A Poem by John Keats (1795-1821) A Study Guide | ||||||||||||||||
Study Guide Written by Michael J. Cummings...© 2009 Type of Work and Year of Publication ......."La
Belle Dame Sans Merci" is a literary ballad, a poem that imitates a folk
ballad. A folk ballad tells a story on a theme popular with the common
people of a particular culture or place. Generally of unknown authorship,
a folk ballad passes by word of mouth from one generation to the next.
One of its key characteristics is a cadence that makes it easy to set
to music and sing.
.......John Keats based the title of his literary ballad on the title of a long French poem with a different story. The title of the latter poem, written in 1424 by Alain Chartier (1392-1433), is “La Belle Dame sans mercy." (Notice the different spelling of the last word.) As a feminine noun, the French word merci means pity or mercy. As a masculine noun, it means thanks. The translation of the title is “The Beautiful Woman Without Mercy." .......The time is late autumn. The place is England during the Age of Chivalry. A lovesick knight tells an unidentified person about a beautiful “faery's child" he met in a meadow. Interpretation 1: Unrequited Love .......After telling the knight she loves him, the beautiful lady lulls him to sleep and abandons him. As he sits alone on a cold hillside, his unrequited love makes him physically ill. He lacks the energy and will to move on. All he can do is brood. Interpretation 2: Impossible Love .......Line
30 of the poem says, "And there she wept and sighed full sore." The suggestion
here is that the lady does care for the knight but realizes she must leave
him because she is a fairy and he is a human. Two such beings cannot have
a life together. This theme can apply to any man and woman who love each
other but cannot marry because of cultural, religious, or social barriers
or any other impediment.
.......In the summer of 1818, Keats began exhibiting symptoms of tuberculosis, a disease that had already infected his younger brother, Tom, who died in December of that year. Exactly when Keats became aware that he was suffering from a killer disease is uncertain. But, as an observer of his brother's symptoms and as a trained apothecary who had worked in hospitals, Keats must have suspected that his own symptoms were an ominous sign. Consequently, when he wrote “La Belle Dame Sans Merci" in the spring of 1819, he might have intended the beautiful woman as a symbol for the life, which was slowly slipping away from him. During this time, he must have felt like the knight sitting on the cold hill—pale, feverish, and alone. He lasted less than two more years, dying in February 1821.
Rhyme Scheme and Meter .......The
rhyme scheme of "La Belle Dame Sans Merci" is abcb—that
is, the second and fourth lines of each stanza rhyme.
.......1..............2..................3......,,,,.........4The meter of the last line of each stanza is usually in iambic dimeter: In this format, a line contains two feet (two pairs of syllables), with the stress falling on the first syllable in each pair. The last line of the first stanza demonstrates this pattern. .....1................2In addition, the last line of some stanzas combines an anapestic foot with an iambic foot, as in line 8: ........1.....................2Narration .......The poem is a dialogue between an unidentified person and a knight. The former asks the latter why he looks so pale and feverish. The latter responds with his story about the beautiful fairy woman. .......The mood of the poem is somber and sorrowful. Keats maintains it with such adjectives as woebegone, sighed, gloam, and alone. In addition, he sets the poem in late autumn so that nature—the withering sedge, the cold, and the absence of birdsong—reflects the mood of the knight. .......Following are examples of figures of speech in the poem: Alone and palely loitering (line 2): alliteration..
Study Questions and Writing Topics
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