What is the meaning of the Belle Dame sans Merci?
"The Belle Dame sans Merci" means, in French, the beautiful lady without mercy (pity). The central idea of the poem is that beauty and our own illusions about it can deceive us. The knight in the poem comes across a woman, saying she was "full beautiful--a faery's child."
What literary devices are used in La belle dame sans Merci?
Keats’ ‘La Belle Dame sans Merci’ contains several literary devices that make the emotional story of the “knight-at-arms” more heart-touching to the readers. These include but are not limited to: Anaphora: The poem begins with an apostrophe.
Who read La belle dame sans Merci in bright star?
Actor Ben Whishaw Reads "La Belle Dame sans Merci" — Ben Whishaw, who played John Keats in the 2009 biopic Bright Star, reads the poem. A Painting of "La Belle Dame sans Merci" — Artist John William Waterhouse's interpretation of Keats's poem, painted in 1893.
Why did Keats write La belle dame sans Merci?
In the poem, a medieval knight recounts a fanciful romp in the countryside with a fairy woman— La Belle Dame sans Merci, which means "The Beautiful Lady Without Mercy" in French—that ends in cold horror. Related to this focus on death and horror, Keats wrote the poem months after his brother Tom died of tuberculosis.
What is the message behind La Belle Dame Sans Merci?
'La Belle Dame sans Merci' is Keats' life and emotions set into verse. It is a story of unrequited love, illness, and the impossibility of being with whom one cares for when they are from different social classes.
What does La Belle Dame Sans Merci say about love?
Edna is still able to portray her theme because she uses the structure, imagery, and alliteration in her poem to convey her theme that love may not be necessary for survival but life without love is a life not worth living.
What does and made sweet moan mean?
The lady “Made sweet moan.” A moan is most often either a sign of distress, or of sexual pleasure. This duality of meaning mirrors the duality in the woven bracelets, which simultaneously suggest unwilling bondage and a loving gesture.
Why is the knight alone and pale?
Why is the knight "alone and pale"? B) He is dead. This selection is an example of which two kinds of poetry?
What does "la belle dame sans merci" mean?
What does ‘La Belle Dame sans Merci’ mean in English? The meaning of “La belle dame” is “the beautiful lady”. The French preposition “sans” means “without” and “merci” is a French exclamation for saying “thank you”. But the word “merci” stands for the English word “mercy” in the title of Keats’ poem.
What is the meaning of the ballad La Belle Dame sans Merci?
Keats’ ballad ‘La Belle Dame sans Merci’ describes the short encounter between a knight and a fairy lady. The title of the poem is interesting as it isn’t Keats’ own invention. He adopted the title of Alain Chartier’s French courtly poem ‘La Belle Dame Sans Mercy’. In French, the phrase means, “ A Beautiful Lady Without Mercy “. Readers can see the variation of the words “Mercy” and “Merci”. It seems that Keats went with the French spelling of the word.
What does the knight say in the final stanza?
In the final stanza, the knight finally answers the original question of the first speaker. He claims that because of being seduced by the fairy-woman, he now sojourns “alone and palely loitering” in his near-death state. Keats ends ‘La Belle Dame sans Merci’ with the line with which the first stanza ends.
What literary device does La Belle Dame sans Merci use?
Keats’ ‘La Belle Dame sans Merci’ contains several literary devices that make the emotional story of the “knight-at-arms” more heart-touching to the readers. These include but are not limited to: Anaphora: The poem begins with an apostrophe.
What does "merci" mean in the poem?
But the word “merci” stands for the English word “mercy” in the title of Keats’ poem. Literally, it means “The Beautiful Lady Without Mercy”. How is ‘La Belle Dame sans Merci’ a romantic poem? Keats’ ‘La Belle Dame sans Merci’ is a pure romantic poem. Several characteristics of romantic poetry can be found in this poem such as imagination, nature, ...
How many stanzas are in the poem "Mercy"?
It seems that Keats went with the French spelling of the word. Alain Chartier wrote that poem presumably in 1424 and the poem consists of 100 stanzas. Whereas, Keats’ poem is comparably short and doesn’t follow Chartier’s octosyllabic line pattern.
How does the knight describe his relationship with this lady?
In this stanza, the knight describes his relationship with this lady. It appears that he won her heart. He made her a garland of flowers for her head. Then he made her bracelets from flowers. He also adorned her private parts with flowers. This is implied when he says that he put flowers on her “fragrant zone”. Then the knight implies that he made love to this woman. He says that “she looked at [him] as she did love” and that she made a sweet moan. This implies that the two were intimate with one another.
What does "la belle Dame sans merci" mean?
Introduction. La Belle Dame Sans Merci is a French phrase meaning The Lady Without Mercy. The poem La Belle Dame Sans Merci written by John Keats is a conversation (in verse) between the poet and a knight who fell in love with a lady but she left him. The poem comprises 12 stanzas and has a rhyme scheme ABCB.
Why is the knight at arms sad?
In literature, winter symbolizes solitude, sorrow, and grief. This also refers to the fact that the knight-at-arms is grieved.
What does "wow betide" mean in the dream?
Ah! woe betide! is an exclamation that expresses knight-at-arms’ grief and fear.
Why is the knight at arms wandering alone?
In the final stanza, the knight-at-arms says that this is the reason why he is wandering all alone along the lake where there is no grass and at a time when there is no bird to sing, in a miserable condition, pale face.
What does the poem "The Joy is quite short and suffering is forever" mean?
The joy is quite short and suffering is forever. It also reflects how beauty can deceive a person and make him fail or suffer. Unlike Happy Insensibility, the poet here does not celebrate the beauty but rather considers it as something which causes grief and suffering. Download this file to read a detailed analysis.
What does Stanza 3 mean?
Stanza 3. The poet tells the knight-at-arms that there is a lily on his brow i.e. his face is without colour and is pale like a lily. There are sweat and pain in his forehead that depicts that the knight-at-arms is sick. In the final line, the poet says that the colour of the knight-at-arms face is fading quickly like that of a withered rose.
What is the central idea of La Belle Dame Sans Merci?
One central idea of "La Belle Dame Sans Merci" is that constructing a relationship between those from two different worlds presents sometimes insurmountable obstacles. In this poem, the structured world of a knight meets the fantastical world of a fairy lady, and they have different goals for their encounter from their first moments.
What does Belle Dame sans Merci mean?
Share Link. "The Belle Dame sans Merci" means, in French, the beautiful lady without mercy (pity). The central idea of the poem is that beauty and our own illusions about it can deceive us. The knight in the poem comes across a woman, saying she was "full beautiful--a faery's child.".
What does the knight tell the traveler about the knight?
When the traveler asks what the knight is doing wandering around in the remote countryside, the knight tells a story of having been seduced by a female fairy or elf. After a ride and extended foreplay, they have a (discretely worded) sexual encounter and while the knight is asleep, the woman leaves.
What does the fairy lady represent?
While the knight represents a world of order, discipline, and service, the fairy lady represents a world of mysticism, free-spirited passions, and endless possibilities. While the knight is immediately smitten with the fairy lady's beauty, he also recalls that "her eyes were wild," reminding us of her untamable spirit.
What is the central idea of the poem "The Knight"?
The central idea can then be seen as focusing on the longing for beauty being fatal and destructive but still leading to moments of ineffable joy for which the romantic knight or artist sacrifices everything.
Title Analysis of La Belle Dame Sans Merci
As mentioned earlier, the poet tells us a story through this beautiful ballad but the story contains pleasure and pain at the same time. It is very much obvious from the title of the poem. He names this poem in the French language. “La Belle Dame Sans Merci” means “The Beautiful Lady without Mercy”.
Stanza-I
The poem “La Belle Dame Sans Merci” starts with an analysis of a “knight-at-arms”, who appears ill. The poet directly addresses him and enquires the reason behind his ailment and loneliness. The knight feels tired like the plant of “sedge”, whose decay is very much near. The last line of the first stanza gives us a depressing atmosphere.
Stanza-II
Again the poet repeats his question and directly asks the knight that what is bothering him. Why he looks so pale and exhausted. Keats then describes that none of the general problems is of depressing in nature. “Squirrel’s granary is full, and the harvest’s done”. If all is right then which thing bothers the knight?
Stanza-III
Readers can clearly do an analysis of the sorrowful situation of the knight in Stanza-III of “La Belle Dame Sans Merci”. This stanza transpires Keats mastery in using similes and comparing two things for the purpose of elaboration. This is the last stanza, in which the poet describes the “withereth” of the knight.
Stanza-V
This stanza is a continuation of the previous one. Knight creates “garland” and “bracelets” from flowers, which she wears. She expresses her emotions and sexual pleasure through her wild eyes when she moans while looking towards the knight.
Stanza-VI
Keats portrays the feelings of two new lovers at starting of their relationship in this stanza. Imagery, painted in this stanza, is much impressive. In fact, the poet has captured a realistic picture of two lovers through words. Both the lovers (knight and La Belle) spend time with each other and sing songs.
