CONCEPTUAL LINK 6 Text Bank 23

Revolution and Renewal Nature and the power of imagination

John Keats
T23  La Belle Dame sans Merci 1 (1818)

WARM-UP WORDS IN CONTEXT

1 WRITE. Have you ever lived a thrilling experience
during a dream? What did that experience leave
you with in the morning? Sadness? Regret? Pleasure?
3 WRITE the words from the text in the correct box.

elfin grot • lake • birds • honey • harvest •

Try to write these sensations down.
manna dew • lily • rose • faery’s child

2 SAY what story this painting suggests to your

imagination.
Magic Nature

LI
EL
CH
Frank Dicksee, La Belle Dame Sans Merci, 1902, City of Bristol Art Gallery,
Bristol, England.
NI

This is a romantic ballad where the meeting between a knight and a beautiful lady becomes a
metaphor of illness and consummation.
ZA

O what can ail2 thee, knight-at-arms, 1 Who is the speaker?

Alone and palely loitering3? 2 What and who does he give a description of?
The sedge is wither’d4 from the lake, 3 What season is described?
And no birds sing.

5 O what can ail thee, knight-at-arms, 4 What does the knight look like?
So haggard and so woe-begone5?
The squirrel’s granary is full,
And the harvest’s done.
1 Merci. Pietà.
2 ail. Tormentare,
I see a lily on thy brow rattristare.
10 With anguish moist and fever dew6; 3 palely loitering. Che
ti aggiri pallido.
And on thy cheek a fading rose 4 The sedge is
wither’d. Il carice
Fast withereth too. (pianta che cresce in
terreni paludosi) è
secco.
I met a lady in the meads, 5 What does he say? 5 So … woe-begone.
Così smunto e
Full beautiful – a faery’s child, addolorato.
15 Her hair was long, her foot was light, 6 moist … dew.
Madido del sudore
And her eyes were wild. della malattia.

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 Text Bank 23

I made a garland for her head, 6 What did he give her?

And bracelets too, and fragrant zone7;
She look’d at me as she did love, 7 How did she look at him?
20 And made sweet moan8.

I set her on my pacing steed9, 8 Where did he sit her?

And nothing else saw all day long, 9 What else did he see?
For sideways would she lean10, and sing 10 What did she sing?
A faery’s song.

25 She found me roots of relish sweet, 11 What did she find for him?
And honey wild, and manna dew;
And sure in language strange she said – 12 What language did she speak?
‘I love thee true!’

She took me to her elfin grot11, 13 Where did she take him?
30 And there she gazed and sigh’d full sore, 14 What happened there?
And there I shut her wild wild eyes
With kisses four.

LI
And there she lulled me asleep, EL
And there I dream’d – ah! woe betide12! 15 What did he dream of?
35 The latest dream I ever dream’d
On the cold hill side.
CH
I saw pale kings and princes too,
Pale warriors, death-pale were they all;
They cried – ‘La Belle Dame sans merci 16 What did they shout?
40 Thee hath in thrall13!’
NI

I saw their starv’d lips in the gloam14,

With horrid warning15 gaped wide,
ZA

And I awoke, and found me here, 17 What did he discover when he awoke?
On the cold hill side. 18 Where was he left?

45 And this is why I sojourn here,

Alone and palely loitering,
Though the sedge is wither’d from the lake,
And no birds sing.

7 fragrant zone. Fascia di fiori. 10 would she lean. Soleva sporgersi. 13 Thee hath in thrall. Ti ha in suo potere.
8 moan. Lamento. 11 elfin grot. Grotta degli elfi. 14 starv’d … gloam. Bocche spalancate nell’oscurità.
9 pacing steed. Destriero al passo. 12 woe betide. Ci fu una maledizione. 15 warning. Ammonimento.

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 Text Bank 23

QUICK READ
4 READ the text quickly and say who the hero of the poem is and who he is the victim of.

CLOSE READ
5 READ the poem again and answer the questions next to it.

ANALYSIS
6 SAY if there is any connection between the landscape and the knight.

7 IDENTIFY the musical device used in lines 1–2, 5–6 and 46–48.

8 FOCUS on the characters.

1 Who is the dominant character in stanzas 4-6?

2 Where does a shift in dominance occur?
3 What does the lady symbolise?

LI
9 CONCENTRATE on the structure of the poem. Why is it possible to state that the poem has a circular
movement?

10 DEFINE the atmosphere characterising the whole poem.

EL
11 IDENTIFY the theme of the poem.
CH
12 SAY what features this ballad shares with the old medieval ballads ( 2.7).

COMMUNICATION
NI

13 DISCUSS. Keats describes something that may have already happened or may someday happen to you. You
are very attracted to someone even if you don’t really understand him or her and you allow that sensation
to take you over. When the pleasure is gone, you feel emotionally upset. Discuss a situation of this kind.
ZA

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Copia riservata a Camila Alamo - 4781955