La belle Dame sans Merci

Question 1

Main structure? La belle Dame sans Merci

Answer 1

1. Literary ballad
2. Dialogic structure
3. It is a frame narritive - adds mystery and skepticsm

Question 2

Volta and tone shift? La belle Dame sans Merci

Answer 2

1. Volta line 21 - physical world of the dream to the internal, psychological experience of the knight’s suffering
2. Seduction to suffering - romantic preoccupations with illusion and disillusionment

Question 3

Stanza form? La belle Dame sans Merci

Answer 3

1. uses iambic tetrameter in lines 1 and 3 and iambic trimeter in lines 2 and 4
2. alternation in line length creates a lilting, songlike rhythm that mirrors the enchantment - fatal beauty

Question 4

Repetition and refrain? La belle Dame sans Merci

Answer 4

1. poem opens and closes with identical or near-identical phrasing
2. Cyclical structure - sense of entrapment - mirrors the knight’s emotional paralysis
3. Final line functions somewhat as a dirge - emphasising desolation and finality

Question 5

Dialogic structure? La belle Dame sans Merci

Answer 5

1. First three stanzas present dialogue from unnamed speaker - shifts into knight’s retrospective monologue
2. Structure creates dramatic irony