La Belle Dame Sans Merci (Edexcel GCSE English Literature)

Each GCSE poetry anthology contains 15 poems, and in your exam question you will be given one poem – printed in full – and asked to compare this printed poem to another. The exam is closed-book, which means you will not have access to the second poem. This does not mean you need to remember every line from memory, but you do need to understand and remember aspects of the poem. Understanding four things will enable you to produce a top-grade response:

• The meaning of the poem
• The ideas and messages of the poet 
• How the poet conveys these ideas through their methods
• How these ideas compare and contrast with the ideas of other poets in the anthology

Below is a guide to John Keats's poem 'La Belle Dame sans Merci', from the Relationships anthology. It includes:

• Overview: a breakdown of the poem, including its possible meanings and interpretations
• Writer’s methods: an exploration of the poet’s techniques and methods
• Context: an exploration of the context of the poem, relevant to its themes
• What to compare it to: ideas about which poems to compare it to in the exam

In order to answer an essay question on any poem it is vital that you understand what it is about. This section includes:

• The poem in a nutshell
• A “translation” of the poem, section-by-section
• A commentary of each of these sections, outlining John Keats's intention and message

'La Belle Dame sans Merci' in a nutshell

'La Belle Dame sans Merci', written by the poet John Keats, has been described as a romantic ballad. It describes a dying knight who becomes enthralled with a beautiful and comforting fairy woman. It can also be considered an elegy due to its focus on death. 

'La Belle Dame sans Merci' breakdown

Lines 1–4

“O what can ail thee, knight-at-arms,

Alone and palely loitering? 

The sedge has withered from the lake, 

And no birds sing.”

Translation

• A voice addresses a knight (he is in battle armour) and asks what ails him (what is wrong)
• The voice observes he is pale and seems to be waiting for something (“loitering”)
• The voice notices he is alone (not even birds sing) and the bushes are dying (“withered”)

Keats's intention

• The poem introduces a conversation between a speaker and a knight
• The speaker inquires as to the knight’s welfare as he appears to be ill
• Keats sets the scene in a rural location typical of romantic poetry
• However, here, the “sedge” is dying, introducing darker themes

Lines 4–8

“O what can ail thee, knight-at-arms, 

So haggard and so woe-begone? 

The squirrel’s granary is full, 

And the harvest’s done.”

Translation

• The speaker asks the knight again what is wrong with him, implying the knight is silent
• The speaker describes the knight as sad (“woe-begone”) and wearied (“haggard”)
• The speaker appears to encourage the knight to leave as winter is coming:
• The harvest is over and the squirrels have collected their nuts

Keats's intention

• Keats repeats the speaker’s question to draw attention to the knight’s weakened condition
• This is reflected in imagery describing the closing in of winter, perhaps signalling death

Lines 9–12

“I see a lily on thy brow, 

With anguish moist and fever-dew, 

And on thy cheeks a fading rose 

Fast withereth too.”

Translation

• The speaker describes a “lily” on the knight’s brow:
• This may signify the man is lying in a field of white flowers
• The lily, though, could allude to the knight’s pale forehead and his illness
• The knight is very sick and feverish: 
• His face shows “anguish” (severe pain) and is sweaty (“fever-dew”) 
• The colour in his cheeks is fading (implied by a “fading rose”)

Keats's intention

• Keats uses Natural imagery typical of a romantic ballad to present the knight as feverish from pain, perhaps close to death
• Keats uses a semantic field connoting death: “fading”, “withereth”

Line 13–16

“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.” 

Translation

• The knight replies to the speaker and says he met a beautiful lady in the fields (“meads”)
• However, he describes her as very beautiful and magical (a “faery’s child”):
• The knight refers to her wild and graceful movements, implying the lady lives amongst nature

Keats's intention

• Keats introduces the knight’s passion for the lady:
• Keats's knight is stirred by the memory of the mysterious and beautiful lady he has seen

Lines 17–20

“I made a garland for her head, 

And bracelets too, and fragrant zone; 

She looked at me as she did love, 

And made sweet moan.”

Translation

• The knight relates the romantic moments they spent together in the fields:
• They made bracelets and headdresses (garlands) out of flowers
• Their time was intimate: she looked at him and “made sweet moan”

Keats's intention

• Here, the romantic ballad describes, conventionally, an intimate love between two people
• This is made more romantic by the natural setting and sensory imagery, such as the “fragrant” flowers” and sounds of sweet moaning

Lines 21–24

“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.” 

