Art Song

Available Editions:

Free PDF Editions:

• La Belle Dame Sans Merci - Medium High Voice edition.pdf
• La Belle Dame Sans Merci - Medium Low Voice edition.pdf
• La Belle Dame Sans Merci - Both Medium High & Medium Low Voice.pdf

Printed Edition on Lulu.com:

La Belle Dame sans Merci
Medium High & Medium Low Voice Editions

About "La Belle Dame sans Merci"

La Belle Dame sans Merci (translated The Beautiful Lady without Mercy) is one of John Keats’ most famous poems and tells the tale of a young knight who is bewitched one springtime by a seductive faye. The knight is ‘kissed to sleep’ by the fairy, but then encounters a very troubling dream. Upon waking he finds that he is alone, spring and summer have fled away, and he is left to answer the probing questions of a passerby on the ‘lone hillside.’

The poem became a favorite subject for visual artists in the British Isles, particularly among the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. The detail above in the title of this page, for example, was painted by John William Waterhouse (you can see the full painting if you scroll to the bottom of this post).

In 1997 I had not actually read the poem before, but, inspired by the beauty of the Waterhouse painting, I purchased a print of it for my apartment. I wanted to know more about the painting, and in researching it, quickly came upon the poem by Keats. It was not long before I had a rough draft of my first song cycle (the poem having been divided into 3 seperate songs).

I originally set this for myself, but it could easily be performed by a female singer. The unique nature of the text freely allows it to be told through the eyes of the passerby who questions the knight. We are never told who this person is in the course of the poem.

Recordings:

There are no available recordings of this piece yet. Be the first and send your live recording to be posted here. I’ll be glad to link back to your singer site. Contact info is listed in all editions of the piece.

The Text:

La Belle Dame sans Merci by John Keats
The version I used for the song cycle incorporates the best parts of both of Keats’ versions of this poem. It also leaves off the last stanza (which recaps an earlier stanza) for dramatic reasons.

Oh what can ail thee, knight-at-arms,
Alone and palely loitering?
The sedge has withered from the lake,
And no birds sing.

Oh what can ail thee, knight-at-arms,
So haggard and so woe-begone?
The squirrel’s granary is full,
And the harvest’s done.

I see a lily on thy brow,
With anguish moist and fever-dew,
And on thy cheeks a fading rose
Fast withereth too.

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.

I made a garland for her head,
And bracelets too [of] fragrant zone;
She looked at me as she did love,
And made sweet moan.

I set her on my pacing steed,
And nothing else saw all day long,
For sidelong would she bend, and sing
A faery’s song.

She found me roots of relish sweet,
And honey wild, and manna-dew,
And sure in language strange she said -
‘I love thee true’.

She took me to her elfin grot,
And there she gazed and sighed deep,
And there I shut her wild sad eyes
So kissed to sleep.

There we slumbered on the moss,
And there I dreamed - Ah! woe betide! -
The latest dream I ever dreamt
On the cold hill side.

I saw pale kings and princes too,
Pale warriors, death-pale were they all;
They cried - ‘La Belle Dame sans Merci
Hath thee in thrall!’

I saw their starved lips in the gloam,
With horrid warning gaped wide,
And I awoke and found me here,
On the cold hill’s side.