{"id":54,"date":"2015-02-04T17:27:17","date_gmt":"2015-02-04T17:27:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/englishhistory.net\/?p=54"},"modified":"2022-02-18T09:48:02","modified_gmt":"2022-02-18T09:48:02","slug":"la-belle-dame-sans-merci-ballad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/englishhistory.net\/keats\/poetry\/la-belle-dame-sans-merci-ballad\/","title":{"rendered":"La Belle Dame Sans Merci Ballad"},"content":{"rendered":"

There are two versions of this very famous ballad. The first version is from the original manuscript and the second version is its first published form. The first is generally considered the best; it was altered upon publication. We do not know who did the alteration.<\/p>\n

The original version is found in a letter to Keats’s brother, George, and dated Weds 21 April 1819. Keats typically wrote a running commentary to George and his wife Georgiana in America, then loosely grouped the pages together as one long letter. The letter which contains La Belle spans almost three months, from 14 February to 3 May 1819. It also contains other famous poems, including ‘Why did I laugh tonight?’ which ends, prophetically enough, ‘Verse, fame and Beauty are intense indeed \/ But Death intenser – Death is Life’s high mead.’ Also included are ‘To Sleep’ and ‘On Fame.’ The letter ends with the beautiful Ode to Psyche<\/a>, of which Keats wrote: ‘The following Poem – the last I have written is the first and the only one with which I have taken even moderate pains – I have for the most part dash’d of[f] my lines in a hurry – ‘<\/p>\n

La Belle Dame Sans Merci (The Beautiful Lady Without Mercy\/Pity) was dashed off, then, and largely dismissed by Keats himself. It was first published in the Indicator on 10 May 1820 and has since become one of his most celebrated poems.<\/p>\n

Note:<\/strong> In 1893, the pre-Raphaelite painter John William Waterhouse<\/a> was inspired by La Belle Dame Sans Merci to create one of his most famous works<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Original version of La Belle Dame Sans Merci, 1819<\/h2>\n

Oh what can ail thee, knight-at-arms,
\nAlone and palely loitering?
\nThe sedge has withered from the lake,
\nAnd no birds sing.<\/p>\n

Oh what can ail thee, knight-at-arms,
\nSo haggard and so woe-begone?
\nThe squirrel’s granary is full,
\nAnd the harvest’s done.<\/p>\n

I see a lily on thy brow,
\nWith anguish moist and fever-dew,
\nAnd on thy cheeks a fading rose
\nFast withereth too.<\/p>\n

I met a lady in the meads,
\nFull beautiful – a faery’s child,
\nHer hair was long, her foot was light,
\nAnd her eyes were wild.<\/p>\n

I made a garland for her head,
\nAnd bracelets too, and fragrant zone;
\nShe looked at me as she did love,
\nAnd made sweet moan.<\/p>\n

I set her on my pacing steed,
\nAnd nothing else saw all day long,
\nFor sidelong would she bend, and sing
\nA faery’s song.<\/p>\n

She found me roots of relish sweet,
\nAnd honey wild, and manna-dew,
\nAnd sure in language strange she said –
\n‘I love thee true’.<\/p>\n

She took me to her elfin grot,
\nAnd there she wept and sighed full sore,
\nAnd there I shut her wild wild eyes
\nWith kisses four.<\/p>\n

And there she lulled me asleep
\nAnd there I dreamed – Ah! woe betide! –
\nThe latest dream I ever dreamt
\nOn the cold hill side.<\/p>\n

I saw pale kings and princes too,
\nPale warriors, death-pale were they all;
\nThey cried – ‘La Belle Dame sans Merci
\nHath thee in thrall!’<\/p>\n

I saw their starved lips in the gloam,
\nWith horrid warning gaped wide,
\nAnd I awoke and found me here,
\nOn the cold hill’s side.<\/p>\n

And this is why I sojourn here
\nAlone and palely loitering,
\nThough the sedge is withered from the lake,
\nAnd no birds sing.<\/p>\n

Published version of La Belle Dame Sans Merci, 1820<\/h2>\n

Ah, what can ail thee, wretched wight,
\nAlone and palely loitering;
\nThe sedge is wither’d from the lake,
\nAnd no birds sing.<\/p>\n

Ah, what can ail thee, wretched wight,
\nSo haggard and so woe-begone?
\nThe squirrel’s granary is full,
\nAnd the harvest’s done.<\/p>\n

I see a lily on thy brow,
\nWith anguish moist and fever dew;
\nAnd on thy cheek a fading rose
\nFast withereth too.<\/p>\n

I met a lady in the meads
\nFull beautiful, a faery’s child;
\nHer hair was long, her foot was light,
\nAnd her eyes were wild.<\/p>\n

I set her on my pacing steed,
\nAnd nothing else saw all day long;
\nFor sideways would she lean, and sing
\nA faery’s song.<\/p>\n

I made a garland for her head,
\nAnd bracelets too, and fragrant zone;
\nShe look’d at me as she did love,
\nAnd made sweet moan.<\/p>\n

She found me roots of relish sweet,
\nAnd honey wild, and manna dew;
\nAnd sure in language strange she said,
\nI love thee true.<\/p>\n

She took me to her elfin grot,
\nAnd there she gaz’d and sighed deep,
\nAnd there I shut her wild sad eyes–
\nSo kiss’d to sleep.<\/p>\n

And there we slumber’d on the moss,
\nAnd there I dream’d, ah woe betide,
\nThe latest dream I ever dream’d
\nOn the cold hill side.<\/p>\n

I saw pale kings, and princes too,
\nPale warriors, death-pale were they all;
\nWho cry’d–“La belle Dame sans merci
\nHath thee in thrall!”<\/p>\n

I saw their starv’d lips in the gloam
\nWith horrid warning gaped wide,
\nAnd I awoke, and found me here
\nOn the cold hill side.<\/p>\n

And this is why I sojourn here
\nAlone and palely loitering,
\nThough the sedge is wither’d from the lake,
\nAnd no birds sing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There are two versions of this very famous ballad. The first version is from the original manuscript and the second version is its first published form. The first is generally considered the best; it was altered upon publication. We do not know who did the alteration. The original version is found in a letter to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/englishhistory.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/englishhistory.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/englishhistory.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/englishhistory.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/englishhistory.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/englishhistory.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3847,"href":"https:\/\/englishhistory.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54\/revisions\/3847"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/englishhistory.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/englishhistory.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/englishhistory.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}