SansMerci

= DIRECTIONS: = == Here are the questions generated by the whole class. I have reordered them into some kind of classification (sensible ones I hope). Let's try to answer these questions collaboratively by putting our responses to the questions below (responses include answers, opinions, feelings, interpretations, questions about the questions, extensions...). Let's decide as a class if we want to put our names next to our responses: WHAT DO YOU THINK? ==


 * 1) What has the title got to do with the poem? Lady without thanks/mercy?  ﻿ ﻿The poem is about a knight who was in love with a lady and the lady was merciless towards him and after loving him, she threw him to one side and left him with scars. Thus, the tile lady without mercy seems to be describing the character of the lady.
 * 2) Why "without thanks""?
 * 3) Is there another meaning to the poem than just being a love story?
 * 4) What exactly is the story?
 * 5) Is there a hidden meaning in the poem?
 * 6) Is this poem talking about how deadly love at first sight can be?!?!
 * 7) Does the poem signify love or cruelty of beauty in general or just stating the story?
 * 8) Is the poem all about love and only about love?
 * 9) What is the intention of the poet in writing this poem?
 * 10) Is love really that self destructive?or they purposely dramatize one?


 * 1) Who is this lady mentioned in the poem?
 * 2) Who is the lady? How did she break his heart? What is the connection of the dream and the lady?
 * 3) Is the lady dead in the end?or captured by others?
 * 4) How is the author [speaker?] related to the lady?
 * 5) How is this lady related to him?
 * 6) Did the lady do something to the pale people (kings, princes etc)?
 * 7) (How) Is the woman related to the warriors?
 * 8) Is that lady a witch?
 * 9) Is the knight self-deluded?
 * 10) Where did the woman go?
 * 11) Was the poet imprisoned by the lady in the end?
 * 12) Whey did the lady suddenly tell the author she love him?
 * 13) "this is why I sojourn here..." to find the lady (in his dream?!?!)
 * 14) Why did the speaker want to travel to such a place where sedge is wither'd and no birds sing? He couldn't have found the lady here...
 * 15) Is this supposed to describe how deep the love this man have or how pathetic he is?
 * 16) Is the poet supposed to be a knight? Or is he just describing himself to be like a knight?


 * 1) Is the lady just a figment of imagination?
 * 2) What is the meaning behind the dream?
 * 3) Is the whole poem actually just a dream?like a dream within a dream?
 * 4) Is the lady representative of anything, like betrayal? (theme)
 * 5) Is the woman in the dreams?
 * 6) Is his encounter with the lady a dream?
 * 7) The poem feels strangely surreal...but I can't grasp which part of it.
 * 8) Did all these happen in his dream? O__O fantasizing in his dream >\\\\\
 * 9) Is the author a ghost?
 * 10) Purpose of the dream?


 * 1) Why did the author choose to write this poem based on the lady?
 * 2) How does the author feel? Towards the lady
 * 3) How did the author [poet?] describe the lady?
 * 4) A fairy-like lady...why did the author choose to describe her in such a way?
 * 5) Why did the poet choose to make that guy sound so vulnerable?
 * 6) How does the knight in the poem feel about the lady?
 * 7) What happened to the other guys?


 * 1) Why did the poet choose to repeat the first stanza?
 * 2) What are the literal devices the poet uses?
 * 3) What are the symbols used in the poem?
 * 4) What is the mood of the poem?
 * 5) What is the atmosphere of the poem?
 * 6) What is the setting that the author uses French, old English and English in the poem?
 * 7) Why do the warriors cry La Belle Dame sans Merci?
 * 8) Is the poem a metaphor or can it be interpreted literally?
 * 9) What is the context to this poem?


 * 1) Why did he choose to mix the two languages?
 * 2) Why is the poem in Old English?
 * 3) Why is old English (thy, thee, etc) only used by the 'asker'?
 * 4) Why is the title in French instead of English?


 * 1) Why is "on the cold hill's side" repeated before and after the dream?
 * 2) Why the reference to "pale kings and princes"?
 * 3) Why did the author too describe himself as "alone and palely loitering"?
 * 4) Why are flowers used to describe the 'knight-at-arms's face in stanza three?
 * 5) Why were so many descriptions related to flowers?


 * 1) What is knight-at-arms?
 * 2) Why did the author use a "knight" as the main voice?
 * 3) Is there a narrator or someone else included? (stanza 1 and 2)
 * 4) Who is it that asked/said the first 3 stanzas? How would she or he react to the later part of the poem?
 * 5) Is there a reason why the first and last stanza are almost identical?
 * 6) Why does the author begin and end with the same stanza?
 * 7) Why is there an apostrophe mark at the beginning of each stanza?
 * 8) Why does the poet use full dialogue?
 * 9) Why are the stanzas inside apostrophe marks?
 * 10) Why did the poet choose to have few references towards "prince-like myths and fairytales"? How does the repetitive structure of the poem enhance the mood?
 * 11) Is this supposed to be romance-horror? Or romance-fiction?
 * 12) Is this the French version of a common fairytale?Why does the dominance change from the knight to the lady? (I did this --> she did that)


 * 1) How would you do a picture/painting of the poem?

=
﻿I really like this question for extrapolation! Instinctively, I might imagine a painting in the traditional medieval style (2-dimensional, wood panels) of an idyllic pastoral setting with a stately-looking horse grazing, a handsome knight armour, slumped in despair, the setting rich and abundant. But from some of your questions, I re-imagine it in Dali style -- psychological, surreal -- a young man appearing small, helpless and confused, searching for this illusive woman... =====




 * 1) Reply to atmosphere of poem: first 3 para is abt An unidentified passerby asks the knight what is wrong
 * 2) John Keats wrote this poem when he was engaged to his love and he got tuberculosis o.o
 * 3) Keats took the title from a poem by the medieval poet, Alain Cartier. It means, the beautiful woman without mercy.
 * 4) He is self-deluded and can't see all the obvious warnings ._.
 * 5) A weak man in love!!!!! Hahahahahahahahaha