Compare 'La Belle Dame Sans Merci' and 'To Autumn' by John Keats. Write about the verse from, ideas, structure and language of the poems which do you prefer and why?

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GCSE Literacy and Language Coursework

Compare ‘La Belle Dame Sans Merci’ and ‘To Autumn’ by John Keats.  Write about the verse from, ideas, structure and language of the poems which do you prefer and why?

La Belle Dame Sans Merci is a ballad by John Keats.  It was written in the early 19th century.

        Ballads were intended to tell a story.  Traditional ballads were meant to be sung or recited.  Literary ballads are composed to be written and read.  They usually have short verses and use rhyme and repetition, to enable the listeners to remember what is happening.  The word ‘ballad’ comes from the old French word meaning a song to accompany a dance.  The story usually has simple-action, clear and direct.  Literary ballads like ‘La Belle Dame Sans Merci’ are difficult and more complex.  John Keats uses richer imagery, more detail and the poem is open to interpretation.

        La Belle Dame Sans Merci is about a knight.  An unknown speaker wants to know what is the matter with him.  This is supposed to arouse suspicion.  At the start he is near a lake that is bleak and desolate.

          “The sedge has wither’d from the lake.”    

The knight is “Haggard,” and is miserable.  His forehead is moist:

        “And on thy cheeks a fading rose.”

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These are all symptoms of tuberculosis from which Keats himself was dying.  

        The knight then tells his story of how he met a “faery’s child,” and they fall in love.  The word faery gives you the image that there is something mysterious and magical about her.  He makes her garlands and bracelets and she:

        “Made sweet moan.”

The “faery’s child” gave the knight presents of relish and honey.  In a strange language she told the knight:

        “I love thee true!”

The strange language could be the faery’s language; this gives us the impression of ...

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