FREE ESSAY ON LA BELLE DAME SANS MERCI

LA BELLE DAME SANS MERCI

Poem Analysis: "La Belle Dame sans Merci"
In "La Belle Dame sans Merci," John Keats' stresses the idea that beauty is only skin
deep and also lies in the eye of the beholder. Through the use of two speakers, Keats' is
able to portray his theme by means of a story.
As the poem begins, the reader meets the first speaker. As we read on, we come to find
out that this is a passer-by. We also find out the state of the other speaker, "wretched
Wight." Sounds so full of life. We also find out the setting. "The sedge is wither'd from
the lake, /And no birds sing." Again, the reader sees the lack of life in the setting. As
the first speaker continues, he starts to interrogate the other man. "...what can ail
thee...?" He describes the man as "a lily on thy brow, with anguish moist and fever dew."
This translated more than likely indicates that the man is sad. He has also lost the
color in his cheeks by stating, "on thy cheek a fading rose."
Now, it is time for the other speaker to respond. His first remark is the route of his
problem..."I met a lady." Wow, cut, print, we have ourselves the beginning of the
majority of problems men face. He has met a woman. He then starts to describe her as if
in a trance "Full beautiful, a faery's child." The woman is made out to be a goddess. He
furthers his description with "Her hair was long, her foot was light, /And her eyes were
wild." Through stating her attributes in past tense, the second speaker is relaying that
she is no longer there.
Now the second speaker (for the sake of understanding, we shall call him Sark), Sark is
describing what they did together. "[Sark] set her on [his] pacing steed." And she sat
like a true lady and they were merry. She took him into "her elfin grot" and the laid
together. She "look'd at [Sark] as she did love him." By this saying, it can be presumed
that she did not really love him, but only acted like it because of the gifts he was
bestowing upon her.
As he fell asleep, Sark had a dream. He dreamt that "[he] saw pale kings, and princes
too, /Pale warriors, death-pale were they all." These men can be presumed as others who
had fallen for this woman and had come to the same misery as him. Sark wakes up and finds
himself alone "On the cold hillside." He then continues to explain that is why the
passer-by found him where he is, where "the sedge is wither'd from the lake, /And no bird
sings."
This is a true story of falling in love with the beauty and not the person. The man fell
for her like a rock in water. He gave up everything for her and she left him. But in
retrospect, when the title of the poem is translated, it turns out she is the "beautiful
woman without pity."