It is important to note that poems are not essays. They do not require a single controlling idea or any ideas per se. While they can be grounded in abstraction, most poems are organized around narratives, perceptions or emotions rather than ideas.
"La Belle Dame sans Merci" is a narrative poem telling the story of a traveler encountering a pale, sickly, melancholy knight. When the traveler asks what the knight is doing wandering around...
It is important to note that poems are not essays. They do not require a single controlling idea or any ideas per se. While they can be grounded in abstraction, most poems are organized around narratