La Belle Dame Sans MerciJohn Keats

Task 1: What’s Going On?1. In pairs, place the modern-day translation next to the

original text of the poem where you think the two match up.

2. Get your interpretation checked by the teacher, and then glue it onto your page.

3. Don’t lose it! We will be referring to this poem over this lesson and the next.

SummaryThe speaker of the poem comes across a "knight at arms" alone, and apparently dying, in a field somewhere. He asks him what's going on, and the knight's answer takes up the rest of the poem. The knight says that he met a beautiful fairy lady in the fields. He started hanging out with her, making flower garlands for her, letting her ride on his horse, and generally flirting like knights do. Finally, she invited him back to her fairy cave. Sweet, thought the knight. But after they were through smooching, she "lulled" him to sleep, and he had a nightmare about all the knights and kings and princes that the woman had previously seduced – they were all dead. And then he woke up, alone, on the side of a hill somewhere.

Things you need to know

• Poem written on April 21, 1819

• Keats at this time was unsure of whether to enter into a

relationship with Fanny

• Keats recorded a dream in which he met a beautiful woman in

a magic place which turned out to be filled with pallid, enslaved

lovers

• “bewitching and sorrowful misery” - Rossetti, D.G. John Keats:

Criticism and Comment. London, 1919.

• Keats is known as the ‘poet of beauty and sensuality’

Task 2: Characteristics 1. Choose either EMOTION, THE SUPERNATURAL or

NATURE and discuss with a partner how the poem explores this theme.

2. Choose a quote to demonstrate your point and write a couple of sentences describing how the characteristic can be linked to the poem e.g.

1. In the poem, ‘La Belle Dame Sans Merci,’ Keats explores the theme of nature. This is demonstrated when….

2. The speaker of the poem refers to the supernatural when he states, ‘…..’. This quote demonstrates that…

The Supernatural

• The fairy is not from the real world = supernatural

• Vampires, elves and enchantresses who enslaved mortals

started to appear in the literature of the Romantic Era

• The enchantress of La Belle is one of a long tradition of

supernatural beings who have charmed mortals into

spiritual slavery.

• The entire poem could sound like a dream sequence or a

fantasy, with all the fairy ladies and "elfin grots."

Emotion• You discover something that you think you really like. You don’t

really understand it, but you’re sure it’s the best thing that’s ever happened to you. You are thrilled. You focus on it. You give in to the beauty and richness and pleasure, and let it overwhelm you to the point that you forget everything else.

• Then the pleasure is gone. Far more than a normal letdown, the experience has left you crippled emotionally, but it remains an important part of who you feel that you are.

Nature• Seasons and cycles - Does the fairy lady control the seasons?

Or does her beauty make the knight think that winter is

summer?

• In this poem, nature represents all that the protagonist (the

knight) loves and needs. If everything is right with the knight,

nature is blossoming.

• In literature, the sun is always brighter and the flowers always

hold more beauty when the main character is going through

happy times. Humans tend to associate good weather and

health in the land around with good times in characters’ lives

Language & Form• "La Belle Dame Sans Merci" is a ballad, which is an old-

fashioned, folksy style of poem that typically tells a story.

• Ballads use simple language that would appeal to less

educated people, like farmers and laborers.

• Ballads were primarily an oral form – people would

memorize them and pass them on to their friends and

family by memory, rather than from a book. Poets like

Keats tried to mimic this style in their written works.

Let’s look at the poem a little closer

•Subject matter

•Purpose

•Emotion

•Craftsmanship

•Summary

Task 4: Create a table for analysisSubject Matter

Purpose

Emotion

Craftsmanship

Summary

Critical literacy

Subject Matter• What event, situation, or experience does the poem

describe or record?

Purpose• This is the theme or message of the poet.• What is the poet’s purpose in writing this? What

message does he or she want to communicate?

Emotion• What is the predominant emotion, or mood, of the poem?• Is it sombre, jovial, foreboding, serene, flippant,

satirical, contemplative?• What emotions or feelings does the poet seek to evoke in

the reader/hearer?

Craftsmanship• What are the specific skills used by the poet when creating

his or her work? • Think structure, connotative words, imagery and sounds• Make sure you mention explicit poetic techniques

Summary

• Having analysed the

poem, it is important to

synthesise (i.e. pull all

the information together)

into a summary.

• How is it reflective of the

period?

Critical Literary

What are gaps?

What are silences?

Can focusing on gaps in the poem and silenced voices

offer modern readers fresh insights into the poem and

modern social life?

Task 3: Why should I care?

1. In three minutes, write down all the things (or

themes) you can think of in the poem that

might be relevant to readers today.What aspects of the human experience have stayed the same?

In today’s world, what might the lady symbolise?

H/W

• Complete the quiz on My SRC. There are 11 questions,

10 of which are multichoice.

• You need to complete this by Thursday’s lesson at the

latest. Miss Feeney and myself will be able to see who

has completed it.

Some of the topics he wrote about

• Nature• Departures• The Ancient World• The inevitability of death• The contemplation of beauty• The fear of not being remembered

Like all good stories, this one leaves us with a bunch of questions

Is the wicked temptress trying to destroy men for sheer cruelty, or are her tactics her way of defending her life?

Is she as sad and frustrated as the men whose lives she has touched?

Does the knight stay by the lake because he sees no further purpose in living or because he expects the woman to return?