La Belle Dame Sans Merci (or the Beautiful Lady without Mercy)

The place mat:

The painting:John William Waterhouse: 1849 to 1917, he was born in Rome and his father was a painter. In the beggining he inspired his paintingd on Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema and Frederic Leighton. In the last years of his life he suffered from cancer until he died, but he contiued painting. 
The painting reflects different aspects of the poem. It portrays the tragic love story, in which the lady is usinge her hair to bring him close to her. In her hand it can be seen that she is pushing him close to her as if she was trapping him. She is really pale and it looks as if she isn´t even real, while he is really tan like any human. It seems as if she was lifeless, in her face the feeling of sadness can be portrayed and enchanting in the same way. In the backround the nature that is present in the poem can be seen; "and the harvest´s done". The lady and the knight seem to be united to the nature, since her hair seems to blend in with the backround and his hand is grabbing a branch of a plant which unites him to the landscape. It suggests how in our lives humans are connected to nature. One of the main themes of romantic literature is nature.

 John William Waterhouse, made in 1893   Henry Meynell Rheam, "La Belle Dame Sans Merci" 1901
 The second painting reflects the ending of the poem, how she leaves him in despair laying on the floor. The two paintings seem like a sequence, since the painting by waterhouse portrays the way in which she enchants him. In both there is a strong presence of nature. There is more light in the second painting and this can highlight the clarity there is in the end that she is leaving him alone. While in in the first one there are more shadows which can show that the knight still doesn´t know that she will leave him. In the first painting the nature is vivid,alive and powerful while in the other the nature is dead,it seems to be the winter and that it forshadows death, the death of the knight.  I believe the two paintings together give me a better understanding of the poem.