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Poetry: 6, , “La Belle Dame Sans Merci” by: John Keats, , *Textual Exercises:, A.1. What is the meaning of ‘La Belle dame Sans Merci’?, Ans: It means the beautiful lady without mercy., 2. What evidence do you get from the poem to prove that it was winter when the knight met the lady?, Ans: The withered sedge and the absence of birds have been employed to prove that it was winter when, the knight met the lady., 3. How did the knight look when the poet met him?, Ans: When the poet met him, the knight looked pale and so wild-looking as a result of fatigue and, anxiety. He also looked so miserable and sad. Moreover, the poet could see a lily-like whiteness as of the, bloodless and anaemic state of a person in extreme fear on the face of the knight. As of a person in high, fever, there were little drops of sweat upon his face due to intense mental agony. Indeed, the rosy or, reddish colour of his youthful cheeks was fast disappearing due to a profound mental agony., 4. Where did the knight meet the lady?, Ans: The knight met the lady in the meadows., 5. Describe the physical beauty of the lady when the knight met her?, Ans: The lady was extremely beautiful with her rare and exquisite charms. She appeared like a fairy’s, child—not a mortal woman, but a supernatural lady of exquisite beauty. Her pace was quick and graceful., Moreover, her eyes were so passionate that they were simply strangely fascinating., 6. What are the things the knight made for her?, Ans: The knight made a garland of fragrant flowers for her head, bracelets and fragrant zone., 7. ‘And sure in language strange she said,, “I love thee true.”’, What does the knight mean by ‘language strange’ in the above line?, Ans: The knight means that it was the language of a fairy which he could not understand. But he could, clearly understand from her loving looks and gestures that she was declaring her true and ardent love for, him., 8. Why does the knight call the place where the lady lives ‘elfin grot’?, Ans: The knight calls so because it was a fairy-cave which is picturesque but artificial ornamental cave., 9. Why did the lady weep and sigh when she was with the knight?, Ans: The lady wept bitterly and sighed again and again to show that she desperately loved him and feared, that that he might desert her. But her weeping and sighing were nothing but a play-acting, for she was a, wicked lady and only wanted to seduce the knight., 10. Describe the knight’s dream., Ans: The beautiful lady who bewitched the knight by her beauty took him to her well-decorated fairycave where she lulled him into sleep. While asleep in the fairy-cave, the knight saw a sad and painful, dream, the last dream he had on the cold hill-side., In his sleep, he saw a horrible dream in which the kings, princess and warriors looked pale and, bloodless because they were the victims of the lady’s captivating beauty and she had enslaved them by her, treacherous charms. He heard them crying to him that the beautiful lady without mercy had taken him, bondage as she had enslaved them earlier. Then, in the faint light inside the cave, the knight saw their fried, lips as if due to starvation; but they were love-sick lips. In a gesture of warning against the horror of the, place, their lips were wide open, but speechless due to fear, for they could not speak due to the magic, spell the lady had cast upon them., 11. What are the affects of the lady’s false love on the knight?

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Ans: Because of the lady’s false love, the knight with pale and wild looks was left wandering about alone, idly by the side of a lake in extremely cold weather. Charmed by the lady, the knight offered his tender love, to her. He lifted her up and placed her in front of himself on his horse. All the day, he gazed at her beauty, as she sang a fairy song. He has the pleasure of riding with her on his own horse. He wooes her, with his constant gaze at her lovely beauty, and she in return wooes him with her wild eyes, her, sweet moan and her fairy’s song. She entertains him with sweet roots, honey wild and manna dew and, professes true love him. In her grotto, she sighs and weeps bitterly in fear of being deserted by him. The, thrill and climax of his short-lived joy comes when he kisses her wild eyes to assure her of her constancy, and then he is lulled by her to sleep., The darkness of sleep envelopes and obliterates the short-lived brightness of his heavenly, experience. His blissful dream is gone and in its place he sees a horrible dream. Frightened by it, he wakes, up and find himself hurled into complete desolation and despair by the side of the cold hill., B. Read the following stanza and answer the questions that follow:, ‘I see a lily on thy brow, With anguish moist and fever-dew, And on thy cheeks a fading rose, Fast withered too., 1. Who is the “I” here?, Ans: The “I” here is the poet., 2.Explain the words ‘I see a lily on thy brow.’, Ans: It means that the poet sees the knight’s forehead looking bloodless and white like a lily as of the, bloodless or