Keats's exploration of the nature of love is enhanced through his use of imagination and the overtly supernatural settings he creates. Both Lamia, which tells the mystical story of a beautiful serpent who makes a pact with Hermes to restore a woman's form, and La Belle Dame Sans Merci, which presents the story of a knight who falls victim to a "fairy". '-like a woman, they employ a hypnotic rhythm accompanied by mythical allusions that help show the inner workings of Keats's highly imaginative mind. Critics have described some of the poetry of the Romantics as "a semi-religious response to the natural world"; however, what can be detected from Keats' poems mentioned above is the sense of a semi-religious response to the supernatural world, which is depicted with such sensory detail and artistry that it seems almost unimaginable. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay The enchanting hypnotic effect of La Belle Dame Sans Merci, written in iambic tetrameter, and Lamia, composed of heroic rhyming couplets that create a repetitive rhythm and continuous movement, perhaps reflect the supernatural nature of the stories and the power potentially harmful to their protagonists. This becomes evident in the fairy's "wild and wild eyes", which powerfully conveys the female's betrayal through the adoption of repetition and builds on the unsettling disquiet of the opening line "O what may afflict thee, Knight-at-arms". The cunning tone of the words suggests that we will later discover that the conventionally strong and courageous soldier will succumb to a greater power, which in this case is the deceitful and threatening woman. Her "wild" eyes and ability to cause the Knight to be "lulled" into sleep establish an otherworldly aura around the woman, which could be interpreted as a representation of Keats's paradoxical fascination with the lure of the opposite sex, illustrating also his distrust of the innate feminine essence, depicted here as manipulative and perhaps lethal. The supernatural theme of the poem enhances this ambivalent perception along with the power of seduction, which can similarly be recognized in the character of Lamia. Keats's use of the oxymoronic statement "ah, bittersweet!" describing it illustrates his perplexity in the face of the ambiguity and uncertainty of the feminine. The serpent creature is described as having a mouth "with all its pearls complete", which suggests its priceless value whilst also having a sexual connotation, and eyes which are "born so beautiful", but conversely potentially "the self of demon". He seems ambivalent towards women; both fascinated by their beauty but at the same time presenting them as phenomenally destructive, particularly for the male. The spiritual reference to the "demon", with its connotations of malevolence and torment, emphasizes this notion and leads us to question the stereotypical innocence and submissiveness of Keats's 19th-century female counterparts. Furthermore, Keats's use of the spiritual emphasizes the transitory nature of earthly love, as discovered by the Knight of La Belle Dame Sans Merci, and the ease with which those who possess mystical abilities can taint the nature of love. He is left “alone and pale to loiter” after learning that “La Belle Dame sans Merci/ Thee has in thrall,” illustrating the ruthlessness of his charmer, accentuated by the harsh sound of the “th” consonance. His beauty and magical ability appear to have deceived and enslaved him, resulting in his isolation and ill health. This is reinforced by the metaphorical.