The Last Word

Here is the link to The Last Word poem. You will need acrobat reader in order to view the file as it is saved as a pdf file.

La Belle Dame sans Merci - John Keats

Here is the poem, La Belle Dame Sans Merci by John Keats. Compare the relationship of Gatsby and Daisy to that of the relationship between the Knight and the Faer Lady.

You may either attach your response as a comment to this post, or you may turn it in to me in class. Your response is due Monday, March 9th.

La Belle Dame Sans Merci - John Keats (1819)

Oh what can ail thee, knight-at-arms,
Alone and palely loitering?
The sedge has withered from the lake,
And no birds sing.

Oh what can ail thee, knight-at-arms,
So haggard and so woe-begone?
The squirrel's granary is full,
And the harvest's done.

I see a lily on thy brow,
With anguish moist and fever-dew,
And on thy cheeks a fading rose
Fast withereth too.

I met a lady in the meads,
Full beautiful - a faery's child,
Her hair was long, her foot was light,
And her eyes were wild.

I made a garland for her head,
And bracelets too, and fragrant zone;
She looked at me as she did love,
And made sweet moan.

I set her on my pacing steed,
And nothing else saw all day long,
For sidelong wold she bend, and sing
A faery's song.

She found me roots of relish sweet,
And honey wild, and manna-dew,
And sure in language strange she said -
"I love thee true".

She took me to her elfin grot,
And there she wept and sighed full sore,
And there i shut her wild eyes
With kisses four.

And there she lulled me asleep
And there i dreamed - Ah! woe betide!
The latest dream I ever dreamt
On the cold hillside.

I saw pale kings and princes too,
Pale warriors, death-pale were they all;
They cried - "La Belle Dame sans Merci
Hath thee in thrall!"

I saw their starved lips in the gloam,
With horrid warning gaped wide,
And I awoke and found me here.
On the cold hill's side.

And this is why I sojourn here
Alone and palely loitering,
Though the sedge is withered from the lake,
And no birds sing.