever dreamt
On the cold hill side.
relish: a condiment eaten with
plain food to add flavor
betide: is about to happen
grot: cave
● “manna” is a food Jewish scriptures say that
Israelities ate when wandering the desert after
Moses freed them from slavery in Egypt
● food from heaven- faery lady supernatural if
not divine
● she weeps because she knows she can’t stay
with him odds are against them
human - faery lady
I saw pale Kings, and Princes too,
Pale warriors, death-pale were they all;
They cried, ‘La belle dame sans merci
Hath thee in thrall!’
“I saw their starved lips in the gloam
With horrid warning gaped wide,
And I awoke, and found me here
On the cold hill’s side.
“And this is why I sojurn here,
Alone and palely loitering;
Though the sedge is whithered from the Lake
And no birds sing.”
thrall- the state of being in the power of
another or under influence
gloam- twilight; the time of day after sunset
sojurn- a temporary stay
● hell- gothic transport of a dream
- nightmare
● surrounded by past victims and taste is consistent in men
- imprisonment
- he realises he isn’t anyone special to her
● verge of death due to his romantic
encounter
● enraptured with faery lady that he is
oblivious to everything else/forgets
- lost of time
- season changes from spring to winter
● death left in question