Translation

• The knight took the lady riding on his fast horse (“pacing steed”)
• He says he was so enthralled by her he saw nothing else
• The lady bends to the side and sings a magical (“faery’s”) song to him

Keats's intention

• Keats's knight narrates a detailed story about his time with the lady to show its impact on him
• Keats emphasises the intimacy between the knight and the lady

Lines 25–28

“She found me roots of relish sweet, 

And honey wild, and manna-dew, 

And sure in language strange she said— 

‘I love thee true’.”

Translation

• The speaker describes how the lady fed him herbs (“roots of relish”), honey and water (“manna-dew”)
• Here, the lady is presented as unfamiliar, speaking in a “strange” language: 
• Nevertheless, the knight understands that she says she genuinely loves him 

Keats's intention

• Keats draws attention to the fact the lady is from another land, one that is “wild” and “strange”
• Keats also emphasises the sensual nature of the lady as she feeds him “sweet” food
• The poet makes use of a religious reference that connotes to salvation:
• He describes the lady providing food given by the gods: “manna-dew”

Lines 29–32

“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.”

Translation

• These lines confirm the lady represents the magical or supernatural:
• She takes the knight to an elf cave 
• In the cave she shows empathy for the knight’s condition (“sighed full sore”) 
• The knight tries to reassure her: he kisses her and shuts her eyes

Keats's intention

• The romantic elements of the poem can be seen in these lines especially as the knight and lady share a tender moment in an elf cave
• Keats conveys typical ideas related to romantic love here:
• The lady is sad and the knight comforts her
• Keats uses ideas related to damsels and heroes
• The wild setting is Ethereal

Lines 33–36

“And there she lullèd me asleep, 

And there I dreamed—Ah! woe betide!— 

The latest dream I ever dreamt 

On the cold hill side.”

Translation

• There is a sudden shift in tone and mood here:
• The knight is sent to sleep by the lady but his rest is disturbed
• He exclaims an ominous warning, “woe betide!”, meaning bad tidings or bad news
• The reference to the cold hill is a sudden contrast to the intimate elf cave
• The knight says he dreamed his “latest” dream, perhaps meaning his final dream 

Keats's intention

• Keats begins to draw the knight’s story to a dark close:
• Rather than comforted, the knight now appears scared 
• Keats implies the knight’s impending death: he dreams a last dream and is left “cold”

Lines 37–40

“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!'”

Translation

• The knight says that in the dream he saw “pale” kings, princes and warriors and repeats they were all “death-pale”
• They warn him about the lady and say she has enchanted him
• They call her a beautiful lady without thanks or mercy

Keats's intention

• Keats emphasises that the lady has enthralled many men from kings to warriors 
• This also connects with the title of the poem which plays on the word “merci”:
• Some interpretations suggest the men view the lady as without mercy or compassion
• Nevertheless, the earlier description of her as empathetic may contrast this
• Keats may imply the lady receives no thanks (translated as “merci” in French) for the comfort she offers as the men realise this happens at the time of death 

Lines 41–44

“I saw their starved lips in the gloam, 

With horrid warning gapèd wide, 

And I awoke and found me here, 

On the cold hill’s side.”

Translation

• The knight describes the men he sees in the dream with horrifying imagery: 
• The day has turned dark as the sun sets (the word “gloam” means dusk)
• The men are “starved” and their mouths are wide open
• This wakes the knight and he finds himself on the cold hill, not with the lady in the cave

Keats's intention

• Keats's previously romantic natural imagery changes here to darker descriptions to convey themes of death:
• The men call from death to warn the knight, and this wakes him from a fevered dream

Lines 45–48

“And this is why I sojourn here, 

Alone and palely loitering, 

Though the sedge is withered from the lake, 

And no birds sing.”

Translation

• The knight explains that this is the reason he stops (“sojourns”) on the hill
• He repeats the words the speaker uses at the start of the conversation

Keats's intention

• Keats uses a cyclical structure that conveys a lack of resolution:
• The knight remains alone on the cold hill, implying his death 

Although this section is organised into three separate sections – form, structure and language – it is always best to move from what the poet is presenting (the techniques they use; the overall form of the poem; what comes at the beginning, middle and end of a poem) to how and why they have made the choices they have. 

