I watched the movie “Coraline” this weekend and I was intrigued that the ghost children referred to the “Other Mother” as the “Beldam,” a Middle English word meaning “Grandmother,” “ugly, old woman,” or “hag.” I found that the author of Coraline, Neil Gaiman, may also have been making a reference to a poem from John Keats, called “La Belle Dam Sans Merci” (The Beautiful Lady without Pity).
The poem is about a knight who is seduced and trapped by a fairy. Here is the full text.
La Belle Dam Sans Merci
O what can ail thee knight at arms
alone and palely loitering?
The sedge has witherd from the lake
and no birds singO what can ail thee knight at arms
so haggard and woebegone?
The squirrel’s granary is full
and the harvests doneI see a lily on thy brow
with anguish moist and fever dew
and on thy cheeks a fading rose
fast withereth tooI met a lady in the meads
Full beautiful – a faery’s child
her hair was long, her foot was light
and her eyes were wildI made a garland for her head
and bracelets too and fragrant zone
she looked at me as she did love
and made sweet moanI sat her on my pacing steed
and nothing else saw all day long
For sidelong would she bend and sing
A faery’s songShe 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 sighed full sore
And there I shut her wild wild eyes
with kisses fourAnd there she lulled me asleep
and there I dreamed Ah woe betide!
The latest dream I ever dreamt
on the cold hillsideI saw pale kings and princes too
Pale warriors, death pale were they all
They cried ‘La Belle Dam Sans Merci
Hath thee in thrall!’I saw their starv’d lips in the gloam
with horrid warning gaped wide
And I awoke and found me here
on the cold hillsideAnd this is why I soujourn here
alone and palely loitering
Though the sedge has withered from the lake
and no birds sing.John Keats
