Keats and Heaney a comparison

The poems I have analysed, ‘La Belle Dame Sans Merci’, ‘An Advancement of Learning’ and ‘Roe-Deer’, have their focal point revolving around encounters between man and nature. Each poem is unique to one another due to these differences; the time they were written, their themes, the representations of man and nature used, the rhythm and rhythmic pattern of each, the imagery used and lastly the similes and metaphors. These differences will allow me to explore the concept of a spiritual correspondence between man and nature in each poem, and thus justify these poems as being good or bad representations of Sir Paul Harvey’s comment.

There is a definite likeness between these poems, as they are all thematically linked. An example of this is that in each, there is some sort of conflict between man and natures representations i.e. the knight and the faery, the boy and the rat, and also the man and the

The rhythmic pattern of each of these poems is also very different. In ‘La Belle Dame Sans Merci’, the poem is actually a ballad. Each stanza is four lines, and each line has eight syllables apart from the last, which has four. There is also a definite rhyming pattern, which is smooth and fast. Compare this with ‘An Advancement of Learning’ and also ‘Roe-deer’, and the difference in the time they were written once shows. In Keats’ time the conventional type of poem was written to a certain style, where the number of verses and rhyming pattern, and also the number of syllables demonstrated which style the poem followed. Keats has followed the style of a ballad. In the latter two poems, there is no definite rhythmic pattern or even a set number of syllables. The only similarity is in ‘An Advancement’, where there are four lines to each stanza. The stanzas in this poem actually follow on from one another, so the rhythmic pattern of the poem does not change with each stanza.

The faery in ‘La Belle Dame Sans Merci’ is illustrated in romantic notion as being a thing of natural beauty otherwise, as it would have to be for this poem to work, as the knight would never have fallen in love. Therefore, it again shows the typical style of writing in that day and age as everything is portrayed as being beautiful and natural, and as knights in shining armour- a romantic notion. In this poem, nature is dominant and therefore powerful, as everything in the poem can be related back to nature as “the sedge has wither’d from the lake…” and even the imagery used has a strong link with nature, “she found me roots of relish sweet, And honey wild, and manna dew…”. This imagery actually shows a romantic side to nature and man, as the poem portrays man’s ignorance towards nature’s power, and therefore has nothing to stop him falling in love with nature’s concoction of natural beauty.

Some topics in this essay:
Sans Merci’, Advancement Learning’, Belle Dame, Paul Harvey’s, Hughes Heaney, Merci Hath, belle dame sans, , dame sans, belle dame, ‘la belle dame, ‘la belle, Sans Merci’s’, Dame Sans, dame sans merci’, sans merci’, spiritual correspondence, advancement learning’, ‘an advancement learning’, ‘an advancement, Paul Harvey, correspondence nature, spiritual correspondence nature, nature trying, rhythmic pattern,