La Belle Dame Sans Merci (Edexcel GCSE English Literature)

La Belle Dame sans Merci

Each GCSE poetry anthology contains 15 poems, and in your exam question you will be given one poem – printed in full – and asked to compare this printed poem to another. The exam is closed-book, which means you will not have access to the second poem. This does not mean you need to remember every line from memory, but you do need to understand and remember aspects of the poem. Understanding four things will enable you to produce a top-grade response:

• The meaning of the poem

• The ideas and messages of the poet 

• How the poet conveys these ideas through their methods

• How these ideas compare and contrast with the ideas of other poets in the anthology

This revision guide to John Keats's poem 'La Belle Dame sans Merci', from the Relationships anthology, includes:

• Overview: a breakdown of the poem, including its possible meanings and interpretations

• Writer’s methods: an exploration of the poet’s techniques and methods

• Context: an exploration of the context of the poem, relevant to its themes

• What to compare it to: ideas about which poems to compare it to in the exam

Overview

In order to answer an essay question on any poem it is vital that you understand what it is about. This section includes:

• The poem in a nutshell

• A “translation” of the poem, section-by-section

• A commentary of each of these sections, outlining John Keats's intention and message

'La Belle Dame sans Merci' in a nutshell

'La Belle Dame sans Merci', written by the poet John Keats, has been described as a romantic ballad. It describes a dying knight who becomes enthralled with a beautiful and comforting fairy woman. It can also be considered an elegy due to its focus on death. 

'La Belle Dame sans Merci' breakdown

Lines 1–4

“O what can ail thee, knight-at-arms,

Alone and palely loitering? 

The sedge has withered from the lake, 

And no birds sing.”

Translation

• A voice addresses a knight (he is in battle armour) and asks what ails him (what is wrong)

• The voice observes he is pale and seems to be waiting for something (“loitering”)

• The voice notices he is alone (not even birds sing) and the bushes are dying (“withered”)

Keats's intention

• The poem introduces a conversation between a speaker and a knight

• The speaker inquires as to the knight’s welfare as he appears to be ill

• Keats sets the scene in a rural location typical of romantic poetry

• However, here, the “sedge” is dying, introducing darker themes

Lines 4–8

“O what can ail thee, knight-at-arms, 

So haggard and so woe-begone? 

The squirrel’s granary is full, 

And the harvest’s done.”

Translation

• The speaker asks the knight again what is wrong with him, implying the knight is silent

• The speaker describes the knight as sad (“woe-begone”) and wearied (“haggard”)

• The speaker appears to encourage the knight to leave as winter is coming:

  • The harvest is over and the squirrels have collected their nuts

Keats's intention

• Keats repeats the speaker’s question to draw attention to the knight’s weakened condition

• This is reflected in imagery describing the closing in of winter, perhaps signalling death

Lines 9–12

“I see a lily on thy brow, 

With anguish moist and fever-dew, 

And on thy cheeks a fading rose 

Fast withereth too.”

Translation

• The speaker describes a “lily” on the knight’s brow:

  • This may signify the man is lying in a field of white flowers

  • The lily, though, could allude to the knight’s pale forehead and his illness

• The knight is very sick and feverish: 

  • His face shows “anguish” (severe pain) and is sweaty (“fever-dew”) 

  • The colour in his cheeks is fading (implied by a “fading rose”)

Keats's intention

• Keats uses Natural imagery typical of a romantic ballad to present the knight as feverish from pain, perhaps close to death

• Keats uses a semantic field connoting death: “fading”, “withereth”

Line 13–16

“I met a lady in the meads, 

Full beautiful—a faery’s child, 

Her hair was long, her foot was light, 

And her eyes were wild.” 

Translation

• The knight replies to the speaker and says he met a beautiful lady in the fields (“meads”)

• However, he describes her as very beautiful and magical (a “faery’s child”):

  • The knight refers to her wild and graceful movements, implying the lady lives amongst nature

Keats's intention

• Keats introduces the knight’s passion for the lady:

  • Keats's knight is stirred by the memory of the mysterious and beautiful lady he has seen

Lines 17–20

“I made a garland for her head, 

And bracelets too, and fragrant zone; 

She looked at me as she did love, 

And made sweet moan.”

Translation

• The knight relates the romantic moments they spent together in the fields:

  • They made bracelets and headdresses (garlands) out of flowers

  • Their time was intimate: she looked at him and “made sweet moan”

Keats's intention

• Here, the romantic ballad describes, conventionally, an intimate love between two people

• This is made more romantic by the natural setting and sensory imagery, such as the “fragrant” flowers” and sounds of sweet moaning

Lines 21–24

“I set her on my pacing steed, 

And nothing else saw all day long, 

For sidelong would she bend, and sing 

A faery’s song.” 

Translation

• The knight took the lady riding on his fast horse (“pacing steed”)

• He says he was so enthralled by her he saw nothing else

• The lady bends to the side and sings a magical (“faery’s”) song to him

Keats's intention

• Keats's knight narrates a detailed story about his time with the lady to show its impact on him

• Keats emphasises the intimacy between the knight and the lady

Lines 25–28

“She found me roots of relish sweet, 

And honey wild, and manna-dew, 

And sure in language strange she said— 

‘I love thee true’.”

