La Belle Dame Sans Merci - A02

Question 1

Pathetic Fallacy

Answer 1

• “Sedge” and “withered” Winter imagery. The death of the surroundings highlights the brutality of winter.
• Setting mirrors the Knight’s state. He is close to death.

Question 2

Omniscient Narrator

Answer 2

• Keats sympathises with the Knight. Keat’s himself fell in love therefore his character can be percieved as a self-insert.
• Omniscient narrator: Death doula, Death Vigil? –> Suggests the Knighht’s impeding fate.

Question 3

Internal rhyme

Answer 3

• Entrenches the auricula beauty of the poem adding lyricism and flow.
• “ail thee” “paley” are audiable, drawn out cries from the knight that indicate his state of being while reinforcing the miserly and pessimistic tone.
• “and her eyes were wild” —> Assonance. Suggests enchantment.

Question 4

Cyclical structure

Answer 4

• Repetition of “The sedge has withered from the lake.” suggest inevitably of fate and a never ending cycle –> Amplifing the tragedy.
• Repetion of “alone and paley loitering.” converys cementations of acceptance of fate as it is the Knight’s voice rather than narrator.
• “sojourn” means to temporarily reside. The Knight is aware his end iss approaching.
• Cyclical structure –> Biblical allusion to purgatory? The Knight was unable to resist sin and had sex out of wedlock. He must suffer because of his betrayal to heaven??

Question 5

Dreams

Answer 5

• “and there she lulled me asleep.” –> “Lull” gentke and peaceful connatations. Implys no struggle. – The Knight slept willingly?
• “And there i dreamed the latest dream i ever dreamt.” –> Repetition. The Knight is insistent of the vision.
• “Pale Kings and princes too, Pale warriors all deathly pale they were.” –> Characters of status. Not even the most powerful men are safe.
• “Thee hath in thrall!” –> Harsh sounds to reflect the disaster inflicted.

Question 6

Title

Answer 6

• Translates directly from French as: “The Woman Without Pity.”
• Tone setting: Ominous
• Archetypes the “Lady in the meads” as a femme fatale.

Question 7

Monosyllabic

Answer 7

• “And no birds sing.” One syllable per word –> Impression of finality and devastation.
• Lack of song, complete silence = Loss of life and joy. No Harmony.

Question 8

Setting

Answer 8

• Borderline fantasty setting, creation of enigma. The distinction betwee dream and reality is blurred. –> Readers are made to infer whether the events of the poem are actually happening.
• References to Winter. –> “Sedge” “Withered.” “Harvests done” –> Lack of nature, Connotations of death –> Implys the Knight is close to death.

Question 9

Flower imagery

Answer 9

“I see a lily on thy brown
Anguish moist and fever dew.
And on thy cheeks, a fading rose
Fast witherith too.”
- “Lily” connotations of death. Lily’s are also white, therefore it conveys the Knights paleness and iniment end.
- “rose” Connotations of love. His cheeks were full of love but it is now fading. Loss of life and love. –> Romanticistic ideologies? Without nature and love, death is assured?
- “I made a gardland for her head.” –> Power transition. The knight is literally handing over the power to the “Lady in the meads,”

Question 10

Metre

Answer 10

• First three lines of each stanza are in an iambic tetrameter.
• Final lines are in iambic dimeter.
• Creates start stop rhythm in the poem, perhaps reflecting the intense themes of life and death within the poem.
• Final line is faster than the first three.

Question 11

Seasons

Answer 11

• “and no birds sing.” The knight is completely surrounded by silence. Emphasises the wintery and desolate nature of the setting
• “And the Harvests done.” Lack of nuture, Emphasises isolation and death.

Question 12

Paleness imagery

Answer 12

• “Palely loitering” Pale - Connotations of illness, suffering, unease and discomforrt.
• Repetition of “Pale” throughout the poe connects the knight to the previous victims reinforcing his fate was inevitable. Assumes “La Belle” is responsible for this.