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.]
    
• Also set in Russian (Русский), a translation by Vil'gelm Veniaminovich Levik (1907 - 1982) , copyright © ; composed by Valentin Vasilovich Silvestrov.
  • Go to the text.
    

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

Was mag dich plagen, Rittersmann?
Schweifst so allein und fahl umher.
Das Ried verdorrt am See, es singt 
kein Vöglein mehr.

Was mag dich plagen, Rittersmann,
wehklagend, abgehärmt zugleich?
Des Eichhorns Kammer ist gefüllt,
der Herbst war reich.

Trägst eine Lilie  auf der Stirn,
von Schmerzen feucht und Fieberhauch;
die Rose, deiner Wangen Zier,
rasch welkt sie auch.

Ich traf ein Fräulein in der Au,
berückend schön, ein Feenbild;
ihr Haar war lang, ihr Gang war leicht,
ihr Blick war wild.

Ich flocht ein Kränzlein um ihr Haupt,
um Arm und Leib duftigen Kreis;
sie sah mich an, tat ganz verliebt
und seufzte leis.

Ich hob sie auf mein schreitend Ross,
ihr Anblick war's, der mich bezwang;
mir zugeneigt ein Elfenlied
zaubrisch sie sang.

Wohl wilden Honig, Wurzeln süß 
und Mannatau fand sie für mich,
in fremdem Ton sprach sie gewiss:
'Treu lieb ich dich.'

Sie nahm mich in ihr Elfenhaus,
dort weinte sie, wehklagte mir;
und dort verschloss ich ihren Blick
mit Küssen vier.

Daselbst sang sie mich in den Schlaf,
dann träumte ich, weh mir, oh weh,
den letzten Traum, den je ich träumt
auf kalter Höh:

Könige fahl, Prinzen zugleich,
Krieger todbleich starrten mich an;
sie schrie'n, 'La belle dame sans merci
hält dich in Bann!'

Ich sah die schmalen Münder weit
im Dämmer warnend offen steh'n -
erwachte dann und fand mich hier
auf kalten Höhn.

So schweife ich an diesem Ort
allein und fahl, ziellos umher;
singt auch im dorren Ried am See 
kein Vöglein mehr.