Critical Views and Perspectives

Question 1

Lowell and Patterson’s perspective

Answer 1

• Prose romance is the most important aspect
• The knight and speaker are dissimilar and present the tendencies in Keats’s poetic mind
• Autobiographical details reflect Keats’s desire to enjoy the ordinary joys in life

Question 2

Albert Elmer Hancock’s perspective

Answer 2

• Woman in the poem is Fanny Brawne
• Poem is Keats own apprehension of emotions for Fanny
• La Belle Dame Sans Merci is a summary of other poems such as:
  ‘Ode to Fanny’
  ‘Lines to Fanny’
  ‘A sonnet to Fanny’