"La Belle Dame Sans Merci" (poem)
"La Belle Dame Sans Merci" is a beautiful poem written by famous and romantic English poet John Keats.About Author John Keats
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| John Keats |
John Keats was born in London, on 31 October 1795.His family lived some years In a inn.Keats said that he was born in the inn.In 1803 he was sent to a small school.But the small school was most advance and modern then large ones.Keats was inyerested in history and classic.He got his first academic prize in 1808 at the age of thirteen. In 1804 his father died by felling from the horse.
His mother died in 1810 and four children were now in the custody of his grandmother.
This year keats left school and join medical college.He lodged near the hospital with other medical student.But keat was interested in his writing work rather then thinking about his medical career.He was given licence for practicing as a physician and surgeon. but before the end of the year he announced that he was resolved a poet not a surgeon.
Although he continued his work and training he devoted more and more time to the study of literature.First volume of keat's poems included "I stood tiptoe" and "sleep and poetry".After it many poems were worldwide famous.He was a very good poet . He explained his thinkings in a simple way. Keats died in 1818 by tubercolusis.
"La Belle Dame Sans Merci" (poem)
O what can ail thee, knight-at-arms,Alone and palely loitering?
The sedge has withered from the lake,
And no birds sing.
O what can ail thee, knight-at-arms,
So haggard and so woe-begone?
The squirrel’s granary is full,
And the harvest’s done.
I see a lily on thy brow,
With anguish moist and fever-dew,
And on thy cheeks a fading rose
Fast withereth too.
I met a lady in the meads,
Full beautiful—a faery’s child,
Her hair was long,
her foot was light,
And her eyes were wild.
I made a garland for her head,
And bracelets too,and fragrant zone;
She looked at me as she did love,
And made sweet moan
I set her on my pacing steed,
And nothing else saw all day long,
For sidelong would she bend,
and sing A faery’s song.
She found me roots of relish sweet,
And honey wild,
and manna-dew,
And sure in language strange she said—
‘I love thee true’.
She took me to her Elfin grot,
And there she wept and sighed full sore,
And there I shut her wild wild eyes
With kisses four.
And there she lullèd me asleep,
And there I dreamed
Ah! woe betide!
The latest dream I ever dreamt
On the cold hill side.
I saw pale kings and princes too,
Pale warriors,
death-pale were they all;
They cried‘La Belle Dame sans Merci
Thee hath in thrall!’
I saw their starved lips in the gloam,
With horrid warning gapèd wide,
And I awoke and found me here,
On the cold hill’s side.
And this is why I sojourn here,
Alone and palely loitering,
Though the sedge is withered from the lake,
And no birds sing.
Explaination of poem "La Belle Dame Sans Merci"
The poet meets a Knight who is wandering aimlessly. It is the season of autumn and the landscape is dull and desolate. The Knight looks pale and sick. In reply to the poet’s question he tells him his story. He met a beautiful lady with long hair and wild eyes. He fell In love with her.She spoke a strange language he did not understand. Her manner, however, assured him that she loved him, too. She gave him roots of sweet flavour and took him to her cave. There he fell asleep and saw a dream In the dream he met quite a number of Kings and Knights, all deathly pale.
They told him that the lady with whom he had fallen in love was cruel and merciless. She has worked her magic on him and now he. would never be able to forget her. 'The Knight woke up and found himself lying on the cold hill's side. The lady was nowhere to be seen. Since then he had been wandering about the place in search of the lady All other things had become meaningless to him. Who is the cruel beautiful lady?
One thing is clear: she is no woman at all. Perhaps she is the symbol of love and death at the same time. Perhps she is life itself which fascinates In youth but becomes cruel in old age. Perhaps she stands for the dream- world where man takes refuge from the bitter realities of the everyday life but sooner or later the dreams vanish leaving behind grief and sorrow .
This poem tells the strange story of a miserable knight. He met a beautiful lady and he fell in love with her. She took him to her fairy cave. She gave him some heavenly food to eat and lulled him to sleep. The knight says that he saw the pale and starved faces of the knights and Princes. Their mouths were wide open and they gave him a horrible warning that he had fallen into the trap of the beautiful lady without mercy. When the knight woke up, he found himself alone on the side of the cold hill. The lady had left him. The lady stands for human ideals which demand very great sacrifice
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