Focusing on the poet’s overarching ideas, rather than individual poetic techniques, will gain you far more marks. Crucially, in the below sections, all analysis is arranged by theme, and includes John Keats's intentions behind his choices in terms of:

• Form
• Structure
• Language

Form

John Keats's poem 'La Belle Dame sans Merci' is a romantic ballad that takes the form of speech between a speaker and a knight. The conversation relates a tale about a lady who vanishes as the knight dreams about death. It is told in medieval English to allude to classical romance. 

Theme	Evidence	Poet’s intention
Illusion and reality	first-person perspective is used to mimic a strange conversation between a speaker and a knight:  Typically, the ballad narrates the story in chronological order in the form of spoken language, such as “And there” and “And that is why”	Keats uses the narrative form of a ballad to depict an interaction between a sick knight and an unidentified speaker
	Keats uses medieval language, such as “O what can ail thee, knight-at-arms?”	This gives the poem a mythical quality
	The romantic tale alludes to medieval classical romantic tales involving fantasy and folklore

Structure

The poem can be considered a lyrical ballad typical of the Romantic era. The ballad’s metre and rhyme scheme produces a song-like rhythm that makes the poem light-hearted and simplistic. But the poem also conveys ideas about the inevitability of loss.

Theme	Evidence	Poet’s intention
Acceptance and loss	The poem is divided into twelve quatrains, creating a regular structure:  Yet the repetition of lines describing the knight alone on a hill in the first and last stanzas creates a cyclical story that is not resolved	Keats takes readers through an engaging story in keeping with the oral traditions of a ballad and uses this to convey ideas about acceptance and inevitability
	The rhythm is iambic to replicate speech: However, Keats disrupts the regular rhythm at the end of some stanzas: “Thee hath in thrall!” or “And no birds sing.”	Keats disturbs the casual rhythm of a normal conversation to convey tensions as the knight comes to a realisation about life and death
	A caesura is used to break the flowing rhythm and highlight the knight’s emotions: “And there I dreamed—Ah! woe betide!—” and “Full beautiful—a faery’s child.”	The knight’s impactful realisations are depicted dramatically
	Keats creates a lively, cyclical ballad about love, loss and acceptance

Language

The rural setting contributes to the poem’s romanticised presentation of love. Rich and sensual imagery describes an intense love affair between a chivalrous knight and a beautiful, wild lady. By symbolising the knight’s imminent death with an autumnal setting, Keats conveys darker themes of loss. 

Theme	Evidence	Poet’s intention
Romantic relationships	The knight’s “loitering” on a “cold hill” may allude to a fatal injury: Using the symbolism of a “lily” on his pale brow and a “fading rose” on his cheek implies the knight’s weakened state	metaphorical language makes the knight’s death ambiguous, perhaps implying that due to his fevered state, he does not realise he is dying
	Natural imagery describes the knight’s fevered dream of love and romance:  The lady feeds him “honey wild, and manna-dew” She “made sweet moan” in a “fragrant zone” He shuts her eyes with “kisses four”	Keats describes the brief yet sensual nature of their relationship: This highlights comforting, nurturing elements of love
	alliteration highlights the mystical quality of the lady: “Full beautiful - a faery’s child” and “roots of relish”	The knight’s obsessive fascination with the lady is presented through his poetic descriptions
	Keats’s poem uses romantic imagery that presents the brief love between the knight and the strange lady as magical, intense and comforting

Examiners repeatedly state that context should not be considered as additional factual information: in this case, it is not random biographical information about John Keats or facts unrelated to the ideas in 'La Belle Dame sans Merci'. The best way to understand context is as the ideas and perspectives explored by Keats that relate to romantic love and themes of loss. 

This section has therefore been divided into two relevant themes that Keats explores:

