La Belle Dame sans Merci: A Ballad
by John Keats
O what can ail thee, knight-at-arms,
Alone and palely loitering?
The sedge has withered from the lake,
And no birds sing.O what can ail thee, knight-at-arms,
So haggard and so woe-begone?
The squirrel’s granary is full,
And the harvest’s done.I see a lily on thy brow,
With anguish moist and fever-dew,
And on thy cheeks a fading rose
Fast withereth too.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 moanI set her on my pacing steed,
And nothing else saw all day long,
For sidelong would she bend, and sing
A faery’s song.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 lullèd me asleep,
And there I dreamed—Ah! woe betide!—
The latest dream I ever dreamt
On the cold hill side.I saw pale kings and princes too,
Pale warriors, death-pale were they all;
They cried—‘La Belle Dame sans Merci
Thee hath in thrall!’I saw their starved lips in the gloam,
With horrid warning gapèd wide,
And I awoke and found me here,
On the cold hill’s side.And this is why I sojourn here,
Alone and palely loitering,
Though the sedge is withered from the lake,
And no birds sing.
Meanings of La Belle Dame Sans Merci by John Keats
The poem “La Belle Dame Sans Merci” presents a knight deceived by a beautiful woman and left in the wild. It shows the presence of magical fantasy and the depression of the knight-at-arms after he is left alone.
Meanings of Stanza -1
O what can ail thee, knight-at-arms,
Alone and palely loitering?
The sedge has withered from the lake,
And no birds sing.
This stanza shows the poet or the speaker asking the knight-at-arms who is all alone in the wild. He is going here and there in search of something but finds nothing. The question shows how the speaker describes the situation around the knight that the sedge has withered and that the birds have gone as none of them is seen singing on the lake. This shows the barrenness of the scene after the knight-at-arms is shown wandering with his pale looks. This stanza adds to the magic and mystery of the poem.
Meanings of Stanza -2
O what can ail thee, knight-at-arms,
So haggard and so woe-begone?
The squirrel’s granary is full,
And the harvest’s done.
This stanza presents the speaker questioning the knight and how he is so haggard and so sorrowful. Then he presents the situation around him, which is the pre-autumn. The squirrel has filled its granary with food, and the harvest is done. Therefore, the knight must think about his situation and move forward, but he is so much sadness that the speaker asks him the reason for it. The stanza further adds to the fantasy and mystery of the main idea.
Meanings of Stanza -3
I see a lily on thy brow,
With anguish moist and fever-dew,
And on thy cheeks a fading rose
Fast withereth too.
The speaker presents the description of the knight-at-arms. He states that he sees a lily on the brow of the knight and it is moist with sorrow. He has a fever with cheeks fading rose, which seems withering fast. This woe-begone situation of the knight prompts the speaker to see beneath the surface of things to add further to the main idea of mystery and lugubriousness.
Meanings of Stanza -4
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.
This is the first time that the knight speaks. He tells the speaker that he has met a lady in the meadow who seems a fairy – such was her beauty. He describes her features saying that she has beautiful long hair, light foot, and wild eyes. This alluring description of the woman shows the lugubrious condition of the knight who seems to have been tempted by her. This stanza adds to the main theme of mystery and his situation of being in the woe-begone state.
Meanings of Stanza -5
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
The knight tells the speaker that he made a garland for her head. He further states that he also made bracelets for her and created a fragrant zone where she looked more beautiful. She even pretended to look at the knight as if she loved him. She also pretended to moan in his love. This shows the innocence of the knight, who is instantly attracted to the beautiful lady. The stanza further adds to the mystery and beauty of the main idea of the ballad.
Meanings of Stanza -6
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.
The knight further says that he invited the lady to ride his horse. They both rode together all alone in the valley. They did not come across anything else. She enjoyed his company when singing a song and moving on the horse. The knight seems to have full enjoyment in this stanza, which adds to the beauty and mystery of the poem.
Meanings of Stanza -7
She found me roots of relish sweet,
And honey wild, and manna-dew,
And sure in language strange she said—
‘I love thee true’.
The knight says that the lady found sweet roots, honey, and manna soaked in dew for him to eat. She, however, spoke in strange terms that she loved him truly. He was so much convinced over these allurements that he forgot about himself. This shows how the lady in the wild hooked and deceived the knight. This stanza adds further to the mysterious circumstances and the reaction of the knight to this fantasy he sees with his open eyes.
Meanings of Stanza -8
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.
The knight tells the speaker that after they have enjoyed, the woman takes him to an Elfing grot and made him sleep. She sighed as if she wanted him to sleep soundly. He goes to sleep with his four kisses after he enjoyed the love of the lady. This stanza adds further to the mysterious circumstances in which the knight finds himself being loved by a beautiful lady.
Meanings of Stanza -9
And there she lullèd me asleep,
And there I dreamed—Ah! woe betide!—
The latest dream I ever dreamt
On the cold hill side.
The knight states that the lady lulled him to sleep. He slept so soundly that he had several dreams. In one of the dreams, he dreamed about his sorrowful condition. He says that he remembers only this dream of his being in the sorrowful condition. This stanza further adds to the beauty and mystery of the main idea.
Meanings of Stanza -10
I saw pale kings and princes too,
Pale warriors, death-pale were they all;
They cried—‘La Belle Dame sans Merci
Thee hath in thrall!’
