Assignment:
"La Belle Dame Sans Merci" by John Keats
(Poem at bottom)
Study Questions:
Q1. As always, start by looking up a quick bio of John Keats. Just a few lines will do. Include a Works Cited. Then, make sure you look up and copy the definition of the Romantic Movement for us. Where did it take place and when? (Approximate dates). Need Assignment Help?
When was the poem published?
2. Look up any words in the poem that you are not sure you know the meaning of, such as: sedge, haggard, woe-begone, meads, steed, grot (short for "grotto"), "in thrall," gloam, sojourn.
3. Copy and paste the ballad in your window. (See my copy of it starting on page 2. Use that if you like). Then, make up a rhyme scheme for the whole ballad. I've done the first quatrain for you on page 2. (Make sure you know the word "quatrain"). If any words or sounds repeat at the end of a line anywhere in the poem, remember to use the same letter of the alphabet for them. See some brief commentary on the first quatrain from me on the bottom of this page).
4. The first speaker sets the scene in the first three stanzas. What time of year is it? Why is that symbolic, given your knowledge of the whole poem?
5. What is a garland? What is a "fragrant zone"? (5th quatrain). Don't be afraid to think dirty thoughts. I encourage them!
6. What could be another meaning of the word "steed" in the 6th quatrain? Don't be afraid to think dirty thoughts. I encourage them!
7. Starting in the 9th quatrain, the knight falls asleep and has a dream. Paraphrase the dream as described in quatrains 10 and 11. What does it symbolize or prophesy or foreshadow?
8. What's happening at the end of the poem?
9. What happens to all men who meet and fall in love with a faery, according to the poem?
At a time when women, in particular, but also men were expected to be virgins when they married, is the poem passing judgment on women and women's sexual powers over men? Is the poem sexist?
10. Medieval ballads (which we aren't reading this semester) had a moral or a warning to give out. What warning does this ballad advertise and for whom in particular?
11. Each of you will be asked to count syllables in one quatrain. Let's see if Keats sticks to the 8-6-8-6 tempo of a ballad or if he innovates. (Count syllables for Quatrain 1)
When I ask you to make a rhyme scheme or count syllables, begin by copying and pasting some or all of the poem. Then, place your syllable count and letter of the alphabet to the right of each individual line that you are figuring out. The failure to do any of this as I've asked results in 1-3 points lost.
Quatrain 1 of "La Belle Dame..."
Notice that this is a typical BALLAD rhyme scheme of A B C B. That means that only two lines rhyme with each other. When you resume creating a rhyme scheme for the balance of the poem, you probably need to use the letter D for the next new end sound that you encounter. If you encounter a word that repeats an end sound or that rhymes with an end sound, then you use the letter of the alphabet that you trotted out the first time around.
When you count syllables, you'll notice that Keats takes liberties with the typical ballad meter (or rhythm) of the poem. I advise you to space out the words as well as the syllables of words when you copy them so that you can more easily count the syllables.
"La Belle Dame Sans Merci" by John Keats
O what can ail thee, knight-at-arms, A
Alone and palely loitering? B
The sedge has withered from the lake, C
And no birds sing. B
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.
I see a lily on thy brow,
With anguish moist and fever-dew,
And on thy cheeks a fading rose
Fast withereth too.
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.
Poem continues below!
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
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.
She found me roots of relish sweet,
And honey wild, and manna-dew,
And sure in language strange she said-
'I love thee true'.
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.
And there she lullèd me asleep,
And there I dreamed-Ah! woe betide!-
The latest dream I ever dreamt
On the cold hill side.
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!'
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.
And this is why I sojourn here,
Alone and palely loitering,
Though the sedge is withered from the lake,
And no birds sing
"La Belle Dame Sans Merci" is French. It means "the beautiful woman who shows no mercy."
This is a love poem--of sorts. The beautiful woman in the poem is a "siren" or faery who lures the knight to his death. She has done this to many men before him.
The poem is written by John Keats, my favorite of the Romantic poets. Please look up a bio of poor Keats, who died, tragically, so young.
Look up the term Romanticism, too, and make sure you get a good definition of it. We aren't talking about Valentine's Day, roses, and chocolates!!! The Romantic poets were into the supernatural!
One more important fact: There are two speakers in the poem. The first three quatrains are spoken by the observer or reporter who stumbles upon the ailing knight. The rest of the poem is the knight's narrative of meeting the gorgeous but heartless woman.