la belle dame

• Alone and palely loitering'

  'and no birds sing'


  -Emphasis on his isolation heightens his tragic fall

  Implies a purposelessness from this loss of identity
• I see a lily on thy brow'

  'And on thy cheeks, a fading rose'


  - The use of feminine terms (lily and rose) implies the lady has emasculated the Knight.

  -Fading rose mirrors his fall
• I met a lady


  1st person shift to unreliable narration (poet - knight)
• Full beautiful-a faery's child'


  - An idealised version of the lady with supernatural elements hence there is blindness in his desire to pursue her as her description is
• And her eyes were wild'


  Blindness and hubris of Knight and implication of desire and nature of Lady. Suggests that there was reciprocation

  - Knight's delusion is emphasised by the repetition of 'wild
• I made a garland for her head and bracelets too'


  -Parody of courtly love and flattery of her

  -bracelets could be considered handcuffs and therefore he is entrapping her.
• She looked at me as she did love


  delusion in his assumptions
• I set her on my pacing steed, And nothing else saw all day long'


  -error of judgement and agency in his decision
• I love the true'


  -passionate declaration from the lady presumed by the Knight.

  Knight's blindness
• Elfin grot'


  contrasts the sedge as an idyllic utopia and reflects the enticement of the lady.

  -The Knight can't leave this world without enduring tragedy.
• Shut her wild wild eyes'


  -hints to the seductive nature of the lady with the assumptions and blindness of the Knight.

  -Hints in possession of the lady.
• She lulled me asleep'


  -Potentially manipulation from the lady undercutting this 'moment of happiness'.

  -Femme fatale and supernatural ideas presented as the Knight pushes the agency onto her.
• On the cold hill side'


  -the contrast between the sublime world and reality and the shift in setting highlights the tragedy that will prevail in this sublimity.
• Pale kings and princes'


  -high status masculine figures who are presented as victims as they've lost their status hence their identity
• They cried la belle dame sans merci'


  -entrapment from the lady and can serve as a warning of being enchanted by desire

  -slight realisation of Knight's blindness
• Alone and palely loitering'

  'No birds sing' END


  -no purpose for the knight after his loss of status and therefore loss of identity. Also repetition from the first stanza

  -further emphasis on the Knight's isolation. This creates a cyclical structure suggesting the lady has entrapped him as he doesn't escape the isolation.