How love is presented in Sonnet 116 and La Belle Dame Sans Merci.

LANGUAGE FORM STRUCTURE

Is there anything similar in the two poems?

Love is to some extent painful.

Both have a tight and regular structure and form.

(ballad, sonnet) Describe.
The poets chose these forms because……..

For Shakespeare, love is presented as something……………….

The love in La Belle Dame is more……………….

Both poets use extended imagery…..

Love is destructive in

The power of love is seen in both poems. (Language)

The knight in La Belle Dame is clearly obsessed with the lady. (Language)

Love is mysterious in La Belle Dame ........

Whereas in Shakespeare it is something very clear:

Both Sonnet 116 and La Belle Sans Merci deal with love. At first it looks like they both describe
similar experiences but they actually address it in two different ways.

The way how the authors narrate these two poems are similar but the context of getting to know
these experiences is different. Sonnet 116 is written in first person and the speaker shares their
experiences of love with the reader, conveying every little detail and feeling they have lived
through. In John Keats’ poem which is written in the first person too, the narrator heard the story
from a knight, which creates a little barrier between his painful love experience, narrator and the
knight himself. Speaker doesn’t really know how they felt in love and can’t describe the knight's
feelings more deeply.

Even though it doesn’t look like it, the structure in these poems are briefly similar and contrast in
other ways. Sonnets almost always implement the themes of love, romance and desire. Sonnet
116 has Shakespeare’s structure that he used to write the majority of his sonnets. The structure
of his poems is easy to recognise, the poem has 14 lines, the rhythm used is iambic pentameter,
and the rhyme scheme is ‘ababcdcdefefgg’. On the other hand
La Belle is rather common. It is grouped in 12 stanzas, 4 lines each with ‘abcb’ rhyme scheme. It
adds a little rhythm to the poem which might represent a slow and romantic flow of love
relationships.

For Shakespeare, love is presented as something special and eternal. The writer emphasises that
love remains an "ever-fixed mark" even when faced with challenges, stating that true love doesn't
change when it encounters difficulties. Shakespeare portrays love as a guiding star that endures,
"love is not love which alters when it alteration finds." In this verse he shows that genuine love is
a steady and unwavering force in our lives.

The love in La Belle Dame is more mysterious when compared to the love described in Sonnet
116. Keats' ballad paints a portrait of love as captivating but eventually brief, in contrast to
Shakespeare's love as a constant and unchanging force. The lines "She looked at me as she did
love, And made sweet moan" illustrate how the title character in La Belle Dame Sans Merci
represents a love that is unattainable. The fragile and seductive character of her love, which
could lure and trap but finally leaves the knight alone, is captured in these words. Lines like "And
there she wept and sighed full sore," which emphasise the intense feelings and suffering caused
by the temporary and occasionally dangerous nature of love, are used to vividly express the
knight's dilemma in the poem. Shakespeare praises love's constancy while Keats depicts its
short-term and, at times, destructive attraction.

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Both poets use extended imagery to show the knight’s love.In ‘La Belle Dame sans Merci’ the
writer uses a flower imagery where it suggests the relation between love and life. The knight
makes a crown of flowers for her head, bracelets and a belt of flowers. Meanwhile in ‘Sonnet 116’
the writer uses imagery where the writer constructs the mental picture of love as a star leading
all of us through life.In the lines "an ever-fixed mark" introduces this extended metaphor of love
as a star.

Love is destructive in Sonnet 116.In Sonnet 116 Shakespeare falling in love can have painful
emotional and physical consequences.In the lines “Let me no to the marriage of true minds” uses
the word “me” as a way to describe or tell to the readers that love had damaged him
(emotionally) and doesn’t find a reason for falling in love again.Whereas in ‘La Belle Dame sans
Merci’ love,in this case the knight,is an obsession were the knight can’t be alone without that lady
next to him but also shows some suffering from the knight.In the lines “I saw their starved(who
are they????) lips in the gloam,With horrid warning gaped wide,And I awoke and found me
here,On the cold hill’s side”,this is some clear image of suffering were the lady left the knight
alone and the knight feels devastated.

The power of love is seen in both poems,but its represented in different ways.In Sonnet 116 the
writer(William Shakespeare) love is presented as a “Admit impediments;love is not love”, here the
writer finds no reason of why two people should not love each other,but at the same time the
writer thinks love should be forever,”But bears it out of even to the edge of doom”,here the writer
shows that the only thing that can separate true love is death.Meanwhile in La Belle Dame sans
Merci, the writer has a complete different opinion about love,in this text the writer presents love
as an,illness,impossible love.In the lines ”And there she lulled me asleep”, the writer shows the
ambitious from the knight,as a sort of spell which the knight can’t escape because he is in love
with that woman.

The knight in La Belle Dame is clearly obsessed with the lady with the use of very obsessive and
ambiguous language.In the lines ”She looked at me as she did love”, this ambitious use of
language makes an idea to the reader how obsessed is the knight with his loving and how he
shows his love to the reader.”And there she lullèd me asleep”,this is an example of ambiguity
were the knight might be under a spell or he is too comfortable being with the princess.

In "La Belle Dame sans Merci," the theme of love is shrouded in mystery, with various
interpretations and elements. Love is portrayed sas, an 'impossible love,' showcasing the
challenges and complexities of romantic relationships. Additionally, the poem explores the
'power of love,' illustrating how love can captivate and capture individuals. Moreover, it digs into
the 'danger of love,' suggesting that love can be both enchanting and perilous. The poet engages
ambiguous language throughout, leaving readers wondering about the knight's true feelings
towards the lady. This contrasts with Shakespeare's approach, where love is presented more
straight forward. Shakespeare portrays love as foolish but underscores that true love should
endure forever, as seen in the line, "Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks," emphasising
the idea that love should not disappear over time.

Lev Adam