John Keats, La Belle Dame Sans Merci (1819)

About the lecture

In this module, we read through John Keats’ ‘La Belle Dame Sans Merci’, focusing in particular on: (i) the idea of Keats as a ‘Romantic’ poet; (ii) the identity of the woman at the centre of the poem – is she real?; (iii) the themes of repentance and regret; and (iv) the balance between fertility (“The squirrel’s granary is full, | And the harvest’s done”) and infertility (“The sedge has withered from the lake, | And no birds sing”).

About the lecturer

John McRae is Special Professor of Language in Literature Studies and Teaching Associate in the School of English at Nottingham University, and holds Visiting Professorships in China, Malaysia, Spain and the USA. He is co-author of The Routledge History of Literature in English with Ron Carter, and also wrote The Language of Poetry, Literature with a Small 'l' and the first critical edition of Teleny by Oscar Wilde and others.