Translation

• The speaker describes how the lady fed him herbs (“roots of relish”), honey and water (“manna-dew”)

• Here, the lady is presented as unfamiliar, speaking in a “strange” language: 

  • Nevertheless, the knight understands that she says she genuinely loves him 

Keats's intention

• Keats draws attention to the fact the lady is from another land, one that is “wild” and “strange”

• Keats also emphasises the sensual nature of the lady as she feeds him “sweet” food

• The poet makes use of a religious reference that connotes to salvation:

  • He describes the lady providing food given by the gods: “manna-dew”

Lines 29–32

“She took me to her Elfin grot, 

And there she wept and sighed full sore, 

And there I shut her wild wild eyes 

With kisses four.”

Translation

• These lines confirm the lady represents the magical or supernatural:

  • She takes the knight to an elf cave 

• In the cave she shows empathy for the knight’s condition (“sighed full sore”) 

• The knight tries to reassure her: he kisses her and shuts her eyes

Keats's intention

• The romantic elements of the poem can be seen in these lines especially as the knight and lady share a tender moment in an elf cave

• Keats conveys typical ideas related to romantic love here:

  • The lady is sad and the knight comforts her

  • Keats uses ideas related to damsels and heroes

  • The wild setting is Ethereal

Lines 33–36

“And there she lullèd me asleep, 

And there I dreamed—Ah! woe betide!— 

The latest dream I ever dreamt 

On the cold hill side.”

Translation

• There is a sudden shift in tone and mood here:

  • The knight is sent to sleep by the lady but his rest is disturbed

  • He exclaims an ominous warning, “woe betide!”, meaning bad tidings or bad news

  • The reference to the cold hill is a sudden contrast to the intimate elf cave

• The knight says he dreamed his “latest” dream, perhaps meaning his final dream 

Keats's intention

• Keats begins to draw the knight’s story to a dark close:

  • Rather than comforted, the knight now appears scared 

• Keats implies the knight’s impending death: he dreams a last dream and is left “cold”

Lines 37–40

“I saw pale kings and princes too, 

Pale warriors, death-pale were they all; 

They cried—'La Belle Dame sans Merci 

Thee hath in thrall!'”

Translation

• The knight says that in the dream he saw “pale” kings, princes and warriors and repeats they were all “death-pale”

• They warn him about the lady and say she has enchanted him

• They call her a beautiful lady without thanks or mercy

Keats's intention

• Keats emphasises that the lady has enthralled many men from kings to warriors 

• This also connects with the title of the poem which plays on the word “merci”:

  • Some interpretations suggest the men view the lady as without mercy or compassion

  • Nevertheless, the earlier description of her as empathetic may contrast this

  • Keats may imply the lady receives no thanks (translated as “merci” in French) for the comfort she offers as the men realise this happens at the time of death 

Lines 41–44

“I saw their starved lips in the gloam, 

With horrid warning gapèd wide, 

And I awoke and found me here, 

On the cold hill’s side.”

Translation

• The knight describes the men he sees in the dream with horrifying imagery: 

  • The day has turned dark as the sun sets (the word “gloam” means dusk)

  • The men are “starved” and their mouths are wide open

• This wakes the knight and he finds himself on the cold hill, not with the lady in the cave

Keats's intention

• Keats's previously romantic natural imagery changes here to darker descriptions to convey themes of death:

  • The men call from death to warn the knight, and this wakes him from a fevered dream

Lines 45–48

“And this is why I sojourn here, 

Alone and palely loitering, 

Though the sedge is withered from the lake, 

And no birds sing.”

Translation

• The knight explains that this is the reason he stops (“sojourns”) on the hill

• He repeats the words the speaker uses at the start of the conversation

Keats's intention

• Keats uses a cyclical structure that conveys a lack of resolution:

  • The knight remains alone on the cold hill, implying his death 

Writer’s methods

Although this section is organised into three separate sections – form, structure and language – it is always best to move from what the poet is presenting (the techniques they use; the overall form of the poem; what comes at the beginning, middle and end of a poem) to how and why they have made the choices they have. 

Focusing on the poet’s overarching ideas, rather than individual poetic techniques, will gain you far more marks. Crucially, in the below sections, all analysis is arranged by theme, and includes John Keats's intentions behind his choices in terms of:

• Form

• Structure

• Language

Form

John Keats's poem 'La Belle Dame sans Merci' is a romantic ballad that takes the form of speech between a speaker and a knight. The conversation relates a tale about a lady who vanishes as the knight dreams about death. It is told in medieval English to allude to classical romance. 

Structure

The poem can be considered a lyrical ballad typical of the Romantic era. The ballad’s metre and rhyme scheme produces a song-like rhythm that makes the poem light-hearted and simplistic. But the poem also conveys ideas about the inevitability of loss.