Stanza VIII
The previous stanza is about the love of the girl for the knight whereas this stanza is the expression of love that she gets in return from him. She takes the knight with her to a cave where she weeps not because of pain but because of overwhelmed emotions. In order to soothe her, the knight closes her eyes and “kisses [her] four [times]”.
What is the theme of La Belle Dame Sans Merci?
The supernatural. "La Belle Dame Sans Merci" deals with supernatural elements. The woman that the knight falls in love with is described as a "faery's child.". A faery is a mythical, supernatural being, thus, by describing the woman as a faery's child, Keats brings out the theme of supernatural beings in this poem.
What is the theme of the femme fatale?
The theme of the femme fatale was popular among Romantic poets. The femme fatale is a seductive, beautiful woman who charms and ensnares men, leading them into dangerous situations. The poem clearly depicts the theme of the femme fatale as the woman, described as a "faery's child," makes the knight fall deeply in love with her, which later leads to his deterioration. Moreover, in the end of the poem, it is revealed that the speaker was not the only man to be ensnared by this woman. The dialogue spoken by the pale lovers—"La belle dame sans merci, / Thee hath in thrall"—further highlights the theme of the femme fatale.
Summary
Meaning
- Keats’ ballad ‘La Belle Dame sans Merci’ describes the short encounter between a knight and a fairy lady. The title of the poem is interesting as it isn’t Keats’ own invention. He adopted the title of Alain Chartier’s French courtly poem ‘La Belle Dame Sans Mercy’. In French, the phrase means, “A Beautiful Lady Without Mercy“. Readers can see the v...
Structure and Form
- ‘La Belle Dame sans Merci’ is after the form of the lyrical ballad. Many well-known poets of the romantic era used this form in their written works. This particular ballad has a meter and rhyme schemethat produces a flow that engages the reader. The poem is written in iambic tetrameter, which simply means that the stress falls on four words per line. The effect of this scheme is tha…
Tone and Mood
- The tone and moodof this poem are also designed to help the readers to identify with John Keats’ feelings as he neared the end of his life. One could argue that the Knight in this poem is Keats himself. Although there are some differences between his life and the knight’s story, there are certainly plenty of similarities that would suggest that he uses the knight as a speaker to proclai…
Literary Devices
- Keats’ ‘La Belle Dame sans Merci’contains several literary devices that make the emotional story of the “knight-at-arms” more heart-touching to the readers. These include but are not limited to: 1. Anaphora: The poem begins with an apostrophe. Using it, the poet introduces the knight as well as evokes his spirit into the poem. 2. Metaphor: In “squirrel’s granary” the poet uses a metaphor. He…
Analysis, Stanza by Stanza
- Stanza One
With the opening stanza of ‘La Belle Dame sans Merci,’ the speaker sets up the scene and the subjectof this poem. The speaker comes upon a knight. He knows that this man is a knight upon seeing him, but he quickly reveals that this knight is not behaving as one might expect a knight t… - Stanza Two
With this stanza, the reader can grasp the full picture of what the Knight looks like. The speaker describes him as “alone”, “pale”, “haggard”, and “woe-begone”. The setting is also described. It seems that the harvest is done. Therefore, the reader can imagine the bare, dry ground and the s…
Themes
- ‘La Belle Dame sans Merci’ contains several themes such as dejection in love, heartbreak, sadness, death, and illusion vs reality. The most important theme of the poem is dejection in love. There is a sense of separation in the knights that makes him appear lifeless. His loitering in the wild without any hope depicts the need for love in his life. The lady’s illusory existence makes hi…
Historical Context
- John Keats wrote ‘La Belle Dame sans Merci’in the summer of 1819 when he was dying from tuberculosis. Then he was in Wentworth Palace, the home of his friend Charles Armitage Brown. Their neighbors at Wentworth Palace were Fanny Brawne and her mother, and because they lived in the other half of Wentworth Palace, they saw each other daily. After a while, he fell in love wit…
About John Keats
- Sadly, John Keats, one of the best 18th-century British poets, died at the young age of twenty-five. Having studied some medicine, Keats knew his symptoms well enough to know that his time was limited. Just as Keats had found love, best just as his poetry was beginning to be noticed, he faced his early death. Being fully aware of his symptoms and the result of his disease, Keats als…
Similar Poetry
- Like Keats’ ‘La Belle Dame sans Merci’, here is a list of a few poems that similarly talks about a lady’s unmerciful attitude towards a devoted lover. Readers who enjoyed this poem should also consider reading more John Keats poems such as ‘When I have Fears that I may Cease to Be,’‘Ode to Psyche,’‘Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art,’etc. 1. Love by Samuel Taylor Coleridge …