• Romantic love
• Death and loss

Romantic love 

• Keats is considered one of the best-known Romantic poets:
• John Keats, born in 1795, lived at the time of other Romantic poets such as William Wordsworth and Samuel Coleridge
• They, and other poets, are considered influential in Keats's work
• In particular, Keats was inspired by Edmund Spenser’s “The Faerie Queene”:
• This poem centres around an imaginative world
• Its influence may be seen in Keats's poem in the depiction of a strange and, most likely, imaginary lady who is a “faery’s child”
• The story in the poem conforms to classical romantic ballads that idealise a beautiful female character:
• The lady in 'La Belle Dame sans Merci' is described, at times, as a stereotypical Damsel in distress:
• The lady is emotional and cries and sighs over the knight 
• However, Keats subverts conventions by depicting a woman who is more of a siren, a femme fatale:
• The lady in this poem, though “sweet” and “beautiful”, is also “wild” and “strange”
• Other knights, kings and princes ominously warn the knight that he has been seduced and that she has him “in thrall”
• This links to the title that refers to a beautiful lady without mercy or thanks
• Keats's poetry, typical of the Romantic genre, often focuses on nature:
• Imagery related to flowers was frequently used in Romantic literature:
• The rose and lily (as mentioned in Keats's poem) often appeared together
• An example of this is William Cowper’s 1782 poem “The Lily and the Rose”
• In this poem, the rural setting contributes to the romantic quality of the poem
• The knight and lady meet in the “meads” and eat “honey wild” and “roots”

Death and loss

• John Keats wrote La Belle Dame sans Merci in 1819 just before he died from tuberculosis
• Before Keats died, aged 25, he was engaged to Fanny Brawne:
• However, due to his poverty he was not able to marry her
• It is said that Keats was more prepared to lose his life than lose his love
• The relationship was the inspiration for the 2009 film about Keats's life, Bright Star
• Keats was well aware of his ill-health and the danger of his disease:
• His mother and brother had died of tuberculosis earlier in his life
• Descriptions of a weakened and feverish knight in La Belle Dame sans Merci may have been influenced by this
• Keats was depressed, dwelling especially on the idea of death and mortality in his writing:
• The knight’s intense love, experienced just before his death, may represent Keats's short yet passionate love for Fanny Brawne
• The poem depicts a vision of a woman comforting a man at his time of death, perhaps suggesting the comfort love can bring at the moment of death 

The essay you are required to write in your exam is a comparison of the ideas and themes explored in two of your anthology poems. It is therefore essential that you revise the poems together, in pairs, to understand how each poet presents ideas about love or relationships, in comparison to other poets in the anthology. Given that La Belle Dame sans Merci explores the ideas of romantic love, desire and loss, the following comparisons are the most appropriate:

• 'La Belle Dame sans Merci' and 'Love’s Dog'
• 'La Belle Dame sans Merci' and 'She Walks in Beauty'
• 'La Belle Dame sans Merci' and 'My Last Duchess'

For each pair of poems, you will find:

• The comparison in a nutshell
• Similarities between the ideas presented in each poem
• Differences between the ideas presented in each poem
• Evidence and analysis of these similarities and differences

'La Belle Dame sans Merci' and 'Love’s Dog'

Comparison in a nutshell:

Both John Keats's 'La Belle Dame sans Merci' and Jen Hadfield’s 'Love’s Dog' present love as torturous and complex. Yet the speakers also describe love’s power, showing it as intense and fantastical. Nevertheless, while Keats uses a classical lyrical ballad to narrate a romantic tale, Hadfield’s poem is an unconventional and post-modern expression of emotion. 

Similarities:

Topic sentence	Both speakers describe their romantic relationships as hugely impactful
Evidence and analysis	'La Belle Dame sans Merci'	'Love’s Dog'
	Keats's poem presents love as powerful and imaginative:  The lady is a “faery’s child”, which alludes to her supernatural quality  The lady takes a knight to an “Elfin grot” (an elf cave) They ride on a “pacing steed”, conveying excitement	Hadfield’s imagery relates love to mythical and fantastical ideas: Love is described as a “shrinking potion”, suggestive of magical power: The poem refers to the magical story of Alice in Wonderland Love is related to treasure (“doubloons”) and pirates to connote adventure
	Keats uses sensory imagery to describe the lady’s care for the sick knight: She feeds him “roots of relish sweet” and “honey-wild” The religious imagery of “manna-dew” convey her as a saviour	Hadfield also uses the idea of food to connote love, perhaps suggesting it is essential to life: “What I love about love is its Eat-me/Drink-me”: The speaker refers to care-giving: “What I love about love is its zookeeper – you”
	The poets both present love as passionate and nurturing, healing in nature

