Write the substance and explanation of the poem entitled La Belle

Write the substance and explanation of the poem entitled La Belle Dame Sans Merci.

Ans.

Substance of the Poem

The poem describes a weary knight. The poet saw a knight-at-arms roaming without aim all alone towards the cold hills’ side. Due to being winter season, it was utter cold. The grass growing by the water of lake had withered. The song of the birds could not be heard because it was too cold for them to come out of their nests. The poet asked the knight why he was so weary and haggard and observed that the squirrel had filled its little store of nuts and grain in preparation for winter by the end of autumn. The harvest had been cropped. The face of the knight was as pale, white and bloodless as a lily. A few drops of sweat were also visible on his face because he was suffering from serious mental anguish. The rosy cheeks of the knight were fast fading away and losing their natural colour. The sorrowful experience had made his rosy cheeks weak, sad and pale.

The knight-at-arms fells his painful tale to the poet. He says that he met a beautiful lady in the meadows. She looked to be a fairy’s child. She had long lovely hair rippling with the gust of wind. She walked gently. She had majestic movement. Her eyes were passionate with love. Her matchless and fairy-like beauty captivated the heart of the knight. Her enchanting beauty made the knight forgetful of his duties. He was mad after the beauty of the lady. He wanted to make her more beautiful. In order to beautify her, he made many ornaments of sweet flowers. He made an attractive garland for her head. He made bracelets for her arms. He made a belt of flowers for her waist. Seeing him so much infatuated, the lady murmured in a sweet and loving manner. He made her sit on his horse and rode the whole day long. The lady bent side ways towards the knight and sang a fairy song. She gave him some delicious roots of plants, honey of wild flowers and manna. In a very strange language, she assured the knight that she loved him truly and sincerely. She took the knight to her fairy cottage and there she started weeping and sighed bitterly. The knight shut her wild eyes with four kisses-two for each. The lady then lulled the knight to sleep. During his sleep, the knight saw horrible visions in his dream. In his visions, he saw pale kings, princes and warriors. They were all death-pale and had a ghastly look. They gave a warning to the knight-the beautiful lady without mercy has enthralled him (the knight). In the gloom of the night he could see their pale lips as they opened their mouths to utter the terrible warning. Being terrified, he at once got up. When he woke up, he found himself on the wintry and cold hills’ side hence he has been wandering there aimlessly.

Explanations

(1) Oh, what can ail thee, knight-at-arms,

Alone and palely loitering?

The Sedge has withered from his lake,

And no birds sing.

Reference to the Context: These lines are taken from poem entitled La Belle Dame Sans Merci, written by John Keats.

Here the poet sees a knight-at-arms in extremely cold weather. He is wandering aimlessly in the forest. He is highly surprised to see his condition and ask him the cause of worry.

Explanation: The pathetic condition of the knight is unendurable for the poet. A generous and humbly feeling arise in poet’s heart. He addresses him and asks what trouble he is facing and why he looks so pale and sad. It is extremely cold, but why he is wandering aimlessly all alone. Due to being utter cold, sedge, a kind of marshy grass has disappeared from the lake. It has dried up entirely The birds have gone to get shelter in warm places. So a sort of silence is pervaded in the atmosphere. There is no movement in the forest. Only the knight is wandering there. The poet is eager to know the cause of knight’s worry.

Critical Comments: 1. Sensuous word picture.

2. Alone and palely loitering: The pale and bloodless knight is nobody but Keats whose youth was fast fading and who was highly disappointed and frustrated in Fanny Brawne’s love.

3. The sedge…sing: These monosyllabic words are highly lyrical, sweet and suggestive.

(2) I see a lily on thy brow

With anguish moist and fever-dew,

And on thy cheek a fading rose

Fast withereth too.

Reference to the Context: As above. The poet wants to know the reason of his trouble. Here the poet describes his deteriorating condition.

Explanation: The poet tells the knight that his face is as pale as a lily flower. Perhaps he is suffering from extreme pain and mental tension, because his face is wet with drops of sweat, though the weather is cold. His cheeks which were red like rose are now looking faded rose. The glow of his cheeks has disappeared. They are losing their colour very fast. The mental strain that he is experiencing, has adversely affected his physical appearance.

Critical Comments: 1. There is lyrical flow in these lines.

