“La Belle Dame Sans Merci” is a theme that has inspired poets, artists and writers since the Middle Ages. Of course I knew the poem by Keats, some of the Pre-Raffaelite paintings, and I was also aware that there was some kind of medieval ballad or other of the same title.
When I researched the poems and the paintings to find inspiration for my story, I was struck by the many layers of culture that had coalesced in the theme of “La Belle Dame Sans Merci” over the centuries. There’s not just a host of medieval ballads dealing with the merciless lady or heaps of Pre-Raffaelite paintings. There are modern poems taking up the topic, caricatures, cartoons and even a short film!
Resources
Poetry:
• “La Belle Dame Sans Merci” by John Keats, of course
• “La Belle Dame Sans Mercy” by Alain Chartier, edited by Dana Symons
• “Alain Chartier, The quarrel of the belle dame sans mercy” by Joan E. McRae, a Google Books preview
Other Literature:
But there were many other literary sources I looked at that contain references to LBDSM: Hardy, Ulysses, Nabokov … and I came across many other interesting books and sources during my research, for example “Romantic medicine and John Keats” by Hermione De Almeida.
Art:
• “La Belle Dame Sans Merci” by George Barbier in “La Gazette du Bon Ton”, 1921
• “La Belle Dame Sans Merci” by Frank Cadogan Cowper (1877-1958)
• “La Belle Dame Sans Merci” by Walter Crane (1845-1915)
Comics:
A comic about “La Belle Dame Sans Merci” by Neil Cohn.
Film:
• A short film by Hidetoshi Oneda: “La Belle Dame Sans Merci” — Trailer
A Challenging Prompt …
While it was fascinating to delve into these riches, it was also very challenging to transform the inspiration I found into a story. This prompt definitely offered the opportunity to attempt a more literary approach than HP fanfic usually allows and I was determined to make the most of it.
It was not easy to find a suitable approach. What stalled me for a while was how little Hermione fits the theme — one of her most striking traits of character IMO is her compassion. Even for house-elves and hippogriffs, even when everyone is laughing at her.
But “The quarrel of the belle dame sans mercy” also contains the ballad “The Belle Dame Qui Eut Mercy”, a rebuttal of the original ballad (more information about that ballad may be found here) and a modern poem “La Belle Dame Avec Merci” by Michael Fleming can be found here.
Once I saw the Lady Without Mercy juxtaposed to the Lady With Mercy, inspiration struck and the rest was (almost) easy.
Formal Realisation
Since the prompt was based on a ballad (which in turn was based on another ballad), I wanted to express this formal tradition. Therefore I chose a form of constrained writing to present my story, as a reminder of the ballads that inspired it.
- La Belle Sorcière Sans Merci has ten chapters with exactly 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, 700, 800, 900 and 1,000 words as counted by MS Word
- La Belle Sorcière Avec Merci has ten chapters with exactly 1,000, 900, 800, 700, 600, 500, 400, 300, 200 and 100 words as counted by MS Word
Additionally, I used changes of tense and POV to enhance the difference between dreamworld and real world.
Textual Allusions and References
Where the story allowed it — or even demanded it — I infused it with various textual references and allusions to the many versions and references to “La Belle Dame Sans Merci” that I found during my research.
I’ve referenced the most important and most obvious allusions in this edition of “La Belle Sorcière”. However, there are actually many more, along with a few more or less veiled puns …
My hope is that they enhance the story a little and create at least a sense of the long tradition “La Belle Sorcière” is based on. After all, “La Belle Sorcière” is only the latest interpretation of pop culture to explore a theme that has inspired artists and writers since the Middle Ages.
Thank you!
First of all: a big “thank you” to evieeros for this wonderful prompt that provided hours of inspiration and creativity.
I cannot thank everyone who helped me with this story often enough: my beta-readers and alpha-readers:
And last but not least: thank YOU for reading the story and even making it to the end of the Author’s Notes. Thank you for spending time with my writing. I hope you enjoyed it a little bit!