La+Belle+Dame+Sans+Merci

[|La Belle Dame Sans Merci]
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 lilly 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, and fragrant Zone: She look'd 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 wept and sighed full sore And there I shut her wild wild eyes With kisses four.

And there she lulled me asleep And there I dream'd - 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 Thee hath in thrall.'

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

And this is why I sojourn here Alone and palely loitering; Though the sedge is wither'd from the Lake, And no birds sing -

Structural Information
http://everything2.com/title/elegiac http://everything2.com/title/dialogue http://everything2.com/title/fairy%2520tale

Additional Resources
http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english/melani/cs6/belle.html http://www.answers.com/topic/la-belle-dame-sans-merci-a-ballad http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Belle_Dame_sans_Merci http://www.pathguy.com/lbdsm.htm