How does keats tell the story in La Belle Dame sans merci?

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  • Created by: Grace Roe
  • Created on: 21-04-13 13:28
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How does Keats tell the story in `La Belle Dame Sans Merci'?
Keats ballad called `la belle dame sans merci' tells the story of a knight that is left `alone and paley
loitering' by a `full beautiful' lady whom he falls in love with. From the first to fourth stanza the story
is told by and omniscient narrator who questions the knight, the rest of the ballad is then told by the
`knight in arms' point of view.
The woman in the poem is said to have `wild eyes' perhaps showing that she is not exactly human
and therefore she does not have the capacity to love a human which is why she leaves the knight. The
woman talks in a `language strange' to the knight indicating that the knight may have become a victim
to the woman. The idea that she has `wild eyes' and speaks a `language strange' could maybe show
the woman is a magical creature, it seems that the knight has become enchanted by the woman as he
describes her as a `faery's child' this shows that there are possibilities of her being linked to magic
and having magical powers to maybe enchant men to love her.
The Knight later falls asleep in the woman's `elfin grot' and he dreams of `death pale' and `pale
warriors' this contrasted description makes the reader question what the knight's reality really is
and what is not. The woman appears too good to be true and so there is a possibility that the woman
in this poem is actually a dream and the `pale death' that he sees is the reality.


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