Language

The rural setting contributes to the poem’s romanticised presentation of love. Rich and sensual imagery describes an intense love affair between a chivalrous knight and a beautiful, wild lady. By symbolising the knight’s imminent death with an autumnal setting, Keats conveys darker themes of loss. 

Context

Examiners repeatedly state that context should not be considered as additional factual information: in this case, it is not random biographical information about John Keats or facts unrelated to the ideas in 'La Belle Dame sans Merci'. The best way to understand context is as the ideas and perspectives explored by Keats that relate to romantic love and themes of loss. 

This section has therefore been divided into two relevant themes that Keats explores:

• Romantic love

• Death and loss

Romantic love 

• Keats is considered one of the best-known Romantic poets:

  • John Keats, born in 1795, lived at the time of other Romantic poets such as William Wordsworth and Samuel Coleridge

  • They, and other poets, are considered influential in Keats's work

• In particular, Keats was inspired by Edmund Spenser’s “The Faerie Queene”:

  • This poem centres around an imaginative world

  • Its influence may be seen in Keats's poem in the depiction of a strange and, most likely, imaginary lady who is a “faery’s child”

• The story in the poem conforms to classical romantic ballads that idealise a beautiful female character:

  • The lady in 'La Belle Dame sans Merci' is described, at times, as a stereotypical Damsel in distress:

    • The lady is emotional and cries and sighs over the knight 

  • However, Keats subverts conventions by depicting a woman who is more of a siren, a femme fatale:

    • The lady in this poem, though “sweet” and “beautiful”, is also “wild” and “strange”

    • Other knights, kings and princes ominously warn the knight that he has been seduced and that she has him “in thrall”

    • This links to the title that refers to a beautiful lady without mercy or thanks

• Keats's poetry, typical of the Romantic genre, often focuses on nature:

  • Imagery related to flowers was frequently used in Romantic literature:

    • The rose and lily (as mentioned in Keats's poem) often appeared together

      • An example of this is William Cowper’s 1782 poem “The Lily and the Rose”

  • In this poem, the rural setting contributes to the romantic quality of the poem

  • The knight and lady meet in the “meads” and eat “honey wild” and “roots”

Death and loss

• John Keats wrote La Belle Dame sans Merci in 1819 just before he died from tuberculosis

• Before Keats died, aged 25, he was engaged to Fanny Brawne:

  • However, due to his poverty he was not able to marry her

  • It is said that Keats was more prepared to lose his life than lose his love

  • The relationship was the inspiration for the 2009 film about Keats's life, Bright Star

• Keats was well aware of his ill-health and the danger of his disease:

  • His mother and brother had died of tuberculosis earlier in his life

  • Descriptions of a weakened and feverish knight in La Belle Dame sans Merci may have been influenced by this

• Keats was depressed, dwelling especially on the idea of death and mortality in his writing:

  • The knight’s intense love, experienced just before his death, may represent Keats's short yet passionate love for Fanny Brawne

  • The poem depicts a vision of a woman comforting a man at his time of death, perhaps suggesting the comfort love can bring at the moment of death 

What to compare it to

The essay you are required to write in your exam is a comparison of the ideas and themes explored in two of your anthology poems. It is therefore essential that you revise the poems together, in pairs, to understand how each poet presents ideas about love or relationships, in comparison to other poets in the anthology. Given that La Belle Dame sans Merci explores the ideas of romantic love, desire and loss, the following comparisons are the most appropriate:

• 'La Belle Dame sans Merci' and 'Love’s Dog'

• 'La Belle Dame sans Merci' and 'She Walks in Beauty'

• 'La Belle Dame sans Merci' and 'My Last Duchess'

For each pair of poems, you will find:

• The comparison in a nutshell

• Similarities between the ideas presented in each poem

• Differences between the ideas presented in each poem

• Evidence and analysis of these similarities and differences

'La Belle Dame sans Merci' and 'Love’s Dog'

Comparison in a nutshell:

Both John Keats's 'La Belle Dame sans Merci' and Jen Hadfield’s 'Love’s Dog' present love as torturous and complex. Yet the speakers also describe love’s power, showing it as intense and fantastical. Nevertheless, while Keats uses a classical lyrical ballad to narrate a romantic tale, Hadfield’s poem is an unconventional and post-modern expression of emotion. 

Similarities:

Differences:

'La Belle Dame sans Merci' and 'She Walks in Beauty'

Comparison in a nutshell:

This is an effective comparative choice to explore the presentation of relationships and romantic love across traditional Romantic poems. However, while Keats's poem tells a melancholy tale about a strange lady, Byron’s poem is more like a tribute to a beautiful woman. 

Similarities:

Differences:

'La Belle Dame sans Merci' and 'My Last Duchess'

Comparison in a nutshell:

Both poems examine the complexity of love and explore its connections with death. The poems present intensely passionate love that ends tragically. However, while Keats's poem is a romantic ballad about a deceived knight, Browning’s dramatic monologue  examines a Duke’s jealous control. 

Similarities:

Differences: