He is tired and exhausted. We can also prove this by the pace of the poem it is very slow. This is the Plot to the ballad where it starts with a steady pace and suddenly livens at a fast tempo.
For example when he meets the lady the poem livens up all of sudden. He quotes I met a lady in the meads Full beautiful—a faery’s child,
Her hair was long, her foot was light.
The poem has livened dramatically we can see this because the knight is almost out of breath. As shown by the commas between each phrase.
This is due to the fact that at the opening of the poem he is tired and out of energy. But when he sees this beautiful lady he regains his physical strength.
The knight was ill because he had never fallen in love before. It gives you the thought that he was going to die if he didn’t find a woman. He also mentions love as an illness that will never go away.
In the opening stanzas Keats has used repetition ("O, what can ail thee, knight-at-arms"). He has used this because he wants the reader to know and understand that he cares for the night and feels sorrow. By this he is indicating that he is kind hearted.
At the time Keats wrote the poem he was suffering from tuberculosis and I think he used these phrases and this poem to indicate the pain he was going through but in a different fashion.
In the fourth stanza the knight meats a beautiful women. He quotes that she was a “faery’s child”. This shows that he thought of her as a supernatural being. Someone of who was out of this world she was perfect.
He felt that he was being rescued by this woman as she was supernatural.
a faery’s child is also known as someone who has been gifted with energy and charm but has many meanings.
Then he goes on to claim that her “eyes where wild”. She was sexually active and had no boundaries. This links with porphyries lover porphyria had crossed the limits and lost her purity.
This verse relates with the next stanza. The belle dame is wild she is almost like an animal he has to control her by tying her up.
“I made a garland for her head, And bracelets too.”
He is trying to be dominant over her but has fallen too deeply in her love.
This is different to my last duchess where the female character is obsessed with life whereas in this case the woman is making the most of what the male offers her.
The night is in love with the women and he is her entertainer.
He claims possession of her. By stating “I set her on my pacing steed’.
This is similar to the other three poems the male is the entertainer in order to win his partners love.
The poet has used personal pronouns in the last three stanzas such as I met I set and I made indicating he is dominant.
The knight is lead to the cave by belle dame where sexual activities are taking place.
The knight is lulled to sleep by her but he can’t go to sleep after having it with her.
The woman is almost shown like a female vampire she has used her body and sex to drain the life out of him.
The narrator is letting this happen to him as if he was chained and couldn’t do anything about it.
The night in a vision or dream had seen pale kings and warriors. Who had previously had sex with her.
They cried—“La Belle Dame sans Merci Hath thee in thrall!”
This woman takes advantage of the male who are pale tired and require love as was the knight. He has fallen in her trap.
The knight has found himself to where he was at the beginning on the cold hill side.
And for him he remains there. “And this is why I sojourn here.” I think he could be signifying that he has always made silly mistakes by being attracted by women.
And deeply falling in love that is the reason for him being there at the start of the poem.
This ballad demonstrates that men in the Victorian times where very narrow minded. Like the duke they would make love with a beautiful women and not know there innersoles.
But the knight in this poem was very warm hearted compared to his wife who was in control.
The knight had too deeply fallen in love with her. She had her own collection just like the duke who collected women. She had previously made love with kings and princes. Which the knight was obviously not this also indicated that love would not last.
He was her entertainer but was not strong enough to be dominant throughout the poem. He had attempted by using personal pronouns but failed as love was too strong.
I think that Keats had a passion for young women but covered it from the rest of society. He said that he felt awkward in the presence of a young woman. But In this poem the woman was a goddess of who are young and hansom.
This poem also illustrates that women could be dominant and be in control.
John Keats has shown love as a illness that every man needed to live.
