La Belle Dame sans Merci
by John Keats
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At a glance:
- Author: John Keats
- First Published: 1820
- Type of Poem: Ballad
- Genres: Poetry, Ballad
- Subjects: Love or romance, Women, Kings, queens, or royalty, Folklore, Knights or knighthood, Chivalry, Autumn
The Poem
“La Belle Dame sans Merci” is a remarkably evocative poem attaining subtle effects of mood and music in the short space of forty-eight lines. The twelve stanzas consist of three tetrameter lines followed by a concluding line of only two stresses. The title is taken from a medieval French poem by Alain Chartier in which the speaker is mourning his dead mistress. Other than the title, John Keats’s poem has nothing in common with Chartier’s.
The poem opens with an unnamed speaker asking a knight at arms what ails him, since he is all alone, pale, and...
(The entire page is 1438 words.)
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Popular Questions
See all »- Critically analyse the poem 'La Belle Dame Sans Merci' with emphasis on the background, title, theme and style.
- What is the significance of the "elfin grot" and "manna dew" in "La Belle Dame Sans Merci"?
- What is the summary of Keats' "La Belle Dame Sans Merci"?
- Why has the poet-narrator in "La Belle Dame sans Merci" lost all interest in life?
- How does "La Belle Dame sans Merci" differ from Keats's other poems like "To Autumn"???
