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La Belle Dame Sans Merci. A Ballad - John Keats (AO2 ("Alone and…
La Belle Dame Sans Merci. A Ballad
- John Keats
AO3
1848 - published
Keats was ill when written
Died at 25 from TB
"Lily"
- used at funerals
Written in one sitting
Structure
Letter
ABCB - regular
Iambic Tetrameter
Stanza One
Slow paced
Depressing
Repetition in second stanza
Themes
Hopelessness
Unrequited Love
Love portrayed as emotionally destructive
'The Beautiful Women no Mercy'
AO2
"Alone and palely loitering?"
Looks like death - questions leads onto story
"Withered from the lake"
Winter - cold/sad - season of death
"And no birds sing."
Lack of life, devistation of life
"Knights-at-arms"
Keats feels sorry for knight, he identifies with him - Keats is ill and knight's in emotional decline
"So"
Repetition - highlight misery
The squirrels granary"
metaphor for life's gifts
"And the harvest's done"
Omnious tone, Winter = death
"Fever-dew"
knight becoming part of winter
"Fading rose"
Physical fading of his strength
"Withereth"
Recurring theme = death/decay
"A faery's child"
Lady referred to as fairy - fantasy
"Her hair was long"
Sexual
"Her eyes were wild"
Power of 3, shocking
"I made a garland for her head"
Romantic, Loves/cares for her - controlling
"I shut her"
still believes he's in control -
"Wild eyes"
danger
"She lulled me asleep"
dominant
"and there i dreamed - ah! woe betide!"
woke from dream and is horrifed
"Latest dream"
his last ever dream? repetition of 'dream' - strange
AO2
"I set her on my pacing steed"
- euphemism - she's an object to him
"I see a lily on thy brow"
Lily = hope for future - Spring, symbol of death
"all day long"
- obsessive, lost touch with reality
"Bend"
- Changing herself for him
"Manna-dew"
Reference to bible
"Language strange"
she speaks a language he can't identify but can understand it - something not natural or right - sinister
"Her foot was light"
Vulnerability - takes advantage of her
"She did love"
She appreciated the gifts
"Made sweet moan"
Sexual - pleasure? discomfort?
"I love thee true"
ambiguous, knight isn't convinced
"She took me to her elfin grot"
Lady's territory, she's in control - role shift
"she wept and sighed full sore"
guilt/grief she knows he'll suffer - she truly loved him?
"elfin grot"
sinister - cave
"La Belle Dame sans Merci"
- realises he's in danger
"I saw their starved lips in the gloam"
- dead men warning him of her
"sojourn"
stayed there - waiting for sad future? believes she's coming back? he's already dead?
"And no birds sing"
repetition from beginning = cyclical - realise he's lonely