La Belle Dame Sans Merci- John Keates
You should know the drill by now, have a read
Summary
So this poem starts off with an unnamed speaker, who comes across a "knight at arms" alone, and on the verge of death in a field. After asking him (twice) what's' wrong, the knight takes over as narrator and answers the rest of the poem. He talks of how he met a beautiful girl in the fields, and he gave her flowers and let her ride his horse (possible sex reference here) and they she invited him back to her fairy cave. After she had "lulled" him to sleep, he had a crazy nightmare, about other people who were now dead, and then he woke up, alone, on the side of a hill somewhere.
Breakdown
Stanza 1- The poem opes with a question, an unnamed speaker asks a "knight at arms" what's wrong, or what's "ail(ing)" him. This is the first mention in the poem that he is "pale" and be warned, this word is repeated a lot.
There is a foreboding tone right from the first stanza of this poem. Also, there is imagery, in the references that are made to "wither'd' plants" and the "lack of birdsong" which is suggestive of the lonely, desolate surroundings. There is also consonance of the L sound, which makes the line sound very musical. Also, the word "palely" creates an internal rhyme with "ail thee" from the previous line. By associating those words together, it is made clear that the knight's paleness has to do with whatever it is that is ailing him.
Stanza 2- There is echoing of the first line of the stanza that is in the second one as well. There are two more adjectives used to describe the knight so, he is "haggard", "woe-begone" which highlights how deathly and drawn that he looks.
Stanza 3- There is flower imagery that is used to emphasise how pale and haggard the knight looks. This is portrayed by the metaphor, "I see a lily on thy brow", conveying his paleness. There is also a double-meaning as lilies are the flowers associated with death,in Western culture, and contributes to the deathly feel of the poem. There is also a rose metaphor, ""And on thy cheek a fading rose/ Fast withered too"" which suggests that colour has left his cheek and his beauty (represented by the rose) has withered.
Stanza 4- There is a change in narrative in this stanza. The "I" is the knight, rather than the original speaker. HE describes how he met a "beautiful lady" in the fields, which is an idealistic description, which is quite characteristic of the Romantic era. She is described as. "Full beautiful" and "A faery's child"", which creates the image of an enchanting and mysterious person.
Stanza 5- There is more nature imagery, about flowers, but there is also an erotic reference, when he says that the lady is "look(ing)" at him while ""lov(ing)" and "moaning" which leads us to believe that he is getting some. When he talks about the "fragrant zone" it can also be interpreted as a euphemism for the zone, under her belt.
Stanza 6- So the knight puts the lady on his horse, his "pacing steed" to take a ride... it could also mean his penis. In case you didn't catch that. He is so absorbed with his erotic encounter that he doesn't notice anything "all day long" There is also a suggestion of supernatural enchantment when he mentions that she sand, ""A faery's song"".
Stanza 7- There is a religious aspect taken into course, here, as "Manna" is the food that Jewish scriptures say that the Israelites ate when they were wandering the desert after Moses freed them from slavery. It is meant to be food from heaven, which, in the poem would make the lady seem supernatural or divine, almost. Moreover, it could be that he was enslaved by the lady. It is an allusion, made with the Israelites when they were trying to find the promised land.
Stanza 8- The fairy lady takes the knight to her "Elfin grot", her lady-cave basically, and there is contrast with the infatuation from the previous paragraph, whereby Keats introduces a hint of sadness, when the lady ""Wept, and sigh'd full sore"". It can either be left to our imagination about why she is said, or it could possibly be part of her seduction, to capture young knights. Again, there is repetition of the word, "wild" which emphasises her enchanting eyes as well as the knight's obsession with her, the repetition reflects the oral nature of the ballad and the ability of the form to keep the reader engaged.
Stanza 9- The sadness in the previous stanza is contrasted with the gentleness of the words "lulled" and "dream'd" There is contrast conveyed with the use of hyphen introducing the plaintive line, ""-Ah! Woe betide" which is an archaic expression used to express extreme grief or suffering. The knight's use of this expression emphasises the medieval romance setting.
