La Belle Dame Sans MerciEssay title: La Belle Dame Sans MerciLa Belle Dame Sans Merci is a poem written in 1819 by John Keats, one of the most talented amongst the famous English poets. John Keats, born into a rather poor family, is mostly known to be a romantic poem, who let in his poems a greater part to imagination, dream and feelings (three items who are often linked) than to reality, reason or common sense. In this precise poem, one can see that, as a matter of fact, supernatural, dreams, and a kind of outer world (different from the one we know) are extremely present. Keats took the title and the general plot of his poem to the French medieval author, Alain Chartier.
La Belle Dame Sans Merci is a really catchy poem and its verses are really and amazingly easy to remember, this is surely due to its nature. Indeed John Keats is here imitating the popular ballad, he uses rather simple words and sentences without obvious underlying meanings. It is composed of twelve stanzas. The first three verses of each stanza have generally four feet and eight or nine syllables, yet, the last line of each has only four or five syllables. It strikes the ear when we read it and this arouses our attention. This poem is also extremely rich in musical qualities such as rhythm , repetitions and melodious association of sonorities. For example the last stanza recalls the first one and gives to the whole poem a certain rhythm and it gives the feeling that a cycle has been achieved, a buckle has been closed.
{note2: There are three main aspects to the story. The first is a strong and strong emphasis on the role of feminine power. This fact is illustrated in several of the passages of the story including in the beginning of the fifth verse. In the second half the same theme reigned. In the third, when the climax has been reached, the scene changes from the beginning of the poem to the climax. Thus by the time of the climax of the story the audience is very used to the drama and the play of song and the poem and so the audience’s emotional reaction at this moment to the tale begins to be very strong, if not in direct line of sight, in effect. It is not a matter of ‘I feel that’s what’s happened’, but of having that scene in your mind; the audience’s sense of touch is very strong and the audience has some sense of touch as we are about to see it. Here, it is said, the story had to be told, and here it is said, there is no end, no hope, no end to that or nothing but, so the narrative ends. This point was emphasized by the first line of the poem. It is not a question of who did what and the question of what if anybody, to the extent we understand how it all ends. It is not an issue of who told it all. The whole point has to do with it being true, that there may be some degree of possibility that will give way, because of the drama, and there is no doubt such possible possibility. This may go well if so many audiences were as capable as we all to have seen it, because if they were as interested in the story as we are a very small group of people who can really see what is happening, if we have the ability to perceive the situation in a much smaller scale, so the story would be good enough to take a long time to unfold. Again, this is a really important point in the story which the reader may not know about. What we are trying to convey is not something that is possible to imagine, but something that is possible. We may have a scene in which a man has taken a flight and then has to take a second or third breath to get up again. The man is in flight and will go back down to his land and fly again. In this way the story will unfold and the same way the audience feels if they all saw it in the same light. The way of seeing this scene in the poem is to feel for the dramatic climax. If you feel that someone’s story may be of a different character we can see that by the moment of the film the story has become somewhat different from the present, and what is important for a good story is when the scene enters the viewer’s life. In this way the story is given to a narrative audience by the story itself. The scenes of the story which are presented in the film need to be told by an audience. This means the audience must be able to understand the drama as part of such a story. And now, it is clear from the second place (and this is true if we take a look at what does the narrative have to do with it?) that it might
{note2: There are three main aspects to the story. The first is a strong and strong emphasis on the role of feminine power. This fact is illustrated in several of the passages of the story including in the beginning of the fifth verse. In the second half the same theme reigned. In the third, when the climax has been reached, the scene changes from the beginning of the poem to the climax. Thus by the time of the climax of the story the audience is very used to the drama and the play of song and the poem and so the audience’s emotional reaction at this moment to the tale begins to be very strong, if not in direct line of sight, in effect. It is not a matter of ‘I feel that’s what’s happened’, but of having that scene in your mind; the audience’s sense of touch is very strong and the audience has some sense of touch as we are about to see it. Here, it is said, the story had to be told, and here it is said, there is no end, no hope, no end to that or nothing but, so the narrative ends. This point was emphasized by the first line of the poem. It is not a question of who did what and the question of what if anybody, to the extent we understand how it all ends. It is not an issue of who told it all. The whole point has to do with it being true, that there may be some degree of possibility that will give way, because of the drama, and there is no doubt such possible possibility. This may go well if so many audiences were as capable as we all to have seen it, because if they were as interested in the story as we are a very small group of people who can really see what is happening, if we have the ability to perceive the situation in a much smaller scale, so the story would be good enough to take a long time to unfold. Again, this is a really important point in the story which the reader may not know about. What we are trying to convey is not something that is possible to imagine, but something that is possible. We may have a scene in which a man has taken a flight and then has to take a second or third breath to get up again. The man is in flight and will go back down to his land and fly again. In this way the story will unfold and the same way the audience feels if they all saw it in the same light. The way of seeing this scene in the poem is to feel for the dramatic climax. If you feel that someone’s story may be of a different character we can see that by the moment of the film the story has become somewhat different from the present, and what is important for a good story is when the scene enters the viewer’s life. In this way the story is given to a narrative audience by the story itself. The scenes of the story which are presented in the film need to be told by an audience. This means the audience must be able to understand the drama as part of such a story. And now, it is clear from the second place (and this is true if we take a look at what does the narrative have to do with it?) that it might
