Quotes from book
La Belle Dame sans Merci

Name: La Belle Dame sans Merci
Author: John Keats

"La Belle Dame sans Merci" is a ballad produced by the English poet John Keats in 1819. The title was derived from the title of a 15th-century poem by Alain Chartier called La Belle Dame sans Mercy.Considered an English classic, the poem is an example of Keats' poetic preoccupation with love and death. The poem is about a fairy who condemns a knight to an unpleasant fate after she seduces him with her eyes and singing. The fairy inspired several artists to paint images that became early examples of 19th-century femme fatale iconography. The poem continues to be referenced in many works of literature, music, art, and film.

“O, what can ail thee, knight-at-arms,
Alone and palely loitering?
The sedge has wither'd from the lake,
And no birds sing.”

John Keats book La Belle Dame sans Merci

Stanza I
La Belle Dame sans Merci (1819)

“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!"”

John Keats book La Belle Dame sans Merci

Stanza X
La Belle Dame sans Merci (1819)

“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.”

John Keats book La Belle Dame sans Merci

Stanza IV
La Belle Dame sans Merci (1819)

“I made a garland for her head,
And bracelets too, and fragrant zone;
She look'd at me as she did love,
And made sweet moan.”

John Keats book La Belle Dame sans Merci

Stanza V
La Belle Dame sans Merci (1819)