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Ludovica Ballou

Professor Gallagher

Poetry 2027

23 February 2023

The Knight in “La Belle Dame sans Merci”

John Keats published “La Belle Dame sans Merci” in 1819. Using one dominant speaker,

this poem discusses how a Knight relying on his love interest becomes ill. “La Belle Dame sans

Merci” uses limerence, symbols, and poetic devices of flowers, to show how the knight's life was

altered after he met “The beautiful lady without mercy.”

“La Belle Dame sans Merci” is a ballad consisting of 12 quatrains. It is written in iambic

tetrameter. Each quatrain has an ABCB rhyme scheme. For example, in stanza one, the last

words in line two “loitering” and “sing” inline four rhyme. Line 1 “O what can ail the, knight-at

arms “contains eight syllables in total. “O,” “ail”, “thee,” and “knight” are stressed syllables

where as “what,” “ail,” “knight,” and “arms” are unstressed syllables. This poem consists of one

refrain found in the first stanza. In lines one and five the unrevealed speaker asks the Knight why

he’s in a state of disarray.

The poem begins with speaker one questioning the knight’s sickly appearance and

solitude. “O what can ail thee, knight-at-arms.”(Keats 1 and 5) From here on the knight becomes

the dominant narrator. He tells readers he became infatuated with a woman it went awry. “I met

a lady in the meads, Full beautiful- a faery’s child.” (Keats 13-14) The lady’s beauty motivates

the knight to make her the center of his world. In doing this the knight gifts her with a flower

crown and sees nothing else but her. “I set her on my pacing steed, And nothing else saw all day

long.” (Keats 21-22) One mistake the knight makes is becoming fixated on a person, especially a
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stranger. By giving her the power to dictate his emotions, he is surrendering his soul, to the lady.

When he discovers she’s an insincere person he is stunned. “The latest dream I ever dreamt On

the cold side. I saw pale kings and princes too. They cried-‘La Belle Dame sans Merci Thee hath

in thrall.” (35-36,37, 39-40) In this moment does the knight's super-ego realize that he’s been

rejected? His future with the lady is a distorted version of reality that will not come true.

Ultimately through his realization, the knight stays entrapped in the idea that relying on one

individual to be the source of his happiness and control every feeling he has is and contributes to

his moribund state.

The poem references flowers concerning the knight and the lady. Each flower symbolizes

something different and the way the flowers are used affects the interpretation of the poem. For

example, the first-time flowers are mentioned they are used metaphorically. The speaker

compares the knight’s appearance to “a lily on thy brow” and “and on thy cheeks, a fading rose.”

(Keats 9-11) The knight’s disposition to the lady has affected his physical appearance. In this

instance, the lily represents death whereas the rose represents life and beauty. The lily and rose

present on the knight's face show that he is in between life and death-state and is slowly

deteriorating. Flowers also symbolize love and vitality. “She found me roots of relish sweet and

honey wild, and manna-dew.” (Keats 25-26) The lady nurtures the night as if he were a child.

She prepares him a meal which he willingly accepts. This establishes a traditional relationship

between a woman and a man. However, “wild” implies that the honey may be unsafe or

questionable to digest. The Knight eats her food anyways indifferent to how it may affect him.

The knight eating the lady’s food alludes to why he looks discolored and ill.
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The knight uses infatuation as a misrepresentation of what love is. His obsession with the

lady gives her the power to control his emotions. When he discovers she does not have intentions

of a romantic partnership he becomes trapped in his despair. He is left with the memory of her

and without his fairytale ending.

Works Cited

Keats, John. “La Belle Dame sans Merci.” Poems A Concise Anthology edited by

Elizabeth Renker, 2016, p.105