La Belle Dame sans Merci

Hello Friend, I’m back with another post! This post is about one of my favourite poems, La Belle Dame sans Merci [The Beautiful and Merciless Woman]; I’ve mentioned this poem in a post I wrote two weeks back, titled “On Fairies”.  This poem, which is by John Keats and was published in 1819, is one of the most closely analysed works of fairy literature, and has been adapted into various forms of media. Keats often dwelt on themes such as death and love, and this poem is proof of that; it is extremely striking and memorable due to the graphic and tragic way in which it portrays the forbidden love between a human [a knight in the poem] and an otherworldly creature [in this case, a fairy]. The language used is extremely beautiful and evocative; besides, it’s obviously not the English we use these days, but it’s actually quite easy to understand. Here goes!

The poem begins with the speaker addressing a knight, asking him, “O what can ail thee, knight-at-arms, alone and palely loitering? The sedge has withered from the lake, and no birds sing!” This knight is clearly troubled by something—he is “alone” and “palely loitering”. In the second stanza, the speaker presses the knight further, but receives no answer; he compares the knight’s deathly pale brow to a lily [I told you the language is beautiful], and comments on how bloodless his cheek is: “And on thy cheeks a fading rose fast withereth too”. The knight then narrates his sad tale; it’s a tale fit for winter [and, indeed, the season does seem to be winter, though it’s not explicitly stated]. He states that he met an extremely beautiful woman in the woods, and one glance told him she was a fairy. She is described as having long hair, light and quick feet, and wild eyes. [I believe the wildness in her eyes is a foreshadowing of what is to come]. The knight is smitten, and makes garlands of flowers for her head, wrists, and waists; she looks at him expressively, and the knight believes she’s in love with him […how gullible. She’s not in love with him at all. She never even said she loves him].

She leads him to her fairy cave [ they travel on his horse], and this man is completely under her spell; and when she sings, I think she reinforces the power of the enchantment.  He is actually not in love with her either, of course. He’s bewitched—by her beauty, by her voice, by whatever magic she cast over him. When they eventually reach her cave [ her “Elfin grot”], she weeps and sighs [for some unfathomable reason], until the knight shuts her “wild, wild” eyes with kisses. [See? “Wild” has been repeated. Just wait for what happens next]. She lulls him into a deep slumber, and he dreams a horrific, graphic dream:

“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!”

They’re men like him, broken by her [literally] devastating beauty and spells. He awakens with a jolt, desperately hoping, I’m sure, that it was just a dream; however, it’s not—he is not in her cave anymore. He’s lying on the cold hill’s side. That’s terrible, but not shocking—that woman appearing before him so conveniently was too good to be true, don’t you think?

The knight concludes his chilling story in this manner:

“And this is why I sojourn here,

Alone and palely loitering,

Though the sedge has withered from the lake,

And no birds sing.”

The ending echoes the beginning. This poem is so prettily worded, isn’t it? Too pretty, perhaps; the words emphasise the morbid nature of the poem. However, there’s no beating around the bush, and the poet does not try to disguise or sugar-coat the themes of the poem, as some poets try to do.  I love this poem [I’m sure you already know that though, haha] and I know it by heart!  I wish poets would produce such masterpieces again!

That’s all for now!

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Thank you! See you next time!