Imagination conquers nature

John Keats' "Le Belle Dame sans Merci: A Ballad" describes the speaker of the poem (who seems to be Keats) dreaming "on the cold hill's side" (36). This nicely connects to our discussion last class about Keats' charioteer and his convictions about the power of the imagination. The poem describes the speaker meeting a woman who takes him to "her elfin grot" (29). He creates this woman in his mind and from his description she is generous, "she found me roots of relish sweet" (25); she is is compassionate, "she said-- / I love thee true" (27-8), and she gentle, "and there she lulled me asleep" (33). Many of the other poets we have read could describe a woman from their past or who was still currently in their lives with beautiful descriptive language and vivid images, but Keats demonstrates his ability not just to write about and praise a woman, but to have the capacity to completely create an amazing woman with his mind. This poem is not just about how beautifully Keats can describe these images, it is also Keats showing off his ability to create unparalleled beauty without ever seeing it. 

He then shifts from his dream of the beautiful woman to the more frightening image that he sees next of "pale kings, and princes too" (37). These images come to him just as clearly as those of the woman, and he sees these figures as "Pale warriors, death pale were they all" (38). Once again Keats is demonstrating his ability to convey this powerful image to the reader, and to form an image that is so terrifying and vivid that it seems to frighten him. 

The poem concludes with his saying that these dreams are why he comes to the hill, even though "the sedge is wither'd from the lake, / and no birds sing" (47-8). These final lines read to me almost like a jab at other poets who describe nature because he seems to be saying that he can go somewhere without any inspiration from nature and still dream up these amazing images. He seems to be saying that he does not need external forces to inspire his poetry, that all the inspiration he finds to write such beautiful lines comes from within himself.