La Belle Dame Sans Merci Flashcards
when was this poem written
April 1819
where does the poem take its title from?
a medieval French poem by Alain Chartier
who is the fairy-like women reminiscent of (2)
- Morgan Le Fay
- The enchantress in the Spensers The faerie queen
who is Morgan Le Fay
A powerful enchantress from Artuarian Romances- she is a mysterious figure, usually represented as a sourceress in command of supernatural power. She plots agaisnt King Arthur and once steals from him his sword excalibur
Who is the enchantress in Faerie Queen
Duessa- keats depiction of the woman is very reminiscent of her seduction of the Red Cross Knight in book 1
Context that you can relate pale and loitering to
-typical of those suffering from an excess of Melancholy (black bile)
How does Robert Burton depict melancholics in what text
‘pale of colour, slothful, apt to sleep, much troubled with the headache’- The anatomy of Melanchloy
which ballads might have influenced Keats on this poem?
- 13th cent. Thomas the Rhymer (queen of Elfland choses a poet for her lover)
- Coleridges Rime of the ancient mariner
meaning of fragrant zone
a perfumed belt made of flowers. It refers to the magical girdle of Venus, the goddess of love and beauty.
How does Keats create an ominous tone in LBDSM
- reciprocated structure (And there she…/ and there I)
- excessive use of alliteration and assonance (her hair was long, her foot was light and ‘wild wild eyes’)
- use of spare/ terse language and Keats amibugiety/ withholding of information through ambigueities
how does keats create a dream-like/ nightmarish sphere
- repetition of the word ‘pale’- depicts a world void of colour
- both syntactic repetition and repetition of entire lines (and there/ and there)
- cyclical structure- appear trapped din a vicious circle
Form and structure (form, rhyme, metre)
- regular ballad- 12 quatrains with a ABCB rhyme scheme
- Keats varies ballad metre in this poem
what is ballad metre and how is the metre used in this poem different to it
- 4 stresses in lines 1 and 3 of each quatrain
- 3 stresses in lines 2 and 4
- keats uses 4 stresses in line 1 and 3 but only two stresses in line 2 and 4
what structural feature of LBDSM is used which is common to ballads
-frequent repetition of first words, phrases and whole lines
explain why time setting is important to this poem?
the immediate setting of the narrative is autumn/ early winter. the hillside is cold, all is pale and the ‘sedge has wither’d’. By contrast life with the lady is associate dwith summer; meadows containing flowers, sweet sappy roots
