The Beautiful Woman Without Mercy

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.

La Belle Dame Sans Merci
John Keats, 1819

The life mask of John Keats. Everyone should have one of these done.



I was thinking of John Keats after having a discussion about him with a friend in a bar on St. Patrick's Day. St. Patrick's led to Ireland led to Scotland led to suffering led to Keats-and all this leads to my affection for Pre-Raphaelite artists who loved the inspiration of Keats. I came home and re-read Keats' La Belle Dame Sans Merci. It is late autumn, the location is England in the age of Chivalry, and a lovesick knight tells the story of a beautiful Faery's child he encounters. They cavort in a meadow, she lures him to sleep, then abandons him, leaving him forever doomed to remain on the hillside wishing for her return. Poor Knight is definitely associated with images of death, especially the lily on his forehead...I don't think there is much question that he represents the ailing poet. The question is this: is the Woman without Mercy, death herself, symbolic of the tuberculosis that Keats knew was draining the life from him when he wrote this poem, or is she the beloved friend, Fanny Brawne, his true love whom he broke his engagement with after learning of his disease, or maybe she is his conflicting other love, the witty Isabella Jones whom he met on holiday. Keats died less than two years after writing La Belle Dame, racked with tuberculosis which he caught while nursing his most beloved brother. He lived a short life, was penniless at his death, but the man knew love. I think La Dame may not be any of those named above, but love herself, lacking the mercy to go with him.

Here she is, "the large and in charge" version as represented by Frank Cowper- putting that hair back up after putting young Knight to sleep with her charms. I love the combination of the poppies and sleep. Sort of like Wizard of Oz... Tin-Man asleep in the poppy field.

The polite, "let's hold hands and then we'll take a long nap" Walter Crane version. Walter keeps it clean.. he was mainly a children's illustrator.

Whoa Nelly....The Frank Dicksee interpretation with a holding back, less willing Knight. "She put me under a spell and I had nothing to do with any of it"

The master, Waterhouse, demonstrating a little Avatar inspired "Haloing" with the hair. Waterhouse always gets it right.. and his knights are the best. Look at the bare (light) feet, the wild eyes, the faded purple in the dress, the Knights clenched fist, and look who's wearing her heart on her sleeve.