Topic sentence	Both poets convey love as closely connected to pain and death
Evidence and analysis	'La Belle Dame sans Merci'	'Love’s Dog'
	Keats uses imagery alluding to sickness:  Keats's sick knight is pale and fevered with “anguish moist” when he sees the lady The speaker describes the knight’s cheek as a “fading rose/Fast withereth too”	The poem uses metaphor related to sickness to describe love: The speaker says love is a “diagnosis” and that they hate its “prognosis She describes love as a “sick parrot”
	At the moment of the knight’s death he is alone and the lady, his love, vanishes: Dark imagery conveys this as frightening and torturous “Pale” men with “starved lips” deliver “horrid warning gapèd wide” as he approaches death	Hadfield uses imagery, highlighted by alliteration, to present love’s darker elements:  Phrases such as “bird-bones”, “burnt toast and bonemeal” and “bent cigarette” describe love unconventionally and links it to destruction
	Both poems about romantic love conjure vivid allusions to present the more dangerous elements of love

Differences:

Topic sentence	While 'La Belle Dame sans Merci' is a medieval romantic ballad, 'Love's Dog' is a post-modern reflection on love
Evidence and analysis	'La Belle Dame sans Merci'	'Love’s Dog'
	Keats depicts a tale of romance in a lyrical ballad: The rhythm moves through the story in dialogue, using typical narrative features like “And there”	Hadfield, contrastingly, presents a first-person personal reflection: couplets contrast what the speaker loves and hates about love in half-rhymes like “serum” and “potion”
	Keats uses caesura and exclamation marks to convey the characters’ emotional voices: As the knight dreams he issues an ominous exclamation: “—Ah! woe betide!—” The dead men cry out, “—‘La Belle Dame sans Merci/Thee hath in thrall!’”	Hadfield’s unconventional poem does not use punctuation: However, there is one caesura in “its zookeeper – you” This highlights the speaker’s intimacy with their lover and addresses them directly
	Keats offers a traditional romantic story to portray love with elevated status while Hadfield’s informal poem appears to Trivialise it, describing it with simple imagery

'La Belle Dame sans Merci' and 'She Walks in Beauty'

Comparison in a nutshell:

This is an effective comparative choice to explore the presentation of relationships and romantic love across traditional Romantic poems. However, while Keats's poem tells a melancholy tale about a strange lady, Byron’s poem is more like a tribute to a beautiful woman. 

Similarities:

Topic sentence	Both poems portray love as romantic and ethereal
Evidence and analysis	'La Belle Dame sans Merci'	'She Walks in Beauty'
	Keats uses contrasting natural imagery to describe the power of the lady’s love: The knight is on a “cold hill” when the “harvest” is done They meet in the “meads” and make flower garlands in a “fragrant zone”	Byron also uses natural imagery to describe the woman in his poem: She is “like the night/Of cloudless climes and starry skies” and “dark and bright” He also contrasts images to conveys complexities in her beauty: “One shade the more, one ray the less”
	Keats makes religious references to elevate romantic love: The lady feeds the knight “manna-dew”	Byron similarly uses Celestial imagery:  The speaker is “mellowed” by the woman’s “tender light”  like “heaven to gaudy day”
	In 'La Belle Dame sans Merci' and 'She Walks in Beauty', the speakers both explore the spiritual and sensual nature of the women they desire

Topic sentence	Both poems can be considered classical and traditional in their presentation of romance
Evidence and analysis	'La Belle Dame sans Merci'	'She Walks in Beauty'
	The lady in the poem is a typical female character in conventional medieval romantic poetry: The speaker idealises the lady’s appearance: She is described as “Full beautiful” and her “hair was long” She “made sweet moan” She expresses her feelings for the knight: “‘I love thee true’”	Byron’s speaker similarly idealises the lady’s beauty and purity:  She is “So soft, so calm, yet eloquent” She has “smiles that win” and speak of “goodness” and “serenely sweet” thoughts
	Keats describes her as a typical damsel in distress at times, such as in the line “she wept and sighed full sore”: However, she is also shown as a femme fatale She seduces and lures the knight (and other men) to their death	Byron’s speaker also alludes to the darker side of the woman he describes:  He shows her contrasting nature: “And all that’s best of dark and bright” He describes her hair as black with animal imagery “raven tress”
	Both poets explore the strong attraction the speakers feel for a beautiful and mysterious lady in their Romantic poems

Differences:

