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: 284

Cosa ti affligge, o cavaliere armato,
che vaghi solitario e con la faccia smunta?
Il giunco, in riva al lago, è ormai appassito,
non un uccello canta!

Cosa ti affligge, o cavaliere armato
così smarrito e abbattuto nel volto?
Lo scoiattolo il suo granaio ha riempito,
terminato è il raccolto.

Come un candido giglio appare la  tua fronte,
tutta imperlata di febbrile sudore,
e la tua guancia sembra una rosa morente,
rapida perde colore.

"Nel prato ho incontrato una dama,
stupendamente bella, e di fatato lignaggio,
lieve il suo passo, lunga la sua chioma,
e lo sguardo, selvaggio.

Per il suo capo una ghirlanda ho intrecciata,
le diedi un braccialetto e un profumato cinto,
lei mi fissava come un'innamorata,
con un dolce lamento.

Misi al passo il destriero e la presi in groppa,
e, per tutto quel giorno, guardai a lei solamente,
intenta a modulare, su di un fianco piegata,
un canto ammaliante. 

Poi lei cercò per me  radici dal sapore gradito,
rugiada di manna e selvatico miele;
e sembrava dicesse, nel suo linguaggio ignoto:
"Io ti sono fedele".

Poi nella sua grotta fatata lei mi volle,
e lì scoppiò in pianto, e in singhiozzi accorati,
e io chiusi i suoi occhi dallo sguardo folle,
dandole quattro baci.

Lei mi cullò fino a che caddi addormentato,
e allora io sognai - ahimè triste ventura -
l'ultimo sogno che fu da me sognato
su quella fredda altura.

Il pallore mortale allora mi colpì
di sovrani e principi e guerrieri che, in coro,
mi gridavano: "La belle Dame sans merci
ti ha fatto prigioniero"

Scorsi le loro smorte labbra, nel rosso tramonto,
spalancate avvertirmi per un pericolo orrendo,
mi ridestai dal sogno in quel momento
su quel colle freddo.

Per questa ragione qui tu mi hai trovato
mentre solitario vago e con la faccia smunta,
anche se il giunco sul lago è ormai appassito
e non un uccello canta."