Download La Belle Dame Est Poison

La Belle Dame Est Poison
Poison – Bell Biv Devoe
Femininity & Gender Inequalities
Within this course our spotlight has been put on women. What they are
supposed to be, how are they supposed to act and most times it is a man that
describes it. This is why I wanted to focus on the theme of Femininity and
Gender Inequalities. The works that I chose were La Belle Dame Sans
Merci by John Keats and the song Poison by Bell Biv DeVoe. The speaker of
the poem “La Belle Dame Sans Merci” seems to describe the knight’s
romantic involvement with La Belle Dame so negatively, that it ends up
leaving a bad image on women, which also happens in the song Poison by
Bell Biv DeVoe. In both works a man is intrigued by a woman who he
happens to find beautiful and when things don’t go as expected a group of
men call her something inappropriate. Also in both of the works do they do
not give a woman’s insight or an explanation as to why or what causes her to
do what ever it is that she exactly does. The women in both works do not
say anything to gain the men’s attention; it is the men that pursue the
women. Both works are being told entirely from the perspective of the man
which is unfair and biased because there’s only one side of the story. If
either of the works were about a man, the man wouldn’t be shamed he’d be
called a player and praised by other men, yet in this case with women is
called a hoe, merciless or poison. These two works show the gender
inequalities that still go on to this day due to ones views on what femininity
is supposed to be.
Literary Technique
Euphony – agreeable sounds that are easy to articulate
“I saw pale kings and princes too,
pale warriors, death-pale were
they all;”
“I sense something strange in my
mind situation is serious”
Rhyme- when in between of a word or a ending of a word sound
alike
“And honey wild, and manna-dew,
And sure in language strange
she said--- ‘I love thee true’.”
“Relationships they seems from the
start It’s all so deadly When love
is not together from the heart”
Comparisons
“Full Beautiful-a
faery’s child, Her hair
was long, her foot was
light”
“She’s so fly”
The term “Fly” is being
used in this situation as
slang for : fine,
beautiful, sexy,
attractive .
Comparisons
“And there I dreamed
–Ah! Woe betide!—The
latest dream I ever
dreamt”
“Beware she’s schemin’,
she’ll make you think
you’re dreamin’ ”
Comparisons
“I saw pale kings and
princes too, Pale
warriors, death-pale
were they all; They
cried---- ‘ La Belle
Dame sans Merci Thee
hath in thrall!’”
“See what you’re sayin,
huh, she’s a winner to
you But I know she’s a
loser (How do you
know?) Me and the
crew used to do her!
Poison!”
Questions
Do you see the relationship between the song and the poem?
What song would you have chosen?
Do you see the negative output it leaves on women?