La Belle Dame sans Merci Flashcards
The title…
Translates to mean ‘the beautiful women without mercy’
‘Alone and palely loitering’
This is a lexical field of isolation and suggests that he is purposeless.
‘The sedge has withered from the lake’
Pathetic Fallacy mirrors the bleak state of the knight and could foreshadow death.
‘No birds sing’
Symbolism for sadness and hopelessness. This also breaks the rhythm of the poem
‘O what can ail thee, knight-at-arms’
Repetition emphasises the state of the knight as he now looks ill
‘haggard and so woe’
Contrast with what a knight should be, showing how tired and old he feels as he is full of worry.
‘I see a lily’
The symbolism of death emphasises how pale the knight’s forehead is showing his illness
‘fading rose’
Metaphor and Natural Imagery emphasise that he was once full of life but now he is ill as his cheeks are becoming pale.
‘I’
Personal pronoun changes the perspective to first-person showing how much this women meant to him
‘a faery’s child’
This imagery emphasises the women’s shear beauty but also foreshadows the magic and witch craft she beholds.
‘Her hair was long…’
This form of blazon emphasises how the knight feels like she is unreal due to her beauty.
‘eyes were wild’
Shows that she could be dangerous however he thought he could control her as it was a patriarchal society
‘garland…braclets’
Circular images which could show adoration or entrapment
‘she looked as she did love’
‘as’ could show that she tricking the knight and shows ambiguity.
‘sweet moan’
This could show her will to lure him and make him feel loved
‘I set her on my pacing steed’
This could be a euphemism for sex however the previous reference to ‘braclets’ could show that this was rape
‘language strange’
Suggests that she is sinister and deceiving as she speaks strange to him.
‘elfin grot’
Imagery shows a change in power to her as she takes him to a mythical place he doesn’t know of.
‘I shut her…with kisses four’
Could show how he still wants to control her which shows his ignorance
‘wild wild eyes’
Repetition emphasises the wild nature of her which shows the danger the knight is in as she could become like a wild animal towards him.
‘she lulled me’
She is now controlling him as he thinks he is going to sleep however he is being manipulated.
‘Pale kings…princes…pale warriors’
The plosives emphasise the harshness and death towards the knight. Could also suggest that the poem is a chivalric romance
‘Thee hath in thrall’
She has possessed him and now this suggests that knights suffered from the Lorelei siren and were trying to warn him of the danger she holds.
‘on the cold hill’s side’
This repetition emphasises the loneliness and suffering the knight still faces from the beginning.