This stanza presents the dream of the knight. The knight states that he dreams of pale kings and princesses who are all woe-begone. There are warriors among them, but they seem to have been stricken with her terror. They all cry out that the lady is beautiful, but she is merciless and has captivated them all. This dream of the knight about warriors and their conditions adds to the mystery and magical touch of the main idea.
Meanings of Stanza -11
I saw their starved lips in the gloam,
With horrid warning gapèd wide,
And I awoke and found me here,
On the cold hill’s side.
The knight tells the speaker that he sees all the kings, princesses, and warriors as highly sorrowful and thirsty. They are surprised at their situations. They terrified him so much that when he woke up, he found himself on the hillside in the cold. This situation has created another mystery that furthers the main idea of the fantasy world.
Meanings of Stanza -12
And this is why I sojourn here,
Alone and palely loitering,
Though the sedge is withered from the lake,
And no birds sing.
The knight then comes to tell the speaker about the reason of his condition. After narrating his entire story of being deceived by that mercilessly beautiful lady, he states that this is the reason for his journey and his sorrowful wandering in the wild. He further says that although the sedge has withered on the lake and that the pre-autumn conditions have forced the birds to migrate, he is looking for his love. This ends the stanza after presenting the main theme that beauty is short-lived, transient, and sorrowful in nature.
Summary of La Belle Dame sans Merci
- Popularity of “La Belle Dame sans Merci”: John Keats, a great English poet wrote ‘La Belle Dame sans Merci’. It is a ballad published in 1819. The title was derived from the poem, La Belle Dame sans Mercy, written by Alain Chartier. The poem speaks about the story of a knight and a beautiful woman. It then illustrates how love plays a significant role in man’s life. Its popularity, however, lies in the theme of sadness, death, and power of seduction.
- “La Belle Dame sans Merci” as a Representative of Deception: The poem narrates a tragic story of a knight who falls in love with a lady, but she leaves him as falls ill. A stranger meets the knight and inquires about his miserable condition. The knight tells him about the beautiful woman in the meadows. They have been in love as she has walked alongside him and sung beautiful songs for him. Once, she took him to her special place where he kissed her, and the calmness around made him sleep. He then dreamed strange people warning him about that fair lady. He woke up by the cold hillside where the stranger found him. The tragic ballad tells about the sad condition of the knight and the deception of the lady.
- Major Themes in “La Belle Dame sans Merci”: Illusion versus reality, death, love, and seduction are the major themes of this poem. The lady, with her beauty, enslaved the knight and left him to die at the lake. Also, the knight’s dream indicates that was not the first time she trapped a man. In fact, there is a series of ill-fated men to whom she ditched. The poem gives a message that love, beauty, and joy are short-lived and that physical beauty and seduction can mislead a person.
Analysis of Literary Devices Used in “La Belle Dame sans Merci”
literary devices are tools used by writers to convey their emotions, ideas, and themes to make texts more appealing to the reader. John Keats has also used plenty of literary devices in this poem to express the miserable condition of a knight. The analysis of the literary devices used in this poem has been given below.
- Assonance: Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in the same line such as the sound of /o/ in “So haggard and so woe-begone” and the sound of /i/ in “And there I shut her wild wild eyes”.
- Consonance: Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line such as the sound of /n/ in “And honey wild, and manna-dew” and the sound of /l/ in “Alone and palely loitering”.
- Alliteration: Alliteration is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line in quick succession such as the sound of /w/ in “With horrid warning gapèd wide.”
- Imagery: Imagery is used to make readers perceive things involving their five senses. For example, “She took me to her Elfin grot”, “I saw pale kings and princes too” and “And there she wept and sighed full sore.”
- Enjambment: It is defined as a thought or clause that does not come to an end at a line break; instead, it moves over the next line. For example,
“The latest dream I ever dreamt
On the cold hill side.”
- Symbolism: Symbolism means to use symbols to signify ideas and qualities, giving them symbolic meanings different from literal meanings. The phrases such as; “no birds sing”, “lily on thy brow” and “fading rose” symbolize the arrival of death.
- Metaphor: It is a figure of speech in which an implied comparison is made between the objects that are different in nature. For example, “I see a lily on thy brow”. Here the paleness is compared to a white lily.
- Anaphora: It refers to the repetition of a word or expression in the first part of some verses. For example, ‘and there’ is repeated in the eighth stanza to emphasize the point.
“And there she lullèd me asleep,
And there I dreamed—Ah! woe betide.”
Analysis of Poetic Devices Used in “La Belle Dame sans Merci”
Poetic and literary devices are the same, but a few are used only in poetry. Here is the analysis of some of the poetic devices used in this poem.
- Stanza: A stanza is a poetic form of some lines. There are twelve stanzas in this poem, each having four lines.
- Quatrain: A quatrain is a four-lined stanza borrowed from Persian poetry. Here, each stanza is quatrain.
- Rhyme Scheme: The poem follows the ABCB rhyme scheme, and this pattern continues until the end.
- End Rhyme: End Rhyme is used to make the stanza melodious. For example, “sour/four”, “child/wild”, “zone/moan” and “betide/side.”
- Repetition: The following lines have been repeated in the first and last stanza of the poem which has created a musical quality in the poem. For example,
“Alone and palely loitering?
The sledge has withered from the lake,
And no birds sing.”
- Refrain: The lines that are repeated at some distance in the poems are called refrain. The following verses have been repeated with the same words as given below.
“Alone and palely loitering?
The sledge has withered from the lake,
And no birds sing.”
Quotes to be Used
The lines stated below can be used by a lover to adore a person’s beauty and express love.
“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.”