anaemic state of a person in extreme fear., 3. What do you understand by ‘anguish moist’ and ‘fever-dew’?, Ans: It means that the knight was heavily perspiring due to extreme mental unrest. And by ‘fever-dew’,, the poet means that he could see little drops of sweat upon the knight’s face due to intense mental agony, or high mental excitement, as of a person in high fever., 4. Give the meaning of the last two lines of the above stanza., Ans: The affects of the beautiful lady’s false love on the knight was that the poet could see even the, youthful reddish colour of the young knight’s cheeks had almost disappeared. And what little of it, remained was fast fading away from his cheeks. The poet discovered the pitiable condition of the knight as, if the knight was not aware of it. Moreover, the poet wanted to know the cause of it from the knight., C.1. Why is the lady called ‘La Belle Dame sans Merci’? Do you think this is a correct description of the, lady?, Ans: The lady seduced the knight with her captivating beauty, yet she betrayed him in the end, leaving, him all alone in despair and desolation. Thus, charmed by the lady, the knight offered his tender love to, her. He took her up and placed her on his horse. He wooes her with his constant gaze at her lovely beauty,, and she in return wooes him with her wild eyes, her sweet moan and her fairy’s song. She entertains him, with sweet roots, honey wild and manna dew and professes true love him. In her grotto, she sighs and, weeps bitterly in fear of being deserted by him. Believing her, he kisses her wild eyes to assure her of her, constancy and then he is lulled by her to sleep., The darkness of sleep envelopes and obliterates the short-lived brightness of his heavenly, experience. His blissful dream is gone and in its place he sees a horrible dream. Frightened by it, he wakes, up and finds himself hurled into complete disillusionment and real desolation by the side of the cold hill., All this happened due to the heartlessness of the lady. Indeed, ‘La Belle Dame sans Merci’ is a correct, description of the lady.

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2. ‘O what can ail thee, knight-at-arms,, Alone and palely loitering?’, Why is the knight-at-arms palely loitering?, Ans: Because of the lady’s false love, the knight with pale and wild looks was left wandering about alone, idly by the side of a lake in extremely cold weather., 3. Discuss the suitability of the title., Ans: The tiltle of the poem is quite suitable. The lady seduced the knight with her captivating beauty, yet, she betrayed him in the end, leaving him all alone in despair and desolation. Thus, charmed by the lady,, the knight offered his tender love to her. He took her up and placed her on his horse. He wooes her with, his constant gaze at her lovely beauty, and she in return wooes him with her wild eyes, her sweet moan, and her fairy’s song. She entertains him with sweet roots, honey wild and manna dew and professes true, love him. In her grotto, she sighs and weeps bitterly in fear of being deserted by him. Believing her, he, kisses her wild eyes to assure her of her constancy and then he is lulled by her to sleep., The darkness of sleep envelopes and obliterates the short-lived brightness of his heavenly, experience. His blissful dream is gone and in its place he sees a horrible dream. Frightened by it, he wakes, up and finds himself hurled into complete disillusionment and real desolation by the side of the cold hill., All this happened due to the heartlessness of the lady. Indeed, ‘La Belle Dame sans Merci’ is a correct, description of the lady. She symbolises the tragic element in love, love which becomes a curse rather than, a blessing due to the heartlessness of a lady., *Extra Questions:, 1. ‘O what can ail thee, knight-at-arms., Alone and palely loitering, The sedge has withered from the lake,, And no birds sing.’, Ans: The given lines are from the poem ‘La Belle Dame sans Merci’ by John Keats. Here, the poet, describes the haggard condition of a medieval knight, betrayed by a beautiful lady without mercy., In his imagination, the poet flies back to the medieval time and sees a fully armed knight with pale, and wild looks, wandering about alone and idly by the side of a lake in extremely cold weather. The, weather is so cold and biting that even the water-side plants have become dead and the birds have, migrated to warmer regions, and it is not at all proper time for anybody to remain out of doors. The, knight’s wandering about thus in such a cold weather appears very unusual to the poet. That is why he is, curious to know the cause of it., The last two lines are highly suggestive. They give a complete picture of the extreme winter as well, as the dreariness of the atmosphere as a fitting background to the tragic love story of the knight. What the, poet wants to signify in these lines is that the weather being one of extreme winter, it is not proper time, for anybody to be moving about out of doors. The knight’s wandering about in such a time is therefore, naturally unusual and surprising., 2. ‘O what can ail thee, knight-at-arms!, So haggard and so woe-be gone, The squirrel’s granary is full, A and the harvest ’s done.’, Ans: The given lines are from the poem ‘La Belle Dame sans Merci’ by John Keats. Here, the poet, describes the haggard condition of a medieval knight, betrayed by a beautiful but heartless lady., The poet asks in curiosity to know why the knight is wandering about, so pale and afflicted, in such, an extremely cold weather when even the squirrel stays indoor after having filled up its store with food for

