La Belle Dame sans Merci: A Ballad Analysis

La Belle Dame sans Merci: A Ballad
by John Keats

O what can ail thee, knight-at-arms,
Alone and palely loitering?
The sedge has withered from the lake,
And no birds sing.

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.

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.

Summary of La Belle Dame sans Merci
Popularity of "La Belle Dame sans Merci": John Keats, a great English poet wrote 'La Belle Dame sans Merci'. It is a ballad published in 1819. The title is derived from the poem, La Belle Dame sans Mercy, written by Alain Chartier. The poem tells about the story of a gentleman and a beautiful woman. He then illustrates how love plays an important role in the life of man. However, its popularity lies in the theme of sadness, death, and power of seduction.
"La Belle Dame sans Merci" as a representative of deception: the poem tells the tragic story of a gentleman who falls in love with a lady, but she leaves him sick. A stranger meets the knight and asks about his miserable condition. The knight tells him about the beautiful woman in the meadows. They have fallen in love with her as she walked alongside him and sang beautiful songs to him. Once she took him to her special place where he kissed her, and the silence let him sleep. Then he dreamed of strange people who warned him about this beautiful woman. He woke up on the cold slope where the stranger found him. The tragic ballad tells about the sad state of the knight and the deception of the lady.
Most important themes in “La Belle Dame without Merci”: Illusion versus reality, death, love and seduction are the main themes of this poem. The lady with her beauty enslaved the knight and let him die by the lake. The knight's dream also shows that it was not the first time that she caught a man. In fact, there are a number of unfortunate men that she has killed. The poem gives a message that love, beauty and joy are short-lived and that physical beauty and seduction can mislead a person.
Analysis of literary devices used in “La Belle Dame Without Merci”
Literary devices are tools with which Writers convey their emotions and ideas and subjects to make texts more attractive. John Keats also used many literary means in this poem to express the miserable condition of a knight. The analysis of the literary means used in this poem has been given below.

Assonance: Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds on the same line as z as the sound of / o / in "So gaunt and so hurt" and the sound of / i / in " And then I closed her wild, wild eyes ".
Consonance: Consonance is the repetition of consonant tones in the same line as z as the sound of / n / in" And honey wild and manna-dew "and the sound of / l / in" Loitering alone and pale ”.
Alliteration: Alliteration is the repetition of consonant tones in the same line in quick succession as z as the sound of / w / in“ With a terrible warning gap ”.
Images: Images are used to make readers perceive things with their five senses. For example: “She brought me to her elven grotto”, “I have seen pale kings and princes too” and “And there she wept and sighed in pain. “
Enjambment: It is defined as a thought or clause that does not end with a line break; Instead, it moves over to the next line. For example
“The newest dream I've ever dreamed
On the cold hill.”

Symbolism: Symbolism means using symbols to denote ideas and qualities and to give them symbolic meanings that are different from literal meanings. The sentences like; "No birds are singing", "lily on your forehead" and "fading rose" symbolize the arrival of death.
Metaphor: It is a phrase in which an implicit comparison is made between objects of different nature. "I see a lily on your forehead". Here the pallor is compared to a white lily.
Anaphora: It refers to the repetition of a word or phrase in the first part of some verses. For example, "and there" is repeated in the eighth stanza to emphasize the point.
"And that's where she fell asleep,
And that's where I dreamed - Ah! woe in between.

Analysis of the poetic devices used in "La Belle Dame sans Merci"
The poetic and literary devices are the same, but some are used only in poetry. Here is the analysis of some of the poetic devices used in this poem.

Estancia: A stanza is a poetic form of some verses. There are twelve stanzas in this poem, each with four lines.
Quatrain: A quatrain is a four-line stanza taken from Persian poetry. Here, each stanza is a quatrain. rhyme scheme, and this pattern continues until the end.
Final Rhyme: The final rhyme is used to make the stanza melodious. For example, "sour / four", "child / wild", "zone / moan" and "betide / side". ”
Repetition: The following lines have been repeated in the first and last stanza of the poem, which has created a musical quality in the poem. For example
“Loitering alone and pale?
The sleigh has withered out of the lake,
And no birds are singing. ”

Refrain: The lines that are repeated at some distance in the poems are called the refrain. The following verses have been repeated with the same words as given below.
“Loitering alone and pale?
The sleigh has withered out of the lake,
And no birds are singing. ”

Quotes used
The following lines can be used by a lover to adore the beauty of a person and to express love.

“ I met a woman in the meadows,
Much beautiful - one Fairy Child,
Her hair was long, her foot was light,
And her eyes were wild.