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O what can ail thee, knight-at-arms, |
Notes & Commentary
- ↑ Written in 1819, this ballad tells the story of haggard knight and his beloved: a fairy maiden who bewitches him then abandons him to a desolate landscape. Its deceptively simple ballad form conveys an air of mystery and barrenness in its four-line stanzas and shortened last line (Inglis 1969, p. 116). I can’t help but think of Odysseus and Circe, as the latter seduces and keeps Odysseus and his crew on her island for a year, unable to continue their journey home, but also “in thrall”—unable to be men and continue their violence in the outside world. Like Circe, the woman here has a power—whether it’s supernatural or just a product of her beauty and men’s lust is uncertain—and seems to represent the archetype of the fatal woman (Inglis 1969, p. 117).
Bibliography
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