Section B · Anthology PoetryJohn Keats · Pre-1900 (1819)
La Belle Dame Sans Merci
John Keats · Edexcel IGCSE anthology poem · 30-mark comparison question · Poems provided in the exam.
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Mrs Rumsey · Edexcel IGCSE AnthologyAnalysis of La Belle Dame Sans Merci
Key analysis
⚡ Section B — 30-mark comparison: AO2 (analyse language, form, structure) + AO3 (compare two poems throughout — not one then the other). Both poems are given in the exam. Quote precisely and explain the effect of specific word choices.
Themes
The supernatural and the uncanny
Seduction and destruction
Love as enthralment and loss
The medieval and Romantic traditions
Gender: the femme fatale
Form & Structure
Ballad form — traditional, medieval, oral storytelling tradition
12 stanzas of quatrains — regular until the knight's world is shattered
The final stanza mirrors the first — circular structure trapping the knight
Sparse, simple language — makes the supernatural more unnerving than elaborate description
The Lady never speaks directly to the reader — her words are filtered through the knight
Key quotes to memorise
"I met a Lady in the Meads / Full beautiful — a faery's child" — idealised, immediately supernatural
"She looked at me as she did love / And made sweet moan" — ambiguous, passive, unknowable
"I saw pale kings and princes too / Pale warriors, death-pale were they all" — the dream of victims
"And this is why I sojourn here / Alone and palely loitering" — the knight trapped in hopeless waiting
"La Belle Dame sans Merci / Hath thee in thrall!" — the other victims' warning
Exam questions — 2 questions · 17 marks
1 markCircular structure
What is the effect of the final stanza mirroring the first?
A It shows the knight has recovered and returned to where he started
B The circular structure traps the knight — and the reader — in endless repetition, suggesting he will never escape. The Lady has enslaved him permanently.
C Keats ran out of ideas and repeated himself
D The repetition signals the poem is meant to be sung in a loop
15 marksComparison paragraphSection B style
Write two comparative paragraphs exploring how La Belle Dame Sans Merci and My Last Duchess both present relationships in which one party controls and ultimately destroys another.
Hint: Compare throughout. Cover: who holds power in each poem + how form reflects the power relationship + language choices + key difference in whose agency is being explored.