Revision for La Belle Dame Sans Merci

Description

A level English Flashcards on Revision for La Belle Dame Sans Merci , created by Jazmine Derwin on 06/04/2017.
Jazmine Derwin
Flashcards by Jazmine Derwin, updated more than 1 year ago
Jazmine Derwin
Created by Jazmine Derwin almost 7 years ago
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Resource summary

Question Answer
Imagery: Flowers "lily on thy brow": does not only mean pale but lilies are associated with death so adds a sense of barrenness "thy cheeks a fading rose": roses are associated with love so the fact it is fading shows that his love affair with the beautiful lady is fading.
Time / Setting The immediate setting is late autumn / winter. "harvests done" "cold hill's side" This makes the Knights isolation more complete But the Lady is associated with summer and flowers. "lady in the meads"
Tragedy: flaw of the protagonist Hamartia is falling for the woman The knight is easily seduced by the woman which leads to his downfall which is evidenced through the gifts he makes for her: "I make a garland for her head/ And bracelets too". This goes against a stereotypical view of a knight, showing the influence that the woman has on him.
Tragedy: Use of setting Nature - Anonymous speaker had described how all the "sedge was wither'd". This shows that it was nearly autumn, which is using pathetic fallacy, in keeping with his decline. Imagery such as fallen leaves and colder weather is associated with is season and this symbolises how his mind seems to be falling apart and almost freezing over as the lady has completely destroyed it and overtaken every thought.
Tragedy: Use of setting Part 2 The knight is located near a lake, on cold hills, with winter approaching. In Keats' time, loitering in wet meads and on cold hills throughout the day and night would often cause nasty illnesses; many believed that it could at least exacerbate the effects of tuberculosis, and Keats – whose family had suffered from this illness – would have been aware of this. In that case, the setting is not so much a beautiful woodland setting, but a location which carries deathly possibilities
Stanza form The last line of the stanza is cut short. It could represents the suddenness and strangeness of death. The iambic beat is often known as the 'heartbeat', as it can sound like a heart beating . As the final line cuts short the 'heartbeat' of the iambic line, it is almost like a jolt or death of the heartbeat. The fourth line being constantly shorter mirrors the events of the knight's love life and happiness being cut short. Additionally, by cutting each final line to half its expected length the reader is repeatedly taken by surprise. This leaves the reader with a sudden empty void which mirrors the emotions of the knight. This further entices the theme of tragedy as the hero, the "knight-at-arms", has fallen
Cyclical structure The end of the poem shows the despair is absolute - "and no birds sing" ends the poem in a circle as that line mentioned in the opening, leaving not room for the reader to hope. This shows the tragic element of the poem as we see there isn't a way for the knight to turn it around, so the pathos of this last stanza is immense.
Fall from grace In many ways, the knight represents a complication of a typical figure in medieval literature. Normally, knights were presented as heroic, brave and independent figures. Here, however, he is weak, powerless and seemingly under the spell of a woman. This automatically inverts what the reader will be expecting, thereby tinting the narrative with strangeness.
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