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winter and there is no harvesting activity outside in the fields. The last two lines are very suggestive. The, squirrel and harvesting are two interesting sights in the fields, indicating that the weather is favourable for, all people and other creatures to move out of door and be engaged in their activities. They suggest the, gaiety of the weather and prosperity, and the absence of them, as here, suggests a dreary atmosphere and, scarcity of everything., 3. ‘I see a lily on thy brow, With anguish moist and fever-dew, And on thy cheeks a fading rose, Fast withered too.’, Ans: The given lines are from the poem ‘La Belle Dame sans Merci’ by John Keats. Here, the poet, describes the haggard condition of a medieval knight, betrayed by a beautiful lady without mercy., The poet describes the excited mental condition and bloodless appearance of the knight. The poet, sees that the knight’s forehead looks bloodless and white like a lily and perspiring heavily as if due to some, great mental excitement like a person in high fever. Moreover, he finds that even the youthful reddish, colour of the young knight’s cheeks has almost disappeared and what little of it remains is fast fading away, from his cheeks. He discovers all this pitiable condition of the knight, as if the knight was not aware of it,, and wanted to know the cause of it., 4. ‘She found me roots of relish sweet,, And honey wild and manna-dew,, And sure in language strange she said, “I love thee true.”, Ans: The given lines are from the poem ‘La Belle Dame sans Merci’ by John Keats. Here, the knight-atarms tells the poet about the lady who captivated his heart by her bewitching beauty., Charmed by the lady, the knight offered his tender love to her. He lifted her up and placed her in, front of himself on his horse. When the knight was carrying the lady with him on his horse, on the way she, gave him eatable roots of sweet taste as well as forest honey and juice of manna dew. She entertained him, with these things to show that she loved him. In her fairy language, she said that she was in true love with, him. The knight could not understand her language, but he clearly understood from her loving looks and, gestures that she was declaring her true love for him., 5. ‘She took me to her elfin grot,, And there she wept and sigh’d full sore,, And there I shut her wild wild eyes, With kisses four.’, Ans: The given lines are from the poem ‘La Belle Dame sans Merci’ by John Keats. Here, the knight-atarms tells the poet about the lady who captivated his heart by her bewitching beauty., The knight took her up and placed her on his horse. The lady sang a fairy song and offered him, eatable roots of sweet taste as well as forest honey and juice of manna. She spoke in a strange language, that she was in true love with him. Then, she took him to her well-decorated fairy-cave. In the cave, she, wept bitterly and sighed again and again to show that she desperately loved him and feared that he might, desert her. The knight says that in order to assure her of his constancy and allay her fear, he showered a, number of kisses upon her passionate and tearful eyes. However, the lady’s weeping and sighing was, merely a play-acting, for she was a wicked lady who only wanted to seduce the knight., 6. ‘I saw pale kings and princess too, Pale warriors, death-pale were they all:, They cried – “La Belle Dame sans Merci

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Hath thee in thrall!”, Ans: The given lines are from the poem ‘La Belle Dame sans Merci’ by John Keats. Here, the knight-atarms tells the poet about the lady who bewitches him by her beauty.She offered him the choicest food and, juices and professed her sincerest love to him. She took him to her well-decorated fairy-cave where she, lulled him into sleep. In his sleep, he had a sad and painful dream, the last dream he had on the cold hillside., While asleep in the fairy-cave, the knight saw a horrible dream in which he was ghastly pale. Kings,, princess and warriors – all of them victims of the wiles of that treacherous beauty. He heard them crying to, him that the beautiful lady without mercy had taken him in her bondage as she had enslaved them earlier., Here, kings, princess and warriors represent the highest class and Keats wants to show that even these, highest people are not free from the wiles of feminine charms. In fact, it is a tragic experience from which, nobody in the world is free. Thus, the poet shows here the pitiable condition of the victims of the lady’s, treacherous and false love.