Comparing two ballads
A ballad is a story often set to song and here I am going to study in detail the make-up and difference between two very different ballads.
For my first poem I chose 'La Belle Dame Sans Merci', (The Beautiful Woman Without Thanks) by John Keats. Comparing to this I chose W.H. Auden's: 'MissGee'. Out of the selection I picked these two poems because of how strongly they attracted my attention; Keats' because it was so romantic and full of beauty and Auden's because of the simplistic life and pathos evoked by this unsightly woman who wished so much to be beautiful, loved or just noticed. They compare well using just this factor of beauty but I shall delve into them more to find other contrasts.
Wyston Hugh Auden was born in York, England in 1907. He moved to Birmingham where he spent his childhood. In 1928 Auden published his first book of verse and his collection of 'Poems' that established him as an up and coming leader of literature. In 1939 he moved to the U.S.A. where he met his wife.
Generally he is considered as the greatest poet of the twentieth century. He died in Vienna in 1973.
The ballad 'Miss Gee' was the most modern poem of our selection and it stood out vividly because it was so shocking and had such a stale humor and irony to it. Irony, because she had wanted to be noticed her whole life and dead she was but for the wrong reasons.
The simple tone and rhyming couplets to ensure a flowing, easy read. Set out with two couplets over four lines in each ballad stanza, 'Miss Gee' was an appealing and effortless read for a story in verse. The simple language emphasized simplicity and this and the detailed description helps keep your interest alert throughout this quite lengthy poem. The language is mainly all factual and easy to read helping also to convey how little depth to her character Miss Gee had.
The shocking ending is was very stricking because it was unexpected and the tone and pace stay the same the whole way through as if Miss Gee being mutilated was nothing worth noticing. This also emphasizes how disrespected the main character actually was. People had made a mockery of her through her whole life so why in death would it be any different?
This disrespect made me feel sad because there are many people like the old spinster Miss Gee who are lonely and need love. They live and die unimportant and unloved.
The poem is plain because the Miss Gee is plain. After she has been introduced the second stanza describes her as having a slight squint in one eye, tiny lips, sloping shoulders and no bust at all. Already we can tell that Miss Gee is not pretty and her name, Edith, is old fashioned. The story goes on to describe her life, which is very lonely and ...
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This disrespect made me feel sad because there are many people like the old spinster Miss Gee who are lonely and need love. They live and die unimportant and unloved.
The poem is plain because the Miss Gee is plain. After she has been introduced the second stanza describes her as having a slight squint in one eye, tiny lips, sloping shoulders and no bust at all. Already we can tell that Miss Gee is not pretty and her name, Edith, is old fashioned. The story goes on to describe her life, which is very lonely and boring. She has her bike and the church but she has not much else, living all alone in a small bed- sit room on only one hundred pounds a year.
One afternoon she dreamed of being the 'Queen of France' and the vicar of her church asked 'her Majesty' to dance. But even her beautiful dream was ruined; just like her self- esteem and anything she would ever dream to have.
She 'buttoned her clothes up to her neck' because the years had made her insecure and staid. The repetition of certain lines emphasizes just how monotonous her life actually was.
She turned her head away from the passing young couples because she hurt to think of what she didn't have. 'They didn't ask her to stay'. Here I feel I strong feeling of sympathy towards Miss Gee because she is so lonely.
She attended church regularly yet she sat in the side aisle as if she wasn't good enough or she maybe felt too ugly. Saying 'lead me not into temptation, but make me a good girl please...' The church is her only source of friendship, comfort. She knows she has a friend in God. Yet, here she still lacks confidence, and sitting in the periphery shows that even in church she feels like she doesn't fit in. Miss Gee is a 'good girl' but I think she thinks that if she is 'good' she will maybe fit in. She says 'lead me not into temptation' because she feels guilt for not being thankful for who she is and for wishing someone like the vicar would love her.
When she got sick the doctor commented that 'cancer is a funny thing, childless women get it and men when they retire, and it's as if there had to be some outlet for their foiled creative fire.' He meant that it was as if people who had not fulfilled what they wanted or they had an inability to do so, got cancer.
