Write the critical appreciation of the poem entitled La Belle Dame

Write the critical appreciation of the poem entitled La Belle Dame Sans Merci.

Ans.

Introduction

The poem entitled La Belle Dame Sans Merci is a lyrical Ballad because it tells a story in verse and it is lyrical because it refers to the poet’s own life. It is one of the most famous poem of Keats, who was one of the greatest romantic poet. It was composed on April 21, 1918 and is directly related with Keats’ feelings for Miss Fanny Brawne. Keats borrowed the French title for his ballad from French poem composed by Allain Chartier. It was translated in English by Richard Ross. The poet’s frustration in love with his beloved Fanny Brawne, his broken health and sorrow of his brother’s death left deep impacts on his mind. All this inspired the poet to write the ballad. Particularly the desertion in love with Fanny had an intense impact behind his purpose.

Thought-Content

The poet assuming the role of the knight detracts his failure love affair with Fanny. He says that knight-at-arms met a beautiful lady, a fairy’s child who assured the knight that she loved him sincerely. He made her seated on his fast running horse and rode with her the whole day. She got delicious roots and honey of wild flowers for him and then made him asleep by singing sweet song. The fatal enchantress deserted him. She left him lonely and in miserable state on the cold hill’s side where the poet encountered him and asked him why he loitered there in highly dejected way.

The Role of Love and Death

In the poem Love and Death go together. Love is a fatal affair. It is not kind or merciful deity. The idea has been expressed through the story of the knight who became victim of the sly trick of the cruel enchantress. It can be noted that there are many more who have been brought to the verge of death by the cruel lady. The cruel. beautiful lady represents love and its fatal juncture.

Autobiographical Elements

The poem has an autobiographical touch also as the frustration of the knight-at-arms in love is the reminiscent of Keats’ own disappointments to love with his beloved Fanny Brawne. The heartless fairy is none but his own beloved and the knight-at-arms is no other than the poet himself. Keats fell in love with a French girl, named Fanny Brawne but he met only sorrow and dejection. He became victim of tuberculosis and this brought him great misfortunes. In the beginning she loved him most. But after that she became merciless and left the poet in sorrow loitering in a lovely place.

Supernatural Element and the Medieval World of Enchantment

Supernatural elements are found in the poem. The merciless lady is a supernatural lady. She is charming and beautiful like a fairy. It is only the beauty of the lady that attracts the knight. She took the knight in a well decorated cave where she served him a kind of divine food. She lulled him asleep and the knight saw horrible vision in his dream in which he saw many victims of that lady who warned the knight not to trust on that lady. When the knight, after seeing the horrible vision, woke up, he found no lady and no cave. The wild eyes of that lady suggest that the lady is somewhat supernatural being. The strangeness of her language suggests that the fair lady is a supernatural being.

Next the medieval world of enchantment and knight errantry is in the poem. We meet the knight-at-arms in the very first stanza. Magic and enchantment enter with the fairy’s child and continue through the fairy’s song and elfin grot. The atmosphere is typically medieval when we see the kings, princes and warriors who have been victims of the same enchantress, the beautiful lady without mercy. The poem puts before us the disillusionment in love and sufferings caused by love.

Matchless in Sensuousness

In the poem, there are many sensuous word pictures which attract with their charms. The poet employs ail the five senses. In the following lines the poet uses the senses of sight, touch, hearing and taste:

“I saw their starved lips in the gloam

With horried warning gaped wide,

And I awoke and found me here

On the cold hill’s side.”

The Use of Symbols

The poem is rich in symbols. It is with the help of symbols that the poet paints beautiful pictures of nature. The following is a picture of the end autumn and the on-coming of winter:

“The sedge has wither ‘d from the lake,

And no birds sing.”

Form and Diction

The poem is a lyrical ballad and achieves a clear distinction. It tells the story of the poet’s own life. In this ballad, the story is told in the simplest possible language. Dialogues and action go together. Keats has been able to combine simplicity with poetic artistry. The question and answer method of narration and repletion serve to heighten the poetic intensity of the narrative. There is perfect union of sense and sound.

Lyrical Flow

The poet exhales this poem as naturally and spontaneously as flowers exhale their fragrance in the morning. He sings, unlike the fair lady, with a complete ease :

“Her hair was long; her foot was light,

And her eyes were wild.”