Key Quotes

Question 1

“O what can…………..” the speaker

Answer 1

“O what can ail thee, knight-at-arms,/ Alone and palely loitering?”

Opening lines

Knight is exhausted and in poor health and travelling without a companion, he is vulnerable to the supernatural forces lurking in the woods.

Question 2

“The sedge has…….” The speaker

Answer 2

“The sedge had wither’d from the lake/ And no birds sing.”

These lines continue to establish the poem’s setting and foreboding atmosphere. The withered grasses reveal that the poem takes place during late autumn or winter, creating the image of a dark, cold, and grey landscape.

‘No birds sing’ adds to the sense of danger

This refrain is repeated in the final stanza, as is typical of the ballad form.

Question 3

“La Belle Dame…………” The pale kings, princes and warriors

Answer 3

“La Belle Dame sans Merci Thee hath in thrall!”

In the knights dream, he sees pale kings, princes and warriors who also succumbed to the woman’s spell. They tell him that now he, too, is entranced.

Question 4

“Knight-at-..”

Answer 4

“Knight-at-arms”

Tragic hero

Initial high status - tragic downfall

Question 5

“Alone and……..”

Answer 5

“Alone and palely loitering?”

Seems as though the knight has given up and is now just waiting for his death.

Question 6

“And on thy cheeks………….”

Answer 6

“And on thy cheeks a fading rose fast withered too.”

Suggests the knight is dying

Question 7

“I met a lady……….”

Answer 7

“I met a lady in the meads, full beautiful - a faery’s child”

Introduction of turning point - start of his downfall

Introduction of supernatural elements

Question 8

“I made a garland…………”

Answer 8

“I made a garland for her head, and bracelets too, and fragrant zone.”

He’s given over masculinity and simply wants to impress her.

Question 9

“And nothing else………”

Answer 9

“And nothing else saw all day long”

The knights obsession over her, suggests his hamartia may be that he loves her too much and has forgotten about everything else.

Question 10

“And sing a ……..”

Answer 10

“And sing a faery’s song”

Suggestion that they lady is of the supernatural

Question 11

“And there she w…………..”

Answer 11

“And there she wept and sighed full sore.”

The lady doesn’t want to do what she has to do, suggestion of victim of her own fate.

Question 12

“And there I shut………”

Answer 12

“And there I shut her wild eyes with kisses four.”

The lady is seen as innocent and young. Idea that the knight wants to control/tame the lady so possible tragic villain traits.

Question 13

“On the……”

Answer 13

“On the cold hill side”

Change in setting, contrasts to the “elfin grot”

Question 14

“I saw pale……..”

Answer 14

“I saw pale kings and princes too,”

Supernatural warning him, the realisation of the knights mistakes.

Question 15

“With horrid warning……….”

Answer 15

“With horrid warning gaped wide”

Shows that these are possibly the lady’s other victims in the past.

Question 16

“Squirrel’s granary……….”

Answer 16

“Squirrel’s granary is full”

Urges the knight to be more aware of the joys of nature and of the abundance around him. Could be a metaphor for life’s gifts.

Question 17

“And the……..”

Answer 17

“And the harvest’s done.”

Harvest precedes winter, the latter being a metaphor for death. So perhaps this is deliberately setting an ominous tone.

Question 18

“I see a………..”

Answer 18

“I see a lily on thy brow”

Lily could be a symbol of spring and hope for the future, here it may also be considered a symbol of death. White lilies signify the pale skin of the dying.

While Keats was a romantic-era poet, pre-dating the Victorians, it is interesting to not that, in Victorian times and still sometimes today, lilies were the traditional flowers at funerals.

Question 19

“Her hair……”

Answer 19

“Her hair was long”

Long, loose hair on a woman at the time this was written was associated with sensuality and sexuality. Long hair also serves to further enhance the lady’s nature as wild and free.

Question 20

“Her foot……”

Answer 20

“Her foot was light”

Creates an image of vulnerability and fragility.

An alternative interpretation is that the knight takes advantage of this strange young girl and subsequently gets his comeuppance.

Question 21

“And her eyes……”

Answer 21

“And her eyes were wild”

Surprising addition of “wild” to the more archetypal beauty of the Belle Dame’s “long” hair and “light” foot is saved for the final line of the stanza.

Question 22

“I set her on……….”

Answer 22

“I set her on my pacing steed,”

Could be interpreted as a euphemism for sex. The lady is object of this sentence, whilst the Knight has a more dominant role.

Question 23

“And nothing else……….”

Answer 23

“And nothing else saw all day long,”

Could be read that the knight is blinded by love, and that he loves the lady.

It could also be seen that he is monitoring the lady and making sure that she cant escape.

Question 24

“And sure in language…………”

Answer 24

“And sure in language strange she said - ‘I love thee true’”

“Language strange” - negative connotations - does he even know what she’s saying

Question 25

“She took……..”

Answer 25

“She took me to”

Lady takes control whereas before he was the more dominant figure

The knight is now prey, as the power role shifts.

Question 26

“And there she………..”

Answer 26

“And there she lulled me asleep”

“Lulled” -her taking on her motherly role, caring for the knight as if he was a child being put to sleep

Alternatively being put to sleep could imply his deteriorating physical and mental state.

Question 27

“I saw their starved………….”

Answer 27

“I saw their starved lips in the gloam, With horrid warning gaped wide,”

Haunting image refers to the open mouth of a corpse or skeleton

Question 28

“Rose” “lily” “garland”

Answer 28

Semantic field of flowers suggests a link to love. In the first two stanzas it is suggested to be winter, thus it also shows the contrast between the warmth of spring and cold of winter.