Comparasons to Two Poems
Compare and Contrast ‘Thomas the Rhymer’ (1206) and ‘La belle dames sans merci’ (1819). Do you think Keats was influenced by the ballad?
There are a several similarities and differences between ‘Thomas and the Rhymer’ and ‘La belle dame sans merci’. In the ballad, ‘Thomas the Rhymer’, Thomas is received a warning before being whisked away to a mystical land by the desire of the Queen of Efland, but it is not all it seems. ‘La belle dame sans merci’ depicts a knight-at-arms who has been seduced and abandoned by a capricious fairy. The similarities of which are being covered include: the seductive women, supernatural and witchcraft, the location depicted in both poems before the abduction, structure /layout, punishment and travels to imaginary areas in the ballads. The differences in the two ballads are: the characters situation before the abduction, the cautions received, the affairs, the come backs, the sightings seen by the men and the person who tells the poem.
Primarily, an obvious similarity between the two ballads is the seductive women who seduce their victims by persuasion. These women use their actions as well as appearance to charm there victim. For example, the quote “And on thy cheeks a fading rose” depicts the attractiveness of the women’s cheeks in ‘La belle dame sans merci’. In Stanzas one to four, John Keats elaborates on the knight's physical appearance and mental state, which are associated with nature. Keats describes her as a “Faery’s child”. “All hail, thou mighty Queen of Heaven”, this quote illustrates how Thomas describes her as a Queen because of her beauty.
This links to the next similarity, the ballads are most alike because of the supernatural/witchcraft used by the women. In the poems, ‘La belle dame sans merci’ and ‘Thomas the Rhymer’ the men fall in love quiet quickly and are lured into the unknowing; it as though they have been bewitched by the women; thought Thomas does now of what is to come but he is not as wise. There is
There are a several similarities and differences between ‘Thomas and the Rhymer’ and ‘La belle dame sans merci’. In the ballad, ‘Thomas the Rhymer’, Thomas is received a warning before being whisked away to a mystical land by the desire of the Queen of Efland, but it is not all it seems. ‘La belle dame sans merci’ depicts a knight-at-arms who has been seduced and abandoned by a capricious fairy. The similarities of which are being covered include: the seductive women, supernatural and witchcraft, the location depicted in both poems before the abduction, structure /layout, punishment and travels to imaginary areas in the ballads. The differences in the two ballads are: the characters situation before the abduction, the cautions received, the affairs, the come backs, the sightings seen by the men and the person who tells the poem.
Primarily, an obvious similarity between the two ballads is the seductive women who seduce their victims by persuasion. These women use their actions as well as appearance to charm there victim. For example, the quote “And on thy cheeks a fading rose” depicts the attractiveness of the women’s cheeks in ‘La belle dame sans merci’. In Stanzas one to four, John Keats elaborates on the knight's physical appearance and mental state, which are associated with nature. Keats describes her as a “Faery’s child”. “All hail, thou mighty Queen of Heaven”, this quote illustrates how Thomas describes her as a Queen because of her beauty.
This links to the next similarity, the ballads are most alike because of the supernatural/witchcraft used by the women. In the poems, ‘La belle dame sans merci’ and ‘Thomas the Rhymer’ the men fall in love quiet quickly and are lured into the unknowing; it as though they have been bewitched by the women; thought Thomas does now of what is to come but he is not as wise. There is