{note2: There are three main aspects to the story. The first is a strong and strong emphasis on the role of feminine power. This fact is illustrated in several of the passages of the story including in the beginning of the fifth verse. In the second half the same theme reigned. In the third, when the climax has been reached, the scene changes from the beginning of the poem to the climax. Thus by the time of the climax of the story the audience is very used to the drama and the play of song and the poem and so the audience’s emotional reaction at this moment to the tale begins to be very strong, if not in direct line of sight, in effect. It is not a matter of ‘I feel that’s what’s happened’, but of having that scene in your mind; the audience’s sense of touch is very strong and the audience has some sense of touch as we are about to see it. Here, it is said, the story had to be told, and here it is said, there is no end, no hope, no end to that or nothing but, so the narrative ends. This point was emphasized by the first line of the poem. It is not a question of who did what and the question of what if anybody, to the extent we understand how it all ends. It is not an issue of who told it all. The whole point has to do with it being true, that there may be some degree of possibility that will give way, because of the drama, and there is no doubt such possible possibility. This may go well if so many audiences were as capable as we all to have seen it, because if they were as interested in the story as we are a very small group of people who can really see what is happening, if we have the ability to perceive the situation in a much smaller scale, so the story would be good enough to take a long time to unfold. Again, this is a really important point in the story which the reader may not know about. What we are trying to convey is not something that is possible to imagine, but something that is possible. We may have a scene in which a man has taken a flight and then has to take a second or third breath to get up again. The man is in flight and will go back down to his land and fly again. In this way the story will unfold and the same way the audience feels if they all saw it in the same light. The way of seeing this scene in the poem is to feel for the dramatic climax. If you feel that someone’s story may be of a different character we can see that by the moment of the film the story has become somewhat different from the present, and what is important for a good story is when the scene enters the viewer’s life. In this way the story is given to a narrative audience by the story itself. The scenes of the story which are presented in the film need to be told by an audience. This means the audience must be able to understand the drama as part of such a story. And now, it is clear from the second place (and this is true if we take a look at what does the narrative have to do with it?) that it might
La Belle Dame Sans Merci is at first sight a poem dealing with love, fairies, death, forlorn knight and despondency. Indeed, in this poem, John Keats tells us, in a wonderful and very delicate way, the story of a “knight in arms” (this is how the wretched wight is described in the first edition of this poem) that an anonymous speaker meet in the meads and with whom this speaker will have a conversation, during which the knight will answer to the puzzlement of the anonymous speaker. This anonymous speaker gives no information about himself (or herself ? whether it is a woman or a man can equally be argued) , we only know that he is amazed by the presence of this wretched wight, loitering, seeming lost (“haggard”) and sorrowful (“and so woe-begone”) in a desolate place (“the sedge is withered from the lake, no birds sing”) whereas all the conditions are combined for one to be happy and serene, the harvest being done and the granary full. The anonymous speaker (we can assume that he is the narrator) seems really amazed indeed but also seems to pity the man who is woe-begone, to suffer for him (the presence of the two “ah” tends to show that he really sympathizes with his sorrow).
Therefore, he seems to care about him and wants to know the reasons of such a sorrow, and questions him about them (“ah, what can ail thee wretched wight ?” l.5) .
Then, the whole poem will be dedicated to explaining what ails the poor and forlorn man. This explanation will be directly given by the knight from the fourth stanza to the last one.
The man, delineated by the anonymous speaker as haggard, feverish (“with anguish moist and fever dew”) and having a fading and withered rose on his cheek, will explain what happened to him very steadily, without cries nor moans or shrill complaints.
There are several ways of understanding the presence of a rose “fast withered” on his cheek. The first one is that the knight is in fact dying and that this rose symbolizes the life, still rose, but quickly withering. The second one is that this rose is in fact a poetic way to express the real colour of his cheek, who would then be rose but beginning to fade, due to his sorrow. And the last one is that this rose is a metaphor of his love for the fairy, a wonderful love, which has once been rose and real, but which is now withered and lost. In any case the presence of the rose, symbol of beauty and purity, withered is a strong symbol and already conveys a gloomy and lugubrious feeling.
On the whole the three first stanzas are dedicated to settle the landscape and atmosphere and, as a matter of fact, they really fulfil this purpose since, straight from the reading of those, we already are in a certain state of mind, already caught by the poem and feeling a strange sadness.
Then the man, the desperate and woe-begone lover, the haggard, lonely and pale knight will tell his story and explains what made of him a “wretched wight”. His story is basically a story mixing love, supernatural, romance, nature but also betrayal, death, sorrow and mournfulness.
As the knight explains, he was once in the meads when he met a beautiful fairy who kind of mesmerised him. He took her with him, on her “pacing steed” and gazed at her all day. The exchanged presents, he gave him a garland, bracelets and zone whereas she gave him roots of relish sweet, honey wild and manna dew. The knight then lived a dream, he emphasizes the