Stanza 10- There is again, repetition in using the word, "pale" which, again could be a religious allusion to the book of Revelations, where the fourth horseman of the Apocalypse is Death and he rides on a pale horse. Again, there is consonance, with the words 'all, belle, thrall' which associates those words as we read them, making us consider how the belle dame might be responsible for the paleness of all the knights she has had in thrall.
Stanza 11- This penultimate stanza presents us with a nightmarish imagery of, ""Starv;d lips"", ""Horrid"" and ""gaped wide". There is more talk of his dream here, when he wakes up, he is alone, and there is a gloomy sense of isolation as he uses the word ''cold'' to describe it.
Stanza 12- The final stanza reminds us that he is telling a story to the unnamed speaker, and it also reminds us of the poem's opening question, which is common with the folk tradition of the ballad form. There is an ambiguous ending as we are unsure if the knight will survive his experience or what decision he has come to, ""And this is why I sojourn here,/ Alone and palely loitering,""
Stanza 7- There is a religious aspect taken into course, here, as "Manna" is the food that Jewish scriptures say that the Israelites ate when they were wandering the desert after Moses freed them from slavery. It is meant to be food from heaven, which, in the poem would make the lady seem supernatural or divine, almost. Moreover, it could be that he was enslaved by the lady. It is an allusion, made with the Israelites when they were trying to find the promised land.
Stanza 8- The fairy lady takes the knight to her "Elfin grot", her lady-cave basically, and there is contrast with the infatuation from the previous paragraph, whereby Keats introduces a hint of sadness, when the lady ""Wept, and sigh'd full sore"". It can either be left to our imagination about why she is said, or it could possibly be part of her seduction, to capture young knights. Again, there is repetition of the word, "wild" which emphasises her enchanting eyes as well as the knight's obsession with her, the repetition reflects the oral nature of the ballad and the ability of the form to keep the reader engaged.
Stanza 9- The sadness in the previous stanza is contrasted with the gentleness of the words "lulled" and "dream'd" There is contrast conveyed with the use of hyphen introducing the plaintive line, ""-Ah! Woe betide" which is an archaic expression used to express extreme grief or suffering. The knight's use of this expression emphasises the medieval romance setting.
Stanza 10- There is again, repetition in using the word, "pale" which, again could be a religious allusion to the book of Revelations, where the fourth horseman of the Apocalypse is Death and he rides on a pale horse. Again, there is consonance, with the words 'all, belle, thrall' which associates those words as we read them, making us consider how the belle dame might be responsible for the paleness of all the knights she has had in thrall.
Stanza 11- This penultimate stanza presents us with a nightmarish imagery of, ""Starv;d lips"", ""Horrid"" and ""gaped wide". There is more talk of his dream here, when he wakes up, he is alone, and there is a gloomy sense of isolation as he uses the word ''cold'' to describe it.
Stanza 12- The final stanza reminds us that he is telling a story to the unnamed speaker, and it also reminds us of the poem's opening question, which is common with the folk tradition of the ballad form. There is an ambiguous ending as we are unsure if the knight will survive his experience or what decision he has come to, ""And this is why I sojourn here,/ Alone and palely loitering,""
Overall
The poem, is written in the form of a traditional folk ballad, and is broken into twelve quatrains. There is simple language, the story of one event, and the repetition of ideas and refrains. They all combine to serve the traditional purpose of the ballad which was to keep listeners engaged and entertained. Each of the quatrains has a simple ABCB pattern.
The basic meter of the poem is iambic tetrameter, stressed/unstressed. However, on the fourth line of each quatrain, there are only three stressed syllables in the fourth line of each quatrain. It is consistently shorter- which is effective in terms of him *insert your own conclusion*.
Also, remember that the poem is a dialogue between two people, the unnamed stranger and the knight. That's about all I have for this poem, its good for any obsessive, erotic love poetry comparisons, even infatuation to the point it makes the main character at the point of death. Memorise, memorise, memorise!
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