Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • La Belle Dame Sans Merci: - John Keats

    Uploaded by

    msml kml
    44 views14 pages

    Original Title

    labelledamesansmerci-150412163849-conversion-gate01

    Copyright

    © © All Rights Reserved

    Available Formats

    PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    Report this Document

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    Download as pptx, pdf, or txt
    44 views14 pages

    La Belle Dame Sans Merci: - John Keats

    Uploaded by

    msml kml

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    Download as pptx, pdf, or txt
    of 14

    La Belle Dame Sans Merci

    -John Keats
    THE TITLE

    La Belle Dame Sans Merci =


    The Beautiful Lady Without Mercy
    A knight falls in love with a
    mysterious young woman (or faery)
    who charms him but then leaves him
    alone and desperate to see her again.
    FORM - POEM

    Ballad
    The folk ballad, which usually tells a basic story of love or pain, or a hero/heroin is
    known for its simple language and minimal details.
    However,
    LBDSM is in the form of a Medieval ballad, often dealt with mystery and the supernatural
    (relevant here as the Romantics like John Keats were interested in this aspect). 
    FORM - POEM

    • The rhyme scheme follows the common ABCB pattern used in ballads,
    conveying the dramatic romance of the story effectively.

    • It is organised into 12 quatrains with a rhythm of iambic tetrameter, but


    the final line in each stanza is just four syllables.
    What’s your idea
    on this?
    STANZAS 1-3
    The knight is in an O what can ail thee, knight-at-arms,
    Alone and palely loitering?
    infertile spot, where The sedge has withered from the lake, The knight’s haggard
    the reed has become And no birds sing. look is shown by the
    lifeless; however, questioner’s asking and
    the squirrel’s winter O what can ail thee, knight-at-arms, description.
    So haggard and so woe-begone?
    storage is full and The squirrel's granary is full,
    the harvest has And the harvest's done.
    been completed.
    I see a lily on thy brow, Lily means paleness and fading
    Here contrasts two
    With anguish moist and fever dew, rose implies the knight’s pang.
    views of life. And on thy cheeks a fading rose  Moist and dew both show the
    Fast witherth too. anguish which the knight suffers.
     all the nouns can make us
    The first two stanzas have identical patterns: the first half of each imagine the knight’s haggard
    addresses a question to the knight-at-arms about his spiritual look.
    condition; and the second half comments on the natural setting.
    STANZAS 4-6
    "I met a lady in the meads,
    Full beautiful- a faery's child, Wildness of eyes is not usually
    Her hair was long, her foot was light, used to describe a lady. It seems
    And her eyes were wild. that the lady has some mysterious
    power to charm men, especially
    "I made a garland for her head, by her wild eyes.
    And bracelets too, and fragrant zone;
    She looked at me as she did love
    And made sweet moan.

    Romantic gestures "I set her on my pacing steed, To emphasize the knight’s
    And nothing else saw all day long; surprising meeting, Keats uses
    For sidelong would she bend, and sing
    A faery's song. the magical words to describe
    what happened.
    STANZAS 7-9
    "She found me roots of relish sweet,
    And honey wild, and manna-dew;
    Her romantic And sure in language strange she said, When we shed tears, we show
    gestures in return. 'I love thee true.' sorrowful or joyful looks, but we
    "She took me to her elfin grot, do not usually have wildness in
    And there she wept and sighed full sore, our eyes. This kind of expression
    And there I shut her wild, wild eyes, in her eyes is not like a human
    With kisses four. being, so the lady is thought to be
    a non-mortal.
    He was powerless. "And there she lullèd me asleep,
    And there I dreamed- ah! woe betide!-
    The latest dream I ever dreamed Implies the sinister reality
    On the cold hill's side. which the knight faces.
    Supported by idea that hills
    are often where the fairies
    and elves live.
    STANZAS 10-12
    "I saw pale kings, and princes too,
    Pale warriors, death-pale were they all:
    They cried- "La Belle Dame sans Merci
    Hath thee in thrall!' The kings’ and princes’
    starved appearances
    "I saw their starved lips in the gloam, seem to predict how
    Implies he will be With horrid warning gapèd wide, dreadful and miserable
    And I awoke, and found me here,
    there for some time. On the cold hill's side. the knight’s future will
    be.
    "And this is why I sojourn here
    Alone and palely loitering,
    Though the sedge is withered from the lake,
    And no birds sing."

    The completion of a circular movement is marked by the fact that the last stanza
    echoes the first stanza and answers the stranger’s questions in the introductory
    three stanzas and brings the poem round full circle, so that the final stanza may be
    an approximate repetition of the first.
    MORE ON LBDSM
    THEMES OF THE POEM

    • A magical experience
    (supernatural).
    • A mood of enchantment.
    • A quest or journey.
    • A love affair.
    • Loneliness.

    You might also like