La Belle Dame sans merci.. and hi!

hi all, iv finally gotten around to joining this forum rather then just looking in on everybody's conversation. i really been helped by what a lot of you have had to say about certain poems etc, so thanks... i hope maybe now i can do the same for some of you.

well, back to the poetry, iv been given an assignment on "La Belle Dame Sans Merci" by keats (actually i chose that poem myself out of a selection) i find it a beautiful poem to read but when i start looking at it critically it just doesnt seem right!

anyway i would really value anybody's opinions on what its all about. i have to summerise it but their is so many different directions. does anybody know much about this poem.. anything and everything would be greatly appreciated.
thanks again.

For future reference, when you ask for help, it would be a good idea to post the poem or at least a link to it so that people wouldn't have to go around looking for it themselves.

You might find this sight helpful regarding La Belle:

http://www.pathguy.com/lbdsm.htm


Good luck.

thanks ill remember that next time...

and thanks for the website it was helpfull to get some more context etc..

Quote:

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Originally Posted by peace

i find it a beautiful poem to read but when i start looking at it critically it just doesnt seem right.

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Hello - glad you decided to join.

What is it you think do not seem right? The way it is written or the story?

In my country there are alot of fairytales like this poem. They are usually about young men or women seduced by mountain folk - fairies or trolls- they become "bergstagna" (mountain-taken) and lives in the mountain caves oblivious to the time that passes. They are spellbound and think they live in golden splendor and that their love is beautiful , but in reality the cave is dark and cold, and sometimes the beloved one is actually a monster. In the stories they usually come back decades later - sometimes with a piece of their soul missing, or just longing to go back, haunted by dreams. The two sides of these tales - the horror and the life lost while they are away, and the wonderful illusion they have been living in and do not want to give up, has been used as a metaphor for drugaddiction or psychosis.

Still no link to the poem and as I haven't read it I checked if it's probably in 'our' archive... yeah, so here it is for people like me who haven't read it :)
http://www.online-literature.com/keats/474/
Gonna read and see what it's all about... and what actually was the question about, being slow today.
*edit*
imho to what it's all about:
might have been a dream the guy had
might have been a prophecy revealed to him (depends on what time you 'see' the poem happening in time). And I don't really mean prophecy in the sense of a warning to the reader but to the man it happened to. It's probably just me, but I can't see any 'hidden' things in this poem. Not saying it's not good though.
Hi peace and welcome :wave:... sounds funny :p

You can find the poem at the link I posted earlier...

Ahem, true. Am I blind or what? I think I was too busy looking at the horses and forgot to look for the poem itself, lol.

Horses make the landscape more beautiful

:santasmil :santasmil :santasmil :santasmil

On yeah, indeed, BSturdy! :D

Horses?? Where are the horses?? :p

here: http://www.pathguy.com/lbdsm.htm
:angel:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jay

here: http://www.pathguy.com/lbdsm.htm
:angel:

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Hey, that's my link! :D

Oh really? Which one? Oh you mean this one?
http://www.pathguy.com/lbdsm.htm
:p

Now, now! Everyone should get their own link! :D

LOL IRL!

What does IRL stands for? That one's new...
hehe *grins like a madman*