La Belle Dame Sans Merci. A Ballad Flashcards
(23 cards)
Complete the quote and state its significance:
Alone and ______ _________
Alone and palely loitering
This image indicates his suffering and misery
The Knight has lost his sense of direction, purpose and vitality
The depiction is a disturbing subversion of the typical chivalrous and valiant image of knights
Complete the quote and state its significance:
The _____ has ________ from the ____
The sedge has withered from the lake
Introduces a tragic setting and the hostility of nature
The land’s barren and desolate state emphasises the Knight’s isolation and suffering
Water is a source of life, so the image arouses suspicion
Complete the quote and state its significance:
And no _____ ____
And no birds sing
Further establishes the tragic setting, which is devoid of life
Lack of birdsong/music signifies the lack of harmony within the setting; the natural order is disrupted, replaced by chaos
Complete the quote and state its significance:
So _______ and ___-______
So haggard and woe-begone
Signifies the Knight’s suffering, which manifests physically
His gaunt appearance is a reflection of his inner turmoil
Subverts the typical image of a valiant Knight, indicating his tragic fall
Complete the quote and state its significance:
I see a ____ on thy ____
I see a lily on thy brow
Evocative of death as lilies are traditionally funeral flowers
The Knight’s thoughts weigh heavy with grief and sorrow
Complete the quote and state its significance:
With _______ moist and _____-___
With anguish moist and fever-dew
Suggests illness, implying the Knight’s impending doom
The Knight has been reduced to a delirious state, no longer burning with vigour and passion, but with a sickly fever
Complete the quote and state its significance:
And on thy ______ a ______ ____ /____ ________ too
And on thy cheeks a fading rose /Fast withereth too
Roses symbolise love - the Knight’s ardour for the female construct in the poem - ‘La Belle Dame’ - was so strong, that it manifested physically
The vigour of the passions he once felt is rapidly decaying, becoming a mere shadow of what it used to be
Keats could also be suggesting the transient nature of beauty/love/happiness/life
Complete the quote and state its significance:
And her ____ were ____
And her eyes were wild
’La Belle Dame’ is a Femme Fatale figure and the knight is drawn to her seductions and dangerous/supernatural allure
This reveals the protagonist’s tragic flaw, hubris, as it reveals his desire to tame and control her
Complete the quote and state its significance:
I made a _______ for her ____, /And _________ too, and ________ ____
I made a garland for her head, /And bracelets too, and fragrant zone
These gifts are both a token of the Knight’s devotion and his attempt to conquer the female construct
On one hand, we may pity him as he is only fulfilling the duties presented by the chivalric code of courtly love
On the other hand, this conveys his hubris as he creates such ornaments to assert control over her; note that the gifts he makes to adorn her with resemble chains/bindings.
The ‘fragrant zone’ could be read as a sexual euphemism, which highlights how the Knight yields to temptation and lust
Furthermore, it could be seen as something akin to a chastity belt, which the Knight uses to secure her fidelity and restrict her agency
Complete the quote and state its significance:
She ______ at me __ ___ ___ ____
She looked at me as she did love
There is ambiguity in her emotions, highlighting her deceptive nature
However, this image also depicts one the Knight’s tragic flaw - his wilful blindness
Complete the quote and state its significance:
And made _____ ____
And made sweet moan
The sensual and erotic image indicates the Knight’s rapture and overindulgence
The Knight’s hamartia is how he succumbs to temptation
Complete the quote and state its significance:
I ___ her on my ______ _____
I set her on my pacing steed
This sexual euphemism exposes the Knight’s hubris
’La Belle Dame’ has a more passive role in this depiction as the Knight is the subject while she is the object and so, she could be deemed a victim of male dominance
Complete the quote and state its significance:
And _______ ____ saw all ___ ____
And nothing else saw all day long
This signifies the Knight’s blindness and overindulgence, which is caused by the illusion of love
Complete the quote and state its significance:
For ________ she would ____, and ____ /A ______ ____
For sidelong she would bend, and sing /A faery’s song
The fact that ‘La Belle Dame’ does not face the Knight symbolises her deceptive nature
The ‘faery’s song’ she sings suggests she has enchanted the Knight
Complete the quote and state its significance:
She _____ me _____ of ______ _____, /And _____ ____, and _____-___
She found me roots of relish sweet, /And honey wild, and manna-dew
The Knight is lured in by the lady’s saccharine bait
*The reference to ‘manna’ is a biblical allusion - in the Book of Exodus, manna is the food that God provided the Israelites during their 40 year journey in the desert
Complete the quote and state its significance:
In language _______ she said – /‘I love ____ ____’
In language strange she said – /‘I love thee true’
Complete the quote and state its significance:
She took me to her _____ ____
She took me to her elfin grot
Complete the quote and state its significance:
She ____ and ______ full ____
She wept and sighed full sore
Complete the quote and state its significance:
I shut her ____ ____ ____ /With ______ ____
I shut her wild wild eyes /With kisses four
Complete the quote and state its significance:
I saw ____ _____ and _______ too, /____ ________, _____-____ were they all
I saw pale kings and princes too, /Pale warriors, death-pale were they all
Complete the quote and state its significance:
I saw their _______ ____ in the _____, /With ______ _______ _____ ____
I saw their starved lips in the gloam, /With horrid warning gaped wide
Complete the quote and state its significance:
This is why I _______ here
This is why I sojourn here
Complete the quote and state its significance:
On the cold ______ ____
On the cold hill’s side
