by John Keats (1795 - 1821), as Caviare
Translation by Jaroslav Vrchlický (1853 - 1912)
O what can ail thee, knight‑at‑arms
Language: English
O what can ail thee, knight-at-arms, [Alone]1 and palely loitering? The sedge has wither'd from the lake, And no birds sing. 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. I see a lily on thy brow With anguish moist and fever dew, And on thy [cheeks]2 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]3, 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 sigh'd full sore, And there I shut her wild wild eyes With kisses four. [And there]4 she lull'd me asleep, [And there]4 I dream'd -- [Ah!]5 woe betide! The latest dream I ever dream'd On the cold [hill's side]6. I saw pale kings and princes too, Pale warriors, death-pale were they all; [They]7 cried -- "La Belle Dame sans Merci Hath thee in thrall!" [I saw their starved lips in the gloom, With horrid warning gaping wide,]8 And I awoke and found me here, On the cold [hill's side]6. And this is why I sojourn here, Alone and palely loitering, Though the sedge is wither'd from the lake, And no birds sing.
W. Mayer sets stanzas 1, 4, 3, 5, 7, 9-12 in (at least) one setting - see below for more information
About the headline (FAQ)
View original text (without footnotes)Note: in the published form of this poem, each stanza has a Roman numeral. We have removed them. First published in Indicator, May 1820.
1 Stanford: "So lone"2 Hindemith: "cheek"
3 Hindemith: "sideways would she lean"
4 W. Mayer: "There"
5 omitted by W. Mayer
6 W. Mayer: "hillside"
7 Hindemith, W. Mayer: "Who"
8 omitted by W. Mayer; Hindemith: "I saw their starved lips in the gloam,/ With horrid warning gapèd wide,"
Text Authorship:
- by John Keats (1795 - 1821), as Caviare, "La belle dame sans merci", appears in Life, Letters, and Literary Remains, of John Keats, first published 1820 [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Harold Bronson (b. 1950) and by Mark Leviton (b. 1952), "La belle dame sans merci", published 1972 [ voice and guitar ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Geoffrey Bush (1920 - 1998), "La belle dame sans merci", published 1949 [ tenor and SSAATTBB chorus a cappella ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Frederick Shepherd Converse (1871 - 1940), "La belle dame sans merci", published 1902 [ baritone and orchestra ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by George Dyson (1883 - 1964), "La belle dame sans merci", published 1911, first performed 1911 [ contralto and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Cecil Armstrong Gibbs (1889 - 1960), "La belle dame sans merci", published 1929 [ SATB chorus and orchestra ], cantata [sung text not yet checked]
- by John Danforth Herman Greenwood (1889 - 1975), "La belle dame sans merci", <<1954 [ tenor and orchestra ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Patrick Arthur Sheldon Hadley (1899 - 1973), "La belle dame sans merci", published 1934 [ tenor, SATB chorus, and orchestra ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Paul Hindemith (1895 - 1963), "La belle dame sans merci", 1942, published 1945, copyright © 1945 [ voice and piano ], from Zwei Balladen, no. 1 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Oliver Ive (flourished 1895), "La belle dame sans merci", published 1897 [ alto, tenor, SSATTBB chorus, and orchestra ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Mabel Jennings , "La belle dame sans merci", published 1899 [ alto or baritone and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by William Mayer (b. 1925), "La belle dame sans merci", published 1978 [ tenor or baritone, SAB chorus, and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by William Mayer (b. 1925), "La belle dame sans merci", published 1976, stanzas 1,4,3,5,7,9-12 [ tenor and SAB chorus ], Warner Chappell [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Jean Neymarck (1889 - 1913), "La belle dame sans merci", published 1917 [ tenor, SATB chorus, and orchestra ], cantata, also set in French (Français) [sung text not yet checked]
- by Norman Houston O'Neill (1875 - 1934), "La belle dame sans merci", op. 31 (1909), first performed 1910 [ baritone and orchestra ], revised 1926 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Charles Hubert Hastings Parry, Sir (1848 - 1918), "La belle dame sans merci", 1914, published 1979, first performed 1915 [ SSATB chorus a cappella ], madrigal [sung text not yet checked]
