Which of the following most precisely captures the author’s central claim about La Belle Dame sans Merci?

. A = reduction. True, but collapses the argument into “heartbreak.” That’s explicitly rejected in the passage. B = the spine. This is not about romance—it’s about cognition. The key move is: intensity ≠ truth. That’s the structural claim. C = important but secondary. Patterning supports the argument, it doesn’t define it. D = seductive but narrower. Beauty is a vehicle, not the thesis.

The “pale kings and princes” in the knight’s dream primarily serve to:

. A = structural function. The dream is not decorative—it’s evidence that the knight is not unique, just another iteration in a pattern. B = tonal reading. True, but shallow. Tone is secondary to function. C = partially valid, but again narrative-level. The passage emphasizes pattern recognition, not suspense mechanics. D = over-interpretation. No political thesis is being built here.

According to the passage, the knight is ultimately undone because:

. A is subtly wrong. The passage insists the enchantment does not collapse—it lingers. B is the classic romantic misread. The issue is not betrayal, it’s cognitive distortion. C is true but indirect. Pattern explains recurrence, not the mechanism of damage. D is the key. The harm lies in the afterlife of illusion—when intensity outlives its object and corrupts perception.

The concluding lines of the passage imply that:

. A = partial truth, but too external. The passage is about internal persuasion, not just misreading the world. B = moral overreach. The author doesn’t advocate avoidance, he diagnoses vulnerability. C = exact landing point. The problem is not falsity—it’s persuasiveness. That’s the line the entire passage builds toward. D = unsupported extrapolation. No historical comparison of deception levels is made.

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The Haunting World of La Belle Dame sans Merci

The Haunting World of La Belle Dame sans Merci

A concise analysis of La Belle Dame sans Merci by John Keats on illusion, desire, and the danger of enchantment.

A knight pauses at the edge of a fading meadow, his armour intact, his spirit not. The birds have fallen silent, the sedge has withered, and time itself seems to hesitate, as if the world has quietly withdrawn its consent. In La Belle Dame sans Merci, John Keats stages a miniature apocalypse, not of kingdoms or wars, but of perception. What appears to be a medieval romance is, in truth, a forensic study of enchantment, and of the human tendency…

RC Questions

Each essay includes four exam-level RC questions for CAT, GMAT, GRE, XAT and IPMAT.

Which of the following most precisely captures the author’s central claim about La Belle Dame sans Merci?
A = reduction. True, but collapses the argument into “heartbreak.” That’s explicitly rejected in the passage. B = the spine. This is not about romance—it’s about cognition. The key move is: intensity ≠ truth. That’s the structural claim. C = important but secondary. Patterning supports the argument, it doesn’t define it. D = seductive but narrower. Beauty is a vehicle, not the thesis.
The “pale kings and princes” in the knight’s dream primarily serve to:
A = structural function. The dream is not decorative—it’s evidence that the knight is not unique, just another iteration in a pattern. B = tonal reading. True, but shallow. Tone is secondary to function. C = partially valid, but again narrative-level. The passage emphasizes pattern recognition, not suspense mechanics. D = over-interpretation. No political thesis is being built here.
According to the passage, the knight is ultimately undone because:
A is subtly wrong. The passage insists the enchantment does not collapse—it lingers. B is the classic romantic misread. The issue is not betrayal, it’s cognitive distortion. C is true but indirect. Pattern explains recurrence, not the mechanism of damage. D is the key. The harm lies in the afterlife of illusion—when intensity outlives its object and corrupts perception.
The concluding lines of the passage imply that:
A = partial truth, but too external. The passage is about internal persuasion, not just misreading the world. B = moral overreach. The author doesn’t advocate avoidance, he diagnoses vulnerability. C = exact landing point. The problem is not falsity—it’s persuasiveness. That’s the line the entire passage builds toward. D = unsupported extrapolation. No historical comparison of deception levels is made.

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The Haunting World of La Belle Dame sans Merci