A ballad by the English poet John Keats in which a knight is "alone and palely loitering", haggard and woebegone, tells how he was bewitched by a beautiful lady, a fairy's child. With false shows of love,she led him to her elfin grotto and there she lulled him to sleep.
La Belle Dame sans Merci is a seductress without pity for the victims she ensnares and abandons. In modern usage, La Belle Dame may stand for Lady Luck or the lure of money or fame. These may promise gleaming rewards but end with ruthless betrayal.
~ Facts on File Dictionary of Cultural and Historical Allusions.
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