LA BELLE DAME SANS MERCI

JOHN KEATS (1795-1821)

About the Poet:

Keats was one of the reputed (famous) poets of the Romantic Age.
He believed in the power of beauty.
According to him, A thing of beauty is a joy forever.
He stated, Beauty is truth, truth beauty, - that is all/ Ye know on earth, and all ye need to
know.
Keats was a sensuous poet. He believed that poetry is best explained by appealing to the
senses (describing the sense of sight, smell, hearing, touch or taste).
About the Poem:
The title of this poem is taken from a poem by Alain Cartier. It means the beautiful lady
without mercy (kindness).
This poem is a literary ballad.

The Central Idea of the Poem:

O WHAT can ail thee, knight-at-arms,
Alone and palely loitering?
The sedge has witherd from the lake,
And no birds sing.
Line 1: Apostrophe
Stanza 1: Visual Imagery
Stanza 1: The speaker asks the knight why
he is so pale and why he is wandering alone.
It is the season of autumn. So, even the grass
near the lake has become dry. Even the birds
have stopped singing.

Stanza 2: The speaker wants to know why

O what can ail thee, knight-at-arms,
So haggard and so woe-begone?
The squirrels granary is full,
And the harvests done.
Line 1: Apostrophe
Stanza 2: Visual Imagery
the knight looks so tired and worried. Winter
is drawing close and so even the squirrel has
stored its nuts. The harvest is over and there
is not much activity. Still, the knight is
wandering about with a pale look.

Dr. Sujatha Menon


I see a lily on thy brow
With anguish moist and fever dew,
And on thy cheeks a fading rose
Fast withereth too.
Line 1 and 3: Metaphor
Stanza 3: Visual imagery
I met a lady in the meads,
Full beautifula faerys child,
Her hair was long, her foot was light,
And her eyes were wild.
Stanza 4: Visual imagery
I made a garland for her head,
And bracelets too, and fragrant zone;
She lookd at me as she did love,
And made sweet moan.
Stanza 5: Audio-visual imagery and
Olfactory imagery (imagery of smell)
I set her on my pacing steed,
And nothing else saw all day long,
For sidelong would she bend, and sing
A faerys song.
Stanza 6: Audio-visual imagery
She found me roots of relish sweet,
And honey wild, and manna dew,
And sure in language strange she said
I love thee true.
Stanza 7: Audio-visual imagery
She took me to her elfin grot,
And there she wept, and sighd full sore,
And there I shut her wild wild eyes
With kisses four..
Stanza 8: Audio-visual imagery
Stanza 3: The knight looks pale and feverish.
Even the pink colour of his cheeks is fading
away. The speaker uses metaphors to
compare the knights pale skin to a lily. The
colour on his cheeks is compared to a rose
that is dying, thereby losing its colour.
Stanza 4: The knight then tells the reason of
his sorrow (sadness). He met a beautiful lady
in the meadows who was a fairy. She had
long hair, beautiful wild eyes, and walked
gently.
Stanza 5: The knight made a garland and
belt, and also bracelets of flowers for his
beloved. The lady in turn gave him a loving
look and made a sweet sound.
Stanza 6: The knight then seated her on his
horse (fast-moving horse). He had eyes only
for his beloved because she bent sideways
and sang a fairy song to him.
Stanza 7: The lady gave the knight tasty
roots, wild honey, and manna dew
(considered food of the gods; the lady then
must have been a fairy with magical powers).
Then, in a strange language (which the knight
did not understand) she expressed her love.
Stanza 8: After giving him food to eat, the
lady took the knight to her fairy cave. In the
cave, she cried bitterly (she cried for a long
time). In order to comfort her, the knight
kissed her on her eyes.
And there she lulled me asleep,
And there I dreamdAh! woe betide!
The latest dream I ever dreamd
On the cold hills side.
Stanza 9: Audio-visual imagery
I saw pale kings and princes too,
Pale warriors, death-pale were they all;
They criedLa Belle Dame sans Merci
Hath thee in thrall!
Stanza 10: Audio-visual imagery
I saw their starved lips in the gloam,
With horrid warning gaped wide,
And I awoke and found me here,
On the cold hills side.
Stanza 11: Audio-visual imagery
And this is why I sojourn here,
Alone and palely loitering,
Though the sedge is witherd from the lake,
And no birds sing.
Stanza 12: Visual imagery
Language: Keats uses archaic language
(belonging to an ancient period) in this poem.
This is because it deals with kings, knights,
and supernatural elements like fairies.
Stanza 9: The lady then sang a song for the
knight to sleep. The knight dreamed a terrible
dream and that was the last of his dreams.
This is because he never had good sleep after
that.
Stanza 10: The knight saw pale kings and
warriors in his dreams. They were as pale as
corpses. They warned him that the beautiful
lady has charmed him. She is a lady without
any mercy. She will leave him soon.
Stanza 11: The knight saw their lips all
starved (this could be because they were all
thinking about the lady who pretended to
love them and then left them and
disappeared) in the darkness. Their warning
was loud and clear. When he awoke from his
dream, he was all alone on the hillside. The
lady had left him just as she had left the
others.
Stanza 12: The knight explains that this is
the reason why he wanders all alone. He has
become pale like the kings and warriors in
the dream. Though it is the end of autumn
and winter is drawing close, he keeps
wandering. This is because his thoughts are
all about the fairy.
Features of the literary ballad:
1. It consists of quatrains where the second
and the fourth lines rhyme. (abcb) This is
called ballad stanza.
2. It consists of refrains (words or lines
repeated).
3. It usually begins in the middle of the story
or abruptly (suddenly)
4. Its theme is tragic. In the poem
also, the ending is tragic.