2. I see…brow: The poet has employed the figure of speech metaphor.

3. And on thy…withereth too: Here also the poet has employed the figure of speech metaphor.

4. There is sensuous word picture.

(3) I set her on my pacing steed,

And nothing else saw all day long.

For sidelong would she bend, and sand

A fairy’s song.

Reference to the Context: As above. The knight became slave of the lady’s enchanted beauty. He fell in deep love with her. He also offered her many gifts as a token of his love. When she heaved sighs of love to conform her love for him, he forgot everything. He even forgot his duty.

Explanation: The knight-at-arms made the fair lady seated on his fast running horse. He went on riding the horse through day with the beautiful lady. He remained lost in her beauty. He saw nothing else. The reason was that the lady was trying her best to engage his attention towards her. She would bend side-ways to look at the knight to impress him all the more. She was also singing a love song in fairy style the language of which he could not understand. It means she showed her deepest love to him.

Critical Comments: 1. Poet’s high imagination.

2. Sensuous word picture.

3. For…song Figure of speech alliteration.

(4) And there she lulled me asleep,

And there I dreamed-Ah! woe betide:

The latest dream I ever dreamt

On the cold hill side.

Reference to the Context: As above. The lady provided the knight all physical pleasures by kissing and embracing him passionately. She sang a sweet song and made him asleep. In the cave, the knight saw a horrible dream.

Explanation: The beautiful lady without mercy lulled him with love and made him sleep in her cave. But as soon as he slept he saw a very horrible dream. It presented a sight of sorrow. It was the latest dream that he had ever seen because he could not sleep after that dream. His dream indicated that some misfortune might happen to him. The very recollection of the latest dream he had on the wintry and cold hill side, filled him with pain and terror.

Critical Comments: 1. The poet presents the tragic end of worldly love.

2. There is repetition of the line “On the child hill’s side.”

3. Sensuous word-picture.

(5) I saw pale kings, and princess too,

Pale warriors, death-pale were they all;

They cried-La Belle Dame Sans Merci

Thee hath in thrall.

Reference to the Context: As above. Here the poet describes the pathetic condition of those victims who were deserted by the beautiful merciless lady and now the knight was going to meet with the same fate.

Explanation: The knight saw in the victim of his dream kings, princess and warriors, who were sad, weak and pale. They looked as if they had no blood. All of them stood on the verse of death. All they were former victims of the heartless lady and had been lulled by her like the knight. They cried and warned the knight not to trust that lady. She had entrapped him badly and he should get rid of her cruel net. She had deceived all of them and she had been responsible for their pathetic condition. Now the knight was about to meet with the same fate at the hands of this heartless lady.

Critical Comments: 1. The poet presents a tragic end of physical infatuation.

2. Sensuous word-picture and pictorial art.

3. I saw…all: Figure of speech alliteration.

(6) 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.

Reference to the Context: As above. The poet describes the knight’s horrible vision which he saw towards the cold hill side. In the vision of his dream, he met many victims of the merciless lady, they all were in pathetic and miserable condition. All were deserted by the lady.

Explanation: The knight-at-arms says that the kings, princess and warriors, whom he saw in the vision of his dream had dried up. They had faded lips. In the darkness he saw that they had widely opened their thirsty lips to give him thunderful warning that he was enthralled by that heartless lady. Being terrified, he at once woke up. He found himself on the cold surface of a hill.

Critical Comments: 1. The poet’s presenting tragic end of physical infatuation.

2. On the cold hill’s side : Repetition of the line.

(7) And this is why I sojourn here,

Alone and palely loitering,

Though the sedge is withered from the lake,

And no bird sing.

Reference to the Context: As above. After narrating the whole story about the beautiful merciless lady, the knight tells the poet the reason of his pathetic and miserable condition.

Explanation: The knight says that due to being deceived by the beautiful lady without mercy, he is pale and grief-stricken and is wandering about the lonely place though it is cold season. The winter has set in. A kind of grass has dried up from the lake. The birds have stopped singing and they are hidden in their nests to warm up. In such an extreme season of winter, no mortal being can be seen wandering except the knight. It seems that the knight, due to his utter disappointment in love, has no effect of the weather.

Critical Comments: 1. Repetition of the last two lines from stanza two.

2. Repetition of the second line from stanza one.

3. Sensuous word-picture.

4. Though…sing: There is similarity between the pale knight and the lake deserted by the birds.