# Faery Songs explained — Poetry

> Chapter companion for Poetry by John Keats.

## What happens

Two faery songs: the first comforts a mourner with the promise of renewal and the faery's own ethereal flight; the second laments the impending death of a queen, as blossoms fall and a silver-winged page is sent to prepare her for a calm burial.

## Themes in this chapter

### Beauty and Transience

The songs dwell on the fleeting nature of life and beauty, with blossoms that fall and a queen who must die.

### Sorrow and Melancholy

The second song is a dirge filled with woe over the queen's approaching death and the loss of spring's delights.

## Character check-ins

### Unknown

The speaker of the first song, a faery who comforts and then vanishes into the sky.

### La Belle Dame Sans Mercy

Implied as the 'lady' or 'Queen' whose dirge is sung and who is dying in the second song.

## Key lines

> Shed no tear! O shed no tear! The flower will bloom another year.

Do not cry, for the flower will bloom again next year.

_Opening lines of the first song, offering comfort through natural renewal._

> I vanish in the heaven’s blue— Adieu, Adieu!

I disappear into the blue sky—goodbye, goodbye!

_The faery's final farewell as it flies away._

> Ah! woe is me! poor silver-wing! That I must chant thy lady’s dirge

Oh, how sad I am, poor silver-winged creature, that I must sing your lady's funeral song.

_Opening of the second song, expressing the speaker's sorrow at having to sing a dirge._

> The blossoms hang by a melting spell, and fall they must, ere a star wink thrice

The blossoms are held by a fragile enchantment and will fall before three stars twinkle.

_Describes the imminent death of the queen, marked by falling blossoms._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_14_se/chapters/faery-songs
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_14_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_14_se/chapters