La Belle Dame sanns Merci Flashcards
Time period
Romantic poem- written in 1819
Form
Ballad
Quatrains
1st 3 lines of each stanza are in iambic tetrameter (8 syllables per line)
4th line is shorter (⅘ syllables)
The uniform beats of the unstressed-stressed iambic are appropriate for a ballad
The stress falls on the most important words
The final line of the stanza kills the rhythm of the 3 preceding lines
Context
Died at 26
His father died when he was 8, his mother when he was 14 of TB
Mother and brother died of TB; Keats nursed his brother and probably contracted TB from him- died aged 24
Met and fell in love with Fanny Brawne in 1818- reached an understanding but his poverty and illness made marriage impossible
For the last 2 years of his life, Keats wrote that he felt he was already dead and ‘leading a posthumous existence’
Somewhat against the turn to science, reason and rationality (although Keats was a doctor)
Methods
Femme Fatale A semantic field of death Dialogue Natural imagery Question Supernatural An allusion to the sirens Biblical allusion Repetition Shift in tone Cyclical
Message
Not be distracted by a woman’s beauty.
A warning attraction/obsession is dangerous
Themes
Love and gender
Destructive/painful love
