La Belle Dame Sans Merci

"La Belle Dame Sans Merci"

John William Waterhouse was born in 1849 and died in 1917. He was an English painter, his style was Pre-Raphaelite their intention was to reform art by rejecting what is considered the mechanistic approach first adopts by mannerist artist.

The painter reached what the poem wants to communicate as he painted the girl as a continuation of the nature and  grab the soldier so he stay with her in that world. In my opinion the poem is well described in the painting as he painted the girl with a long and beautiful hair, with a light foot and her eyes were wild that attract the Knight. Also the place where this is happening, this is set in a forest and is related with the characterist of the girl, the grass in a way continues in the dress as the paintor uses similar colours to show that she belongs to that place.Furthermore is important to mention how the knight is distracted from may be the quest he was told to do.

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"La belle dame sans merci" by Henry Maynell Rheam in 1901.

This painting is similar from one Waterhouse have painted because this is set in a forest and it well represet the meaning of the poem that wrote John Keats. At the same time is different because in the painting of Rheam the girl is approaching the Knight, who is sleeping or is dead, but also the girl have similar colours of the nature and she have a flower crown. In my opinion the painting by Rheam is more convincing because the paintor uses fog that represent mistery or the darkness that the poet J.Keats created. 

Rhythm of "La belle dame sans merci"

The rhythm presented in "la belle dame sans merci" is generally iambic tetrameter like the classical poetic ballad