Explore the way in which Keats depicts power in ‘La Belle Dame sans Merci’

Induction Essay

Explore the way in which Keats depicts power in ‘La Belle Dame sans Merci’

Keats takes the reader to an archaic world of fantasy in his ballad ‘La Belle Dame sans Merci’ on an exploration of the nature of power, and how even those at the top of the social or intellectual hierarchy can be subject to something with power over themselves; Keats also looks at the power dynamics between the genders. In the poem, Keats reveals his own sense of powerlessness, in the enchanting language inspired by a poet generations before his time, Spenser. In ‘La Belle Dame’, Keats reaches back into the Spenserian era to show sharp contrasts with his own, commenting on how his world does not demand the same powerful respect as the idealistic realm Spenser revealed to Keats does.

The protagonist is a ‘knight-at-arms,’ a character more suited to 16^th century pieces of fiction, and seemingly out of place in a more contemporary poet’s work. The fact that the central character and poetic form are traditional contradicts with how the character is actually presented. He is not how you would expect a traditional, chivalric knight. In contrast to the knights surroundings, where the “squirrels’ granary is full” and the “harvests’ done,” implying a world full of plenty, the knight is “haggard” and “woe-begone,” implying weakness and emptiness. The power that we expect from such a character is not there, and the abruptness of the mere four-syllable line at the end of the quatrain jumps out at the reader, halting the energy of the poem. The knight could be an allegoric self-portrait of Keats, the poet famed for having an effeminate nature.

The atmosphere of the poem changes as the knight seems to take over as narrator. Now, there are breaks- caesuras- in the stanzas as he describes a woman (“Her hair was long, her foot was light”). The caesuras give the poem a more natural flow, helping to build the image of the enticing woman who, gathering from her description, the knight seems to idolise and marvel at. Yet, the knight seems to control her, and Keats’ language objectifies her: the knight makes a “garland for her head,” makes her bracelets, dressing her like a doll, and he sits her on top of his horse. She is described as being “Full beautiful—a faery’s child”. Whilst the word “beautiful” seems complementary and “faery” adds to her enchanting mystique, the word “child” is condescending; the knight assumes a power over here even whilst idolising and adoring her. Keats could be reflecting society’s objectification of women and men’s power over them in his time through the language he uses to place the man in a position of power over the woman. However, if we look at the woman as more of a symbolic literary construct, the knight’s simultaneous idolisation of her and control over her suggests that she is a personification of Keats poetry, or poetry in general. It is the thing that inflames his imagination, like Spenser’s ‘Fairy Queen’ inspired him. He can create and control poetry, using literary techniques to convey whatever plays on his mind ad toils within his heart. And yet, this woman is not a completely sympathetic character, and Keats’ knight is not completely in control.

In stanza 9, the knight recalls how the woman “lulled me to sleep,” shifting the power balance and placing it in her hands; now the knight is vulnerable. When she lulls him to sleep, he is plunged into a series of disturbing dreams, which are reminiscent of the hallucinations one sees when intoxicated, just as the knight seems to be intoxicated with the woman. Placing this series of events back into what could be one of the literal readings of the extended metaphor, Keats seems to be exploring the power of addiction. Keats’ mind is enthralled by poetry, and yet the nature of writing poetry- commenting on society and politics in an artistic way- can cause him pain, as it allows him to see the flaws in modern society. For example, in this poem, he explores how women are objectified in society and seen as weak, but are also held accountable for wrong-doings, like leading men astray with sexual behavior. This is one inference that can be made from the hallucinations that the knights sees: he seems to see past male victims of the woman, La Belle Dame. He sees “pale kings and princes” who seem to have, like the knight, been enticed and tricked by the woman, as they yell out: “‘La Belle Dame sans Merci/ Thee hath in thrall!’”. Woman have often, throughout history, been portrayed in literature, even in religious texts, as either damsels in distress or a feme fatale- a sexually promiscuous temptresses who leads men astray. Keats seems to portray society’s double standards in ‘La Belle Dame’.

Reading and comparing the idealistic world of Spenser to his own industrialised and increasingly capitalist society, Keats’ Romantic mind seems to be saddened. Poetry involves extensive use of the imagination, which can link the real with the ideal and unveil the flaws in reality. This seems to be Keats’ addiction and one of the readings of the woman in ‘La Belle Dame’. The fact that the woman in the poem leads men away from the real world into an ideal one, only to leave them blighted and ill, shows Keats’ disillusionment with reality.

By the end of the poem, we return to the knight, who is still lead “alone and palely loitering,” still weak and empty, almost as if he were dying or wasting, just like the “sedge is withered from the lake”. One reason for the knight being in this state could be because, as discussed, he is led to represent the suffering from addiction. However, given the context, he could also be weak from the wasting, draining power of love, another one of Keats’ addictions. He is no stranger to illness; when he wrote the poem he was suffering from tuberculosis, which those beloved to him had died from. Describing the knight as “pale” and showing him as weak after his encounter with the woman, Keats seems to compare the power of love with the potency and destruction of illness. This would be a reflection of Keats’ own deep love for Fanny Brawne, who he could not be with due to his poverty, but whom he was deeply in love with.

Keats, in stanza 10, seems to tell the reader that every man has his own ‘La Belle Dame sans Merci’- his own addiction. Even powerful, authoritive “kings and princes” are “death-pale” and weak at the mercy of what addiction has them captured, just as Keats is captured by his own addiction.