Introduction

"La Belle Dame sans Merci" ("The Beautiful Lady Without Mercy") is a haunting ballad written by John Keats, a prominent English Romantic poet. The poem, published in 1819, explores themes of love, loss, death, and the supernatural. The ballad tells the story of a knight who encounters a mysterious and beautiful woman, only to be lured away and left heartbroken. "La Belle Dame sans Merci" is structured as a traditional ballad and blends elements of medieval romance and folklore, drawing on Arthurian legends to create an atmosphere of enchantment and danger.

Plot Summary

The poem opens with a knight sitting alone, pale and weary, in a desolate natural landscape. Despite the recent harvest, the world around him appears lifeless. In response to a question about his condition, the knight recounts meeting a beautiful "faery's child" in the meadows. She had long hair, light feet, and wild eyes. The knight made her a garland, bracelets, and a belt of flowers, which won her affection. He lifted her onto his horse, enchanted by her singing, and they spent the day together.

In the seventh and eighth stanzas, the knight tells how this bewitching woman leads him to her secret cave. There, she expresses her deep love for him in "language strange." She cries and sighs heavily. The joy of their earlier encounter vanishes, and a gloomy mood sets in. The knight explains how he tries to comfort her by kissing her four times and closing "her wild wild eyes." 

The poem shifts into an even more ominous tone in the ninth stanza. The knight describes how the enchantress lulls him to sleep, and he has a terrifying dream that turns into a nightmare. He sees kings, princes, and other knights who are all deathly pale. They cry out to warn him that the "Beautiful Lady Without Mercy" has him under her spell. He sees their lips, starved and gaping wide, as they desperately try to save him from their fate. Finally, he wakes up from this horrible dream. He is alone on a cold hill.

The twelfth and final stanza brings the reader back to the present. The poor knight says that this is why he is by himself, and so sickly-looking, lingering by the lake. Even though the natural world around him is lifeless, he remains there, tortured by the memory of his encounter with the mysterious woman. She will forever haunt not just him but the entire landscape around him.