Faeries in 19th Century English Poetry

Faeries, or fairies, were an important part of 19th century poetry, particularly in Ireland and England. I have chosen a select few poems to analyse and compare in terms of the way faeries are presented. This post will focus on the poems ‘The Lady of Shalott’ and ‘La Belle Dame Sans Merci’ by English poets Alfred, Lord Tennyson and John Keats, respectively.

First, I must consider the literality of the descriptions of faeries in these poems. In ‘The Lady of Shalott’, the character of the same name is perhaps only perceived as a faery due to her singing voice: “only reapers…hear a song that echoes clearly”. Similarly, the faery in ‘La Belle Dame Sans Merci’ sings “a faery’s song”. In both poems, the label of “faery” is assigned to the women by others; either by the knight in ‘La Belle Dame’ or by the reapers in ‘The Lady’.  

The titles of the poems both focus on the supposed faery women – ‘La Belle Dame Sans Merci’ meaning “The Beautiful Lady Without Pity”. The two women are easily comparable, as they are both beautiful (this is evident in the title of ‘La Belle Dame’, and in ‘The Lady’, Sir Lancelot states that she “has a lovely face”), both isolated, and both objectified.

It is easy to see The Lady of Shalott as a victim, as she is drawn from her tower by her love for Sir Lancelot and thus dies of a curse; in fact, we can interpret that the curse is her love for Sir Lancelot, as she cries “The curse is come upon me” shortly after falling in love with him. Her innocence is evident in the “snowy white” robes she dies in, which contrast with the “coal-black curls” of Lancelot, depicting him as the villain. This juxtaposition of colours is maintained throughout the poem, with most characters dressed in red and her tower having “four grey walls”, illustrating that the outside world is a danger to her. At her death, “her eyes were darken’d wholly”, demonstrating a loss of purity as death claims her.

The woman in ‘La Belle Dame’, however, is less decidedly either a victim or a villain. Certainly, there is a semantic field of negativity, including the lexis “haggard”, “cold”, “horrid”, and “woe-begone”. The imagery, too, relates to death, as with the metaphors “on thy cheeks a fading rose” and “a lily on thy brow”, as lilies are often symbolic of death. There is clearly much suggestion of an association between the faery and death – however, there is also a suggestion of innocence about her. She is described as “a faery’s child”; as children are known for both innocence and mischief, this is perhaps an accurate description, as she is also repeatedly called “wild”. Her love for the knight seems real, as she states “I love thee true” and she also “look’d at [him] as she did love”. Perhaps it is the knight who is the villain, since he clearly has power over her; to quiet her crying, he “shut her wild wild eyes with kisses four” – this suggests to me both a desire to ignore and hide her sadness, and an unnatural, methodical nature, as he counts the kisses. The bracelets and garlands he creates for her can been seen as symbols of entrapment and ownership.

A feminist reading of these poems shows the knight and Sir Lancelot to both be the villains. Both objectify the women, seeing them as beautiful objects; indeed, Lancelot’s only comment of The Lady of Shalott after her death is of her beauty. The knight blames the faery for enthralling him, when she has in fact never done anything to harm or even seduce him. Her outburst of weeping clearly denotes unhappiness, which is entirely unexplained by the knight and also fails to fit with the implication of her being cruel. Sir Lancelot, while not directly to blame, is indifferent to the death of The Lady of Shalott, which entirely contrasts with the passion she had for him – so great that she would die for him.

Based on these two examples, faeries in English poetry seem to be merely depictions of women who have been objectified and twisted into creatures of myth to be feared and blamed. The poets’ awareness of such views of women perhaps reflects that the 19^th century finally saw the beginning of feminism and of women’s rights.