Topic sentence	'La Belle Dame sans Merci' has a tragic conclusion that presents desire as dangerous, while 'She Walks in Beauty' ends with a peaceful resolution
Evidence and analysis	'La Belle Dame sans Merci'	'She Walks in Beauty'
	Keats’s poem raises darker themes in the disrupted rhythm of the lyrical ballad: Alternating rhyme creates a flowing narrative at times Other lines, such as with “brow” and “rose”, create an ominous tone	Byron’s poem, though, has a regular structure with ababab rhyme scheme across stanzas to show a calm, reflective speaker
	The regular iambic rhythm is disturbed with short lines like “And no birds sing.” This line ends the poem with a dark conclusion, the knight is alone and dead Keats uses caesura and exclamations to present warnings, such as in “—Ah! woe betide!—”	Byron uses iambic tetrameter to create a regular and controlled rhythm:  This presents the more positive tone of the poem It ends with an exclamation of joy: “A heart whose love is innocent!”
	While Keats’s romantic poem dwells on the brief love of a dying knight, Byron’s poem is a universal expression of admiration and joy

'La Belle Dame sans Merci' and 'My Last Duchess'

Comparison in a nutshell:

Both poems examine the complexity of love and explore its connections with death. The poems present intensely passionate love that ends tragically. However, while Keats's poem is a romantic ballad about a deceived knight, Browning’s dramatic monologue  examines a Duke’s jealous control. 

Similarities:

Topic sentence	Both poems present perspectives of male speakers who appear to have been driven mad by seductive female characters
Evidence and analysis	'La Belle Dame sans Merci'	'My Last Duchess'
	The poem describes a lady’s seductive powers: The knight is warned that he is “in thrall!” The lady is “Full beautiful” and “wild” She is also closely connected to nature	Browning presents a first-person speaker who describes his wife’s flirtatious nature: The Duke says “her looks went everywhere” He uses natural imagery to describe her behaviour: “The bough of cherries some officious fool/Broke in the orchard for her”
	Keats uses exclamation marks and caesura to portray the knight’s emotional state: “—Ah! woe betide!—” and when the dead men warn him of her powers: “Thee hath in thrall!’”: Keats uses enjambment in the lines “and sing/A faery’s song” to reflect the mesmerising quality of her song	Browning uses caesura and exclamations to show the Duke’s unstable voice: “She thanked men—good! but thanked”: Enjambment and rhetorical questions show a speaker’s rambling rant: “Who’d stoop to blame/This sort of trifling?”
	The poems both comment on the powerful and dangerous influences of romantic love

Topic sentence	Both poems explore love that leads to death
Evidence and analysis	'La Belle Dame sans Merci'	'My Last Duchess'
	Keats’s poem depicts a knight who is “Alone and palely loitering”: His death is implied with romantic imagery related to nature He has a “fading rose” on his cheek and a white “lily” on his brow	Browning’s speaker implies the Duke has killed his wife while he shows off a painting of her “Looking as if she were alive”
	The knight in Keats's poem is lured to his death by a lady: The dead kings and warriors warn the knight she is “sans Merci” (without mercy or thanks) Their horrible deaths are implied with dark imagery like “starved lips”	In Browning’s poem, too, the love ends with death: The Duke implies he has ordered for her to be killed: he “gave commands;/Then all smiles stopped together.” He adds, “There she stands/As if alive.”
	Both poems describe a death that is closely connected to a romantic relationship

Differences:

Topic sentence	'La Belle Dame sans Merci' is a conversation between a speaker and a knight on a hillside about a comforting albeit brief relationship, while 'My Last Duchess' is a dramatic monologue about jealousy and control within marriage
Evidence and analysis	'La Belle Dame sans Merci'	'My Last Duchess'
	Keats’s poem depicts a balanced conversation and relationship: At the start of the poem a speaker directly addresses a knight He does not reply so they speak again The knight includes the lady’s speech and the speech of other men	In contrast, Browning’s dramatic monologue in which only the Duke’s voice is heard conveys imbalance and control: Although the Duke addresses a silent listener, they (“sir”) are not given opportunity to reply This is presented through a range of rhetorical questions that are instantly answered by the Duke himself
	The knight describes the lady’s comforting and nurturing nature: She cries and sighs for him as she feeds him and sings to him  She “lulled” him “asleep” after he kisses her	In Browning’s poem, conversely, the “Last Duchess” is described with adverbs expressing the Duke’s criticisms of her:  She is “too soon made glad,/Too easily impressed”
	Keats's poem presents an equally comforting love while Browning draws attention to conflicted emotions that lead to the destruction of relationships