La Belle Dame Sans Merci Quotes Flashcards
Cyclical Structure
“Alone and palely loitering”
Pathetic Fallacy in first stanza, slow beat, seems to drag
“The sedge is withered from the lake”
Presence of death first stanza
“No birds sing”
Presence of a third person
“O what can ail thee, knight at arms”
Repetition second stanza
“O what can ail thee, knight-at-arms”
Repetition of so, reinforces knights misery
“So haggard and so woe-begone?”
Reference to autumn or winter
“The squirrel’s granary is full, And the harvest’s done.”
Flower symbol of death
“I see a lily on thy brow”
Knight is sick, death
” With anguish moist and fever dew”
Pale cheeks
“And on thy cheek a fading rose”
Fast, sense of urgency
“Fast withereth too”
Typical chivalric romance
“I met a lady in the meads”
Gorgeous woman, supernatural
“Full beautiful, a faery’s child”
Feminine features
“Her hair was long, her foot was light”
Untamed
“And her eyes were wild”
Knight is doing the actions
“I made a garland for her head”
Simile shows knight doesnt know if she actually does love him
“She look’d at me as she did love”
Sound of pleasure
“And made sweet moan”
Turning point of poem
“I set her on my pacing steed”
Myopic
“And nothing else saw all day long”
Supernatural music
“A faery’s song”
She takes over
“She found me roots of relish sweet, And honey wild, and manna dew, She took me to her elfin grot”
Knight is not sure she loves him
“And sure in language strange she said “I love thee true.”
Clearly remorseful
“And there she wept, and sigh’d full sore”
repetition of wild
“And there I shut her wild wild eyes”
Sinister verbs
“And there she lulled me asleep”
rep of dream, archaic language
“And there I dream’d–Ah! woe betide! The latest dream I ever dream’d”
Tragedy, noble people
“I saw pale kings, and princes too, Pale warriors, death-pale were they all”
Suggests she has done this before
“They cried–“La Belle Dame sans Merci, Hath thee in thrall!”
Addiction symptoms
“I saw their starved lips in the gloam”
Love and illness
“With horrid warning gaped wide”
Lonely place, repetition
“On the cold hill’s side.”
Final resting place
“And this is why I sojourn here”
