La Belle Dame Sans Merci-Keats

Question 1

What are the key structural features of La Belle Dame?

Answer 1

• Ballad
• Iambic tetrameter apart from last line which has only 2 iambic feet +monosyllables
• Cyclical structure- begins with speaker and ends with knight, warning?
  “O what can ail thee, knight at arms, Alone and palely loitering?” “And that is why I sojourn here, Alone and palely loitering”

Question 2

What are the key language features of La Belle Dame?

Answer 2

• Pathetic fallacy
• Medieval setting (subversion of gender roles)
• senses

Question 3

Which quotes support the method of: pathetic fallacy?

Answer 3

“The harvest’s done”
“and on thy cheek a fading rose”

Question 4

Which quotes support the method of: medieval setting (subversion of gender tropes)?

Answer 4

“I saw pale kings and princes”
“I saw their starved lips in the gloam”
“On the cold hill side”

Question 5

Which quotes support the method of: senses?

Answer 5

“She found me roots of relish sweet, and honey wild, and manna-dew”
“fragrant zone”
“made sweet moan”

Question 6

What literary era is La Belle Dame from?

Answer 6

Romantic

Question 7

What are the key themes for La Belle Dame?

Answer 7

• Unrequited love
• Love and suffering
• The end of love

Question 8

What is the key contextual information for La Belle Dame?

Answer 8

• Romantic poets included a heavy focus on nature and the poetic imagination
• The poem was written towards the end of Keats’ life, as one who witnessed the death of both his parents and his brother-pain and loss of love