La Belle Dams Sans Mercy by John Keats

          " A thing of beauty is a joy forever. " 

                                            - John Keats 
About poet : 

"La Belle Dams Sans Merci" was written by John Keats . 

Born : 1795

Died : 1821

Occupation : Poet 

John Keats was  English Romantic poet. He was one of the main figures of the second generation of Romantic poets, along with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley despite his works having been in publication for only four years before his death from tuberculosis at the age of 25.

His works : 

To Autumn 

Ode to a Nightingale 

Endymino

When I Have Fears 

About poem : 

La Belle Dame sans Merci" ("The Beautiful Lady Without Mercy") is a ballad produced by the English poet John Keats in 1819. The title was derived from the title of a 15th-century poem by Alain Chartier called " La Belle Sans Mercy " . 

There are two version of this very famous ballad . The first version is form the original manuscript and second version is its first published form . The first is generally considered as the best . 

Poem : 

O what can ail thee, knight-at-arms, 
Alone and palely loitering? 
The sedge has withered from the lake, 
And no birds sing. 

O what can ail thee, knight-at-arms, 
So haggard and so woe-begone? 
The squirrel’s granary is full, 
And the harvest’s done. 

I see a lily on thy brow, 
With anguish moist and fever-dew, 
And on thy cheeks a fading rose 
Fast withereth too. 

I met a lady in the meads, 
Full beautiful—a faery’s child, 
Her hair was long, her foot was light, 
And her eyes were wild. 

I made a garland for her head, 
And bracelets too, and fragrant zone; 
She looked at me as she did love, 
And made sweet moan 

I set her on my pacing steed, 
And nothing else saw all day long, 
For sidelong would she bend, and sing 
A faery’s song. 

She found me roots of relish sweet, 
And honey wild, and manna-dew, 
And sure in language strange she said— 
‘I love thee true’. 

She took me to her Elfin grot, 
And there she wept and sighed full sore, 
And there I shut her wild wild eyes 
With kisses four. 

And there she lulled me asleep, 
And there I dreamed—Ah! woe betide!— 
The latest dream I ever dreamt 
On the cold hill side. 

I saw pale kings and princes too, 
Pale warriors, death-pale were they all; 
They cried—‘La Belle Dame sans Merci 
Thee hath in thrall!’ 

I saw their starved lips in the gloam, 
With horrid warning gaped wide, 
And I awoke and found me here, 
On the cold hill’s side. 

And this is why I sojourn here, 
Alone and palely loitering, 
Though the sedge is withered from the lake, 
And no birds sing.

Analysis : 

This is considered to be Keats's most perfect poem . The theme of the poem is unrequited love . There is something autobiographical about this poem because Keats's own love for Fanny Brawne remained unrequited . 

The poem approximates the condition of drama . The Knight himself tells his tale in a kind of dramatic monologue . The environment and narrative poem . 

The poet in the course of his meanderings happened to meet young Knight in a strange place . The poet asked the knight why he looked so frightened and miserable . The knight replied that some time ago , in a far off meadow , he met a beautiful lady with long hair and wild eyes . He fell in love with her and adorned her with her with a wreath , bracelets and belt , all made of fragement flowers . 

Afterwards he put her on his horse and he walked alongside as she sang her exotic songs. She knew just where to look for sweet and heavenly foods. I ate them and she loved me for it, even though I didn't really understand what was happening.

She took me to her special place, deep in a grotto, where she became so emotional I had to reassure her, so wild were her eyes. I kissed them 4 times. She calmed me down too, so much so I feel asleep and had a dream. There was trouble brewing. That was my last ever dream.

In the dream I saw pale kings, warriors and princes, near to death. They were warning me about the beautiful woman. Their mouths were gaping open in that dreamy twilight gloom. Then i woke up on a cold hill side. And so you find me here by the lake. I don't know what I'm doing.

Conclusion : 

The whole poem suggests that the borderline between reality and imagination is often blurred. We give ourselves up to ideals of beauty, then in a trice it is gone, or we go through experiences that are not to our liking, that leave us spent, hollowed out.