Womanhood in The Eve of St. Agnes and La Belle Dame Sans Merci and Mariana by Keats
In the two poems "Mariana'' and "La Belle Dame Sans Merci'' and the
extract from ''The Eve of Saint Agnes'' the poets portray three
diverse perceptions of women. The reader distinguishes a woman as a
temptress, a woman whom is vulnerable and is dependent on man, and a
woman who is nubile and is innocently seductive.
"La Belle Dame Sans Merci" is a ballad, written in 1819. In this
ballad, the femme fatale deceives the Wretched Wright she meets. He
falls in love with the Belle Dame instantly and is convinced that she
too is in love with him; "She look'd at me as she did love". The
Tempter is "beautiful, a faery's child"; the Belle Dame looks
magnificent on the outer surface however beauty is only skin deep as
there is an inner wickedness about her. Her "eyes were wild" and she
enchants the Wretched Wright with "faery's song's". 'Faery's' were
thought to be from 'another place'. Her love was weird but wonderful
to the Wretched Wright,
"And sure in language true she said,
I love thee true."
The Belle Dame is conveyed, as a temptress who knowingly destroys
men's hearts, even from reading the title the reader knows this. The
title is translated to mean 'A Beautiful Lady Without Merci'; this
shows us that she is dangerous to men. "I saw pale kings, and princes
too", the Belle Dame had intentionally starved more men before the
Wretched Wright form love.
This contrasts with "The Eve of St. Agnes" where the reader observes
another type of temptress, Madeline, in the poem 'Mariana'. Madeline
is unknowingly seductive to the weak Porphyro. Porphyro even sings to
her,
"La belle dame sans merci:
Close to her ear" as ...
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...ness by Keats, "Alone and
palely loitering", we too connect this image with gloomy, suffering
love. As if he is colourless like the "Pale warriors, death-pale were
they all." Love had taken away all their cheerful colours along with
leaving them weak and defenceless.
In conclusion through these poems the reader explores the limitations
of society and the influence of these restrictions on women. The
reader also observes the power and beauty of love as well as the
result it has on people. In all three poems the last line of the poems
and the extract demonstrates this; "Oh God, that I were dead!" "For if
thy diest, my Love, I know not where to go", "And no birds sing." I
think that in all three endings Keats's and Tennyson some up the
distress caused by love and the penalty of its addiction very
admirably when looking into the poems not at first glance.
The Virgin and the Whore: An Analysis of Keats’s Madeline in “The Eve of Saint Agnes”
Looking back at the narratives and the significance of the poems in them is that many of the poems are inspired by nature around the authors. Also, the poems provide more of the voice of the authors instead of just the voice of the narrator and helps present the emotional tones of the characters in the narratives to the reader so that there can be more of a connection to it when it is being read. The poems make for a simple addition to the narrative and allows for a much more meaningful experience for a reader and makes for a much more engrossing story, thus adding to the to experience as a whole.
In the essay I hope to explain why I picked each poem and to suggest
enable us to understand the moral of the poem. Which is work hard and you will receive you goals and never give up.
Christina Rossetti and John Keats were both poets in their own prime. Rossetti wrote the somewhat controversial poem, Cousin Kate (1879) and John Keats wrote the French named poem, La Belle Dame sans Merci, (1819) which means “the beautiful woman without mercy”.
The two poems I have chosen to explain are Piano by D H Lawrence and
Comparing La Belle Dame Sans Merci by Keats and Mariana. The two poems 'La Belle Dame Sans Merci' and 'Mariana' are very similar genres of a. They are both based on a romantic theme. They are both about unrequited love.
"John Keats." British Literature 1780-1830. Comp. Anne K. Mellor and Richard E. Matlak. Boston: Heinle & Heinle, 1996. 1254-56. Print.
of the speaker through out the poem. One Art is a poem about inevitable loss and the incognizant
Keats, John. “The Eve of St. Agnes”. The Norton Anthology of English Literature: The Romantic
Although the imagery in each poem is distinct, the similarity of message in both poems is evident. The poems are similar in that the narrator’s lives are empty and contain no passion for pursuing anything. The ideas reflected in these poems are seen even today, in such things as listless living and job-related apathy. Both poems suggest that a life where dreams of meaningless things are pursued will end without purpose or significance.
“la belle dame sans merci” was written April 21, 1819 by John Keats. A Romantic poet who despite his reputation as being one of the most beloved poets of all time, was not well received during his short lived life. In fact Keats reputation didn’t grow till after his death near the end of the nineteenth century. He is now considered one of the key figures in the second generation of the romantic movement. Keats major works did not focus on religion, ethnics, morals, or politics. He wrote mostly of sensational experiences about the richness of life. Though experiences may be pleasurable at first they don’t always have fairytale endings, sometimes the pleasures of life can become overwhelming, such is the theme of Keats ballad “La belle dame sans merci”.
There are many different themes that can be used to make a poem both successful and memorable. Such is that of the universal theme of love. This theme can be developed throughout a poem through an authors use of form and content. “She Walks in Beauty,” by George Gordon, Lord Byron, is a poem that contains an intriguing form with captivating content. Lord Byron, a nineteenth-century poet, writes this poem through the use of similes and metaphors to describe a beautiful woman. His patterns and rhyme scheme enthrall the reader into the poem. Another poem with the theme of love is John Keats' “La Belle Dame sans Merci,” meaning “the beautiful lady without mercy.” Keats, another nineteenth-century writer, uses progression and compelling language throughout this poem to engage the reader. While both of these poems revolve around the theme of love, they are incongruous to each other in many ways.
These poems are not as complex when compared to other poems, and with that being said they do not take an abundance of inference to determine the theme of the poem. Because they are not as complex as others all 3 of these poems are capable of being paraphrased to better understand the main idea of the poem. When putting the poem into different words, one can
Gorham, Deborah. A. A. The Victorian Girl and the Feminine Ideal. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1982. Martineau, Harriet.