Miss Gee died and the teacher took her to be examined by students who laughed disrespectfully at her. Constantly she was an outsider, unusual, yet even in death she was not given any respect. Then they shipped her off to the anatomy department where they hung her up and 'carefully dissected her knee'. This demeaning tone is shocking and so very sad. It sums up Miss Gee's whole life.
English romantic poet John Keats was born on October 31st 1795 in London. He lost both parents at an early age and became an apprentice at fifteen with his guardian at his surgery. He became professional in the field but chose to write poetry.
He wrote his best poetry between 1818 and 1819 after falling in love. He died of tuberculosis, the romantic disease, in the autumn of 1856.
'La Belle Dame Sans Merci' is a very beautiful, magical and captivating poem. It is very mysterious and leaves the reader feeling a little bemused. I had to read this ballad several times before understanding fully what it was about but I think this is only because of the more complex language used. The rhythm is slightly abrupt in places and I think the whole romanticism of this poem would put some readers off. This is a exceptionally beautiful story, very much a fairy tale and is surprisingly simple once the language is mastered.
Using many comparisons to nature, the poet strongly emphasizes the wildness of the setting to help back up how wild and naturally beautiful this enchanting woman is.
Beginning with a question and a good one too, this captures attention to the poem easily. Why is the Knight loitering around such a desolate and probably wintered place? And the question is then repeated as if the Knight is in a trance. With a pale face, wrinkles on his brow and a sweat of 'fever dew' he begins to explain in the fourth measure, his story of how he came to be here...
He met a wild, very beautiful, mystifying woman who, with her 'faery'-like charm wooed him under her spell. She cried and he comforted her. Why was she crying? She then allured him into a dream where he saw many people all pale crying out with large starving mouths in the twilight; 'La Belle Dame Sans Merci hath thee in thrall!' The knight woke sitting on 'the cold hill's side' never sleeping, lost in his love for that appealing, beautiful woman who captured him.
There are three stages of tone in this poem: the first, curious and cold, while the second is full of life, beauty and love. In the third section the knight telling the story is quickly brought back to the coldness and death of the hillside where he is cursed to roam.
The mystery of this tale helps to captivate the audience and the typical saga of love not being appreciated is something people can strongly relate to making this poem a success!
In La Belle Dame even the romantic French title illustrates beauty whereas Miss Gee is the obvious title for a poem about a very dull person like Miss Gee.
La Belle Dame is a very abstract poem using nature and fairy tale to describe love and heartache. Miss Gee uses unpretentious language and very concrete facts. There is little imagination towards it but this is perfect for conveying such a faint character as Edith Gee.
The story of La Belle Dame is about a beautiful woman who captures 'warriors and princesses' with her undying beauty. Unfortunately 'Miss Gee' is the complete opposite- certainly not beautiful and not charming anyone, not even a friend. She would appreciate someone who would be interested in her but the beautiful woman only uses the people who fall for her. The fact that the students who cut up and laugh at Miss Gee are men compares well to the next poem where the woman has power over the men.
The beautiful woman feels no guilt almost making her evil, soul less but Miss Gee even feels guilt for her dreams. This really shows that beauty is only skin deep and Miss Gee never got the chance or had the confidence to prove this... Yet through La Belle anyone that got to know her and were captured by her beauty then realized that she was not all she appeared to be- 'La Belle Dame Sans Merci hath thee in thrall!'
Both poems take in the issue of loneliness- the brave Knight who can only blame his gullible self and the forlorn Miss Edith who wants so badly to have companionship. Both ballads don't have happy endings- Miss Gee's unfortunate death with her body being used for gawking students and the Knight who was left 'palely loitering'.
Overall I preferred 'La Belle Dame Sans Merci' because it is an enchanting story leaving you wondering what happened to the Knight because most fairy tales have a happy ending. The person at the start who asked the question might have helped him escape and the Knight said; 'that is why I sojourn here'. Sojourn means 'to stay temporarily', which means that maybe the Knight was expecting to break the curse. Being a stereotypical fairytale Knight this 'escape' would be probable.
'Miss Gee' was sad and deplorable yet it was somewhat realistic- not all lives have a happy ending.
Paula McKee
4 Lisbreen
April 2001