Download La Belle Dame sans Merci Study Guide
Topics for Further Study
(Poetry for Students)
Find a contemporary song you think has the same message as Keats’s poem. Compare the song with the poem to comment on the ways people of the nineteenth century and the twentyfirst century view love.
Research why it is significant that Keats wrote the title of his poem in French. Based on your research, do you think the French title has the same significance now that it would have had when Keats were living? Why or why not?
Write a sequel to this poem, explaining what will happen when the spring comes again. Will the lover return to the knight? If not, will he continue waiting, or will his attention fade as the seasons change?
Keats used a supernatural setting to explain his idea of romance. Find a folk story from a non- European culture that involves lovers in a supernatural setting and explain what the supernatural elements tell you about each culture.