The Consequences of Love in Keats La Belle Dame Sans Merci - Essay Example

The consequences of love in Keats "La Belle Dame Sans Merci" Love comes across as one of the predominant themes for Keats and the ballad La Belle Dame Sans Merci is no different from a lot of his other poetry connected with the idea of love, beauty and truth. The narrative structure of the poem is simple but the consequences of falling in love are quite complex. As exemplified by the knight, when man seeks something ethereal and otherworldly, the search may bring fruit in the initial phases but the end result is melancholy. Warnings come too late and the man who seeks beauty and love is left alone and hollow while love departs. The poem itself was written in 1819 and published a year later after some slight changes by Keats. The narrative describes a knight who meets and falls in love with a magic fairy and works to keep her comfortable, yet as the knight falls asleep he is warned by spirits that the fairy is only there for a moment and once he awakens he finds that he is alone on the hillside (Wikipedia, 2006). The hillside itself comes across as a representation of a lonely cold world where there is neither love nor any hope for love. To better examine the consequences, it would be best if each stanza was examined on its own to show how it relates to the poem overall. The opening stanzas come from the anonymous speaker who wants to know why the knight is looking so haggard and poorly (Napierkowski, 1998). The speaker describes the physical condition of the knight and makes allusions to the knight’s mental conditions as it reflects on his body. Visibly, the knight is alone, he looks pale and he is placed in a more or less barren landscape. The time of the year seems to be winter since the squirrel has stored food for the winter and the year’s harvest has been done. In the third stanza, the speaker further elaborates on the condition of the knight and since we have the benefit of knowing why the condition of the knight has become what it has we can judge that the consequence of falling in love is loss and bereavement (Bartleby, 2006). The knight’s face has lost color since it is compared to a white lily and a withered rose. This coloration can also be seen as a loss of hope since decaying flowers symbolize something which was once fresh but is now dead. The next three stanzas describe the climax of the love which the knight had with the fairy. In all these stanzas, it is the knight who controls the action since he is the one who met her, made gifts for her and went with her. The knight also describes the beauty which attracted him to the fairy child as well as the beginning of the relationship between the two. Love often does not need any reason for its existence but the knight was quite eloquent in explaining how the fairy was light footed and had wild eyes (Bartley, 2006). Perhaps the most important line in the poem comes in the sixth stanza where the knight confesses that he saw nothing else other than her as he went along his way with the fairy child. This is a very important consequence of love since it shows single minded devotion and complete attraction to a single individual to the exclusion of everything else. The attraction of a magical world was so important to the knight that he was unable to keep any semblance of his own sanity and gradually it was the fairy child that took over his thoughts, actions and deeds completely. From the next stanza onwards, it is the lady who comes across as being in control of the situation and of the knight as she guides him and leads him deeper into both love and a grotto. Her control over the knight is so complete that the knight feels what she feels and when she is sad, so is he. At the same time, his dependence on her is magnified by the fact that she lulled him to sleep as one would put a baby to sleep. However, the knight does not rest in a peaceful sleep as is described by the next stanza (Bartleby, 2006). In the tenth stanza, the knight tells the narrator about his dream where he saw kings, princes and others like him who had been seduced by the charms of the magical kingdom and all had died trying to find it. It seems that the people who had come before him are not as much trying to warn him as inform him about his status as one who has been ensnared by the beautiful woman without mercy (Bartleby, 2006). The characters who speak to him in his dream are warriors, kings and princes which could symbolize strong brave men of all ages who have been similarly trapped by the fairy child. The next stanza of the poem brings the poem full circle as the ultimate consequence of falling in love with something unattainable is revealed. The knight sees the horrid face of the fairy child’s previous lovers in his dream and that wakes him up from the slumber he was placed in by the fairy child, however, he finds himself on the same hill where the narrator first met him. It is not clear how much time has passed since the knight had the dream but it can be assumed that a long time has passed since the passing of the seasons is described in the poem. The end result of the search is foreshadowed in the first stanza as the knight describes himself standing and waiting in the last stanza of the poem. The final consequence of seeking a magical love, the truth in beauty and the fairy child come across as all the same i.e. pain, misery, loneliness and an unrelenting thirst for the beloved. The knight, the kings, warriors and princes are all horrified at the situation they have been placed in and know that the mistress they seek is a cruel one (even though she is beautiful) because she is without mercy. However, despite all the warnings and the knowledge that the end result of the search being conducted by the knight will be death and destruction, the knight continues to wait and seek out that which he is attracted to. That too is a consequence of being in love with something unattainable since the characters may warn each other about the woman without mercy, yet they continue to seek her and be haunted by her. Clearly there is little which physically binds the knight to the location he is situated at and there are other ways of living a life as the narrator himself can testify. Seasons are changing in the world and the birds and the bees are going about their businesses without giving thought the condition of the knight or the betrayal of the magical fairy child. However, since the knight has fallen in love with the magical world which was shown by the fairy child, the knight can not be attracted towards anything else nor does he have interest in anything other than being with her. A lover has no choice in when to love and when not to love, as the knight loves the fairy child so does mankind love the magical world and as the knight suffers alone on a cold path so does mankind. The consequences of falling in love come across as quite bleak but the idea here is unrequited love. In case the love of the knight is requited he is quite happy as he was in the middle sections of the poem. In fact, it is exactly that hope which keeps him alive and has him hoping that the magic fairy child will come back to him or take him wherever she is. That is the reason why the conclusion to this poem does not come across as a tragic one but rather something which gives us hope. Works Cited Wikipedia. “La Belle Dame sans Merci: A Ballad” Wikipedia.org. 2006. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 4 Jun. 2006 Bartleby. “John Keats (1795–1821). The Poetical Works of John Keats: La Belle Dame Sans Merci” Bartleby.com. 2006. 3 Jun. 2006 Napierkowski, M. "La Belle Dame sans Merci: Introduction." Poetry for Students. 1998. eNotes.com. January 2006. 4 June 2006. . Read More