I find it interesting that Keats's poem "La Belle Dame
sans Merci" is an English poem, yet the title is in French. Instead of
making the title be "The Beautiful Woman without Pity" he decides to
use the title from Alain Chartier's poem, "La Belle Dame sans Merci."
It's an allusion to Chartier's work. His
poem features elements of medieval
romance such as knights, fairies, fair ladies and so on. Instantly by reading
the title, as a reader we are aware that this poem will include at least some
of these medieval romantic characteristics. Not only is Keats calling up these chivalric
notions, he is also making it apparent that the knight is going to die. This
may suggest that the chivalric ways are dead or dying out.
Side note, but did anyone else think that it was funny that Keats's
brother, George had a wife named Georgiana?
I enjoyed Keats' inclusion of knights, fairies, and other chivalric imagery in the (two versions) of the poems. What I found interesting was the idea that we discussed in class today about reading the poem from an ecological stand point.
ReplyDeleteTraditionally, women were viewed as being "closer to nature" since women were categorized as being more emotional and "hysterical" rather than rational. Men were considered rational and thus, further separated from nature.
In the second version of the poem, lines 21 through 24 describe the white making the woman a "garland for her head and bracelets too," and essentially shackling her. This can be symbolic of man shackling and dominating both nature and women and includes a completely different element than just discussing the death of chivalry alone. After realizing this way of reading the poem, I am able to see that there is more than one way to interpret the imagery, tone, etc. than the poem just being a commentary on the troupes of chivalry.
Maybe the French title is too set the mood in that like we discussed last class that the French were thought of as more sexualized and the mood of the title was too set the idea of a sensual nature to the poem. The poem title is also talking about the main character as without pity and by setting up a sensual title for the main character you are set up from the beginning of the poem to view her as a vicious and unpitiable character.
ReplyDeleteAlso notice the shift from "Merci" to "Mercy," which encourages you to switch between languages. Keats may have done this to put an additional meaning in "Dame," which according to the OED can mean "A female ruler, superior or head," or "the mistress of a household, a housewife"; it can also be a title "Prefixed as a title to the name of a lady or woman of rank" or "The legal title prefixed to the name and surname of the wife of a knight or baronet" (6a, b). This gives authority to the Belle Dame, and suggests her marital status--which then provokes the question of what she is doing alone in the meadows.
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