"La Belle Dame sans Merci"

           First, I have to begin by saying that I was quite overwhelmed once I began writing my post because there is so much to discuss with this poem! Some areas of discussion that came to mind include its ties to medieval courtship poetry, the simplistic structure, a biographical interpretation, elements of the supernatural, characterization of the femme fatale and the unrequited lover, an analysis of the revision, the progression of seasons, a comparison to "St. Agnes," and on and on and on! Keats is wonderful. So, I decided to just pick out a couple things that really stuck out to me in my reading of the work and, hopefully, our class discussion can lead us into a million other directions!

           Quick note! If you are interested in Keats, you can find all of his works (at least, I think it's all of them) for FREE here and his letters (which include many first drafts of his poems) here. ALSO, there are several paintings based off of this poem: Sir Frank Dicksee, Frank Cadogan Cowper, John William Waterhouse, Arthur Hughes, and Walter Crane.

Okay, now on to my freaking post, right?

Flowers
           The flower motif woven into the poem has many possible implications. Although normally associated with flourishing life, Keats's first mention of flowers signify sickness and death. The first speaker comments, "I see a lily on thy brow" (li. 9). As the footnote tells us, lilies are traditionally symbolic of death, and this is confirmed by the following line in which the knight's face is described as "moist" and feverish (10). Furthermore, the speaker notes that "on thy cheeks a fading rose/ fast withereth too" (li. 11-12). Thus, while the knight once flourished--in love and in life--he is now facing death (or at least a symbolic death). It's also important to mention that the hue of these two flowers underlines the whole poem. Just as the white lily signifies death, the pale knight, "kings" (li. 37), "princes" (li. 37), and "warriors" (li. 38) have all reached the same fate. Although the redness of the rose is not as clearly depicted in the rest of the poem, I think it is implied as a state of flourishing life and love that he once experienced. The fading rose on the knight's cheeks is connected to his physiological state--meaning, the literal blood in his face is fading--as well as his emotional state. Abandoned "on the cold hill's side" (li. 44), the knight is grieving over the love he experienced with the faery girl which also withered away too quickly. [Before I move on to the next bit with flowers, I wanted to throw out a question related to this portion of the poem. I am not very familiar with biblical allusions, but in my brief research on lilies, I saw that apparently "white lilies sprung up where drops of Christ's sweat fell to the ground in his final hours of sorrow and deep distress" (appleseeds.org). I think there is probably a pretty clear reference here to the knight as he sweats with a lily on his forehead... Anyone know more about this?]


           The most intriguing reference to flowers, however, is the subtle (or maybe not so subtle) sexual reading that can be drawn from lines 17-24. The knight adorns his lover with flowers including "a garland for her head" (li. 17), "bracelets" (li. 18), and a belt, described as a "fragrant zone" (li. 18). This fragrant zone is a euphemism for female genitalia, which opens up the next few lines for a directly sexual interpretation, in which the two make passionate love ("made sweet moan," "I set her on my pacing steed," etc).

Running out of time here but I hope that's enough to get us started with a close reading of the poem. There are many more points we can expand on in class tomorrow, so for now I'll leave you guys with a few questions that I'm interested in. In what ways does the revised version add or take away from the original and why do you think Keats decided to revise at all? What is the significance of dreaming in the poem? And again, what are the biblical allusions and how do they contribute to the poem's meaning? I think there's at least one more in the poem with the phrase "manna dew" in line 26.

And finally, if anyone's interested, I found the letter that Keats originally wrote this poem in (I believe) and he humorously explains the meaning behind the four kisses he bestows upon the faery woman (li. 31-32):
Why four kisses—you will say—why four, because I wish to restrain the headlong impetuosity of my Muse—she would have fain said “score” without hurting the rhyme—but we must temper the Imagination, as the Critics say, with Judgment. I was obliged to choose an even number, that both eyes might have fair play, and to speak truly I think two a piece quite sufficient. Suppose I had said seven there would have been three and a half a piece—a very awkward affair, and well got out of on my side—(gutenberg press).