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.
…
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 lulled 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
Hath thee in thrall!’
…
An excerpt from La Belle Dame Sans Merci written by John Keats in 1819.
John Keats (1795 -1821) was an English poet whose works reflect a premonition of his own mortality at the age of 26 from tuberculosis. This premonition perhaps extends from the early deaths in Keats life of his father and mother, when Keats was 8 and 14, respectively. The poem La Belle Dame Sans Merci
was composed in a letter to his brother George in America two years before Keats’ death. The words of the poem are purposefully vague, suggesting a theme of chivalry and unrequited love. Both the knight and lady are mysterious figures whose motivations and actions are left unexplained. This was typical of the Romantic poets of the early nineteenth century who reacted against the harsh reality of the Enlightenment. The poetry of the Romantics was characterized by a feeling that good poetry flowed from a strong sense of feeling.
Historically, the decade of 1810-1820 reflected the final defeat of Napoleon and the French Empire. England reigned supreme on the oceans and German principalities began the long process of confederating into a unified state. France itself remained embroiled in revolutions during the thirties and forties.The Industrial Revolution had begun with the invention of the steam engine and Europe was to experience a social revolution with the migration of workers from the small villages into the cities.
La Belle Dame Sans Merci translates to the “Lady without Mercy”. The beauty of the lines is in the simplicity of the thought – the quest for love is not always fulfilled.