- by Bryony Phillips , "La belle dame sans merci", 1976, first performed 1977 [ ATBB chorus a cappella ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Wallingford Riegger (1885 - 1961), "La belle dame sans merci", 1923 [ soprano, mezzo-soprano, alto, tenor, and chamber orchestra ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Reginald Chauncey Robbins (1871 - 1955), "La belle dame sans merci", published 1922 [ bass or baritone and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Edmund Duncan Rubbra (1901 - 1986), "La belle dame sans merci", op. 12, published 1925 [ SATB chorus and small orchestra ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Rhian Samuel (b. 1944), 1982/1987, first performed 1983 [ mixed chorus and orchestra ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Cyril Meir Scott (1879 - 1970), "La belle dame sans merci", 1915-6, published 1934 [ baritone, SATB chorus and orchestra ], also set in German [sung text not yet checked]
- by Cyril Meir Scott (1879 - 1970), "La belle dame sans merci", c1907, first performed 1907 [ duet for 2 voices and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Masters van Someren-Godfery (d. 1947), "La belle dame sans merci", published 1957 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Charles Villiers Stanford, Sir (1852 - 1924), "La belle dame sans merci", published 1877 [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Lily Strickland (1887 - 1958), "Ballade of la belle dame sans merci ", published 1917 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Louise Juliette Talma (1906 - 1996), "La belle dame sans merci", 1929 [ women's chorus ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by M. Ryan Taylor (b. 1972), "La belle dame sans merci" [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Irene Varley , "La belle dame sans merci", 1933 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Alvin S. Wiggers , "La belle dame sans merci", published 1911 [ high voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in French (Français), a translation by Jean Neymarck (1889 - 1913) ; composed by Jean Neymarck.
- Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]
- Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]
- Also set in Russian (Русский), a translation by Vil'gelm Veniaminovich Levik (1907 - 1982) , copyright © ; composed by Valentin Vasilovich Silvestrov.
Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CZE Czech (Čeština) (Jaroslav Vrchlický) , "La belle dame sans merci"
- GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , "La belle dame sans merci", copyright © 2008, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- HUN Hungarian (Magyar) (Mihály Babits) , "La belle dame sans merci"
- ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "La belle dame sans merci", copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Ted Perry , Garrett Medlock [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 48
Word count: 297
La belle dame sans merci
Language: Czech (Čeština) after the English
Co je ti, bledý rytíři, tak zmaten, váháš, v tváři žel, již svadlo sítí u jezer, pták oněměl. Co je ti, bledý rytíři, tak zhublý jsi a zdrán, veverky sýpka plna jest, však pustý lán. Na čele tvém zřím liliji jest vlhká děsem, zimnicí však svadne bledá růže též tvé na líci. Já potkal ženu na nivě, tak luznou jako dítě vil, zrak divý, nožka křídlo jen, vlas dlouhý byl. Já květy ozdobil jí skráň i páže, tělo, — božský sen! — jak v lásce na mne pohledla a vzdychla jen. Já zved ji svého na oře, jen viděl ji, až západ byl, u cesty stanouc, zpívala tu píseň vil. Hledala pro mne kořínky a med a sladkou mannu tam a divně zněl ten její vzdech, ó jak tě ráda mám! Mne zatáhla pak v elfů sluj a plakala a vzdychla pak až divými jsem polibky jí zavřel zrak. A pak mne skolébala v sen a já jsem snil — ó jaký sen! — ten poslední, jemuž jsem vpad na svahu hory v plen. Já bledé krále, panice zřel a bledých bojovníků řad, ti křičeli „damou sans mercy“ jsi pro vždy jat! Já v šeru viděl její rty se otevřely v děsný sten já zbudil se na svahu tom sám opuštěn. A proto bledý bloudím zde a váhám, v tváři žel, kde svadlo sítí u jezer, pták nezapěl.
Note: in the published form of this poem, each stanza has a Roman numeral. We have removed them.
Text Authorship:
- by Jaroslav Vrchlický (1853 - 1912), "La belle dame sans merci" [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in English by John Keats (1795 - 1821), as Caviare, "La belle dame sans merci", appears in Life, Letters, and Literary Remains, of John Keats, first published 1820
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- [ None yet in the database ]
Researcher for this page: Andrew Schneider [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2019-05-12
Line count: 48
Word count: 228