La Belle Dame sans Merci

1

O what can ail thee, knight at arms,

Alone and palely loitering?

The sedge has wither'd from the lake,

And no birds sing.

2

O what can ail thee, knight at arms,

So haggard and so woe begone?

The squirrel's granary is full,

And the harvest's done.

3

I see a lily on thy brow

With anguish moist and fever dew,

And on they cheeks a fading rose

Fast withereth too.

4

I met a lady in the meads,

Full beautiful, a fairy's child,

Her hair was long, her foot was light

And her eyes were wild.

5

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.

6

I set her on my pacing steed,

And nothing else saw all day long,

For sidelong would she bend, and sing

A fairy's song.

7

She found me roots of relish sweet,

And honey wild, and manna dew,

And sure in language strange she said--

I love thee true.

8
She took me to her elfin grot,

And there she wept, and sigh'd full sore,

And there I shut her wild wild eyes

With kisses four

9
And there she lulled me asleep,

And there I dream'd -- Ah! Woe betide!

The latest dream I ever dream'd

On the cold hill's side.

10
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!"

11

I saw their starv'd lips in the gloam

With horrid warning gaped wide,

And I awoke and found me here
On the cold hill's side

12
And this is why I sojourn here,

Alone and palely loitering,

Though the sedge is wither'd from the lake

And no birds sing.

There are two versions of the words, with slight differences

To me this is a beautiful and sad tale of a knight who perished from the love of a fairy woman. I wonder if it is not related to the pagan religions story of the God who meets and marries the Goddess in spring, then is sacrificed by her in fall and mourned in winter.

Others far more scholarly than I have suggested the knight himself is a ghost, pointing out the symbols of death such as the lily and references to paling, withering, and fading.

The simplest interpetation is that the knight is cursed for breaking his vows of chastity, giving in to the temptation of the fairy.

A newer view, advanced by more feminist advocates, is that the knight raped the fairy - she sighs and weeps.

Looking at the body of Keat's work suggests that the ballad was simply to evoke emotion, rather than moralizing. It is sweet and sad - and need be nothing more.