Poem And The Fairy Dream In Gatsby's Fairy Dream

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Gatsby’s Fairy Dream In the early 19th century, at the end of the “Romantic Period”, an English poet named John Keats composed a poetic masterpiece called La Belle Dame sans Merci. The Romantic writers, along with Mr. Keats, created a political, social, and literary movement that explored how much love defined the human nature. La Belle Dame sans Merci, on the surface, may seem to be just another Romantic poem revolving around the tale of courtly love, but in truth, there is a deeper meaning and story associated to the love that the knight feels for his fair lady. The romantic encounter that the knight and the beautiful fairy have in the story abruptly ends in tragedy for the smitten, young man as he becomes so enraptured with the mythical,…show more content…
After being captivated by the faery’s beautiful looks, the knight is spellbound by “la belle dame’s” “faery song”. Her faery-like qualities: long hair, wild eyes, and strange language, all contribute to the portrayal of her as an idealistic woman, unreal to the rest of the world. Because her perfection is really nonexistent, her soothing voice and charming looks are only a cover hiding the true, evil nature of the woman who has no mercy for any man, as the French name suggests. Similarly, Daisy, an attractive, young woman has certain features that make her enticing and idealistic, especially for Jay Gatsby. Daisy’s voice was one of the main traits that kept her so intriguing and mysterious for Gatsby, which Nick mentions when he says, “there was an excitement in her voice that men who had cared for her found difficult to forget” (9). The excitement of her charming voice came from her affection for money, a trait of hers that Gatsby clearly dismissed until his tragic death. Daisy was most certainly a woman without mercy, which could be observed when she ran off with her husband after she professed her love for Gatsby, and shattered Gatsby’s dream of a happy future with her. Both women, Daisy and the Faery, can be symbolized as heartless demons that are in the form of temptresses, beautiful yet deadly. The main similarity and flaw that Jay Gatsby and the knight both have is their creation of a fixated, unattainable dream: a hopeful future with their idealistic lovers. The knight’s obsession in courting “la belle dame sans merci” leads to him having “the latest dream he ever did dream”. He is enchanted by the Faery’s exotic looks and voice, and with his romantic readiness he turns her into a dream. He is frustrated with the fact that he is mortal, and she is a fairy, so he decides to alter his image of her in his
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