The Dark Vision of Love in John Keats' La Belle Dame Sans Merci

Keats is able to portray love in many different lights throughout the poem by linking ideas and meanings, like symbolism. His different uses of structure within the poem, come considered unusual for a ballad, also have connotations towards how love affects the main character. Unlike other poets, Keats creates an overall tone within the poem which raises questions such as ‘Is the desire of the night more lust over love?’ Then leading to the idea of negative tones running throughout the poem through implications of darker intentions behind the relationship formed.

Within the first stanza, Keats provides an insight to the knights feelings, he is described as ‘alone and palely loitering’. The repetition of the word ‘pale’ throughout the poem implies it is a negative state and could be describing him as sickly. This idea of his health depleting is again in stanza three, with Keats using flowers as symbolism for his health. Lilies are used to describe his complexion, ‘I see a Lilly on thy brow’. This flower often associated with funerals could mean the night is on the verge of death. This is further supported in line 11, ‘on the cheeks a fading rose/ Fast withereth too.’ With a rose often symbolising love it could be implies that, his love is fading along with his life. Viewing it as a physical description Keats very clearly depicts the knight as dying, the ‘rose’ being imagery for flushed cheeks. This further intensifying the meeting between the knight and the woman, implying she brings his back from the brink of death. However by portraying the knight in such a hopeless position he is able to intensify the contrast between the knight and the lady. Stanzas one and four link together due to this contrast. Whilst the knight is described as ‘alone’ and ‘pale’ she is described as ‘full beautiful’ and ‘her hair was long, her foot light/and her eyes wild’. These qualities were those of a stereotypical perfect woman. As well as this, due to the contrast she is shown as something new and possibly an exciting prospect for the knight. This is further supported in stanza six, line 21, when he writes ‘and nothing saw all day long.’ This implies because he has her in his life nothing else is needed - possibly the exact definition of the love we recognise today.

The idea of the knight’s perspective being changed or brightened due to the lady is further supported when looking at the rhyming pattern. Usually a ballad follows an AB AB pattern however this only applies within stanzas that the knight is accompanied by the lady. This could infer that his life is easier with her due to the way the poem flowed when spoken aloud. As well as this, the use of commas within stanza four to describe the woman could imply a sense of unending positive qualities, as commas usually represent continuation.

Unlike language an structure, the overall tone from the poem could portray a darker side of love. Due to Keats constant use of euphemisms there is a sexual tone that overrides the whole poem. The previously mentioned ‘ideal woman’ contained depictions of ‘wild eyes’ and ‘long hair’. These were both often used in place of describing a woman as sexual. Because of this we see that the knight may view the woman in a purely sexual light. This could take away the beauty of love and be based entirely on lust - considered a more primal and sinful feeling as well as displaying the woman as a less trustworthy or holy figure due to her implied sexual nature. With mention of the woman crying ‘and there she wept’ could include ambiguous hints towards previous events within the poem. On the other hand, Keats portrays ‘la Belle Dame’ as supernatural or evil as the knight is left alone once more.

Critiquing the poem from a feminist point of view, some may believe that the knight deserves to suffer as he took advantage of the woman. The male is presented as a victim, however some would say the woman is the victim, this situation would prove that love is not present within the poem, purely lust which could even be considered malicious. On each side of the partnership there seems to have been an element of deception which strongly contrasts with the poems more obvious presentation of love. Because of this it seems that when investigating meaning used within the poem, a darker version of what the reader might at first believe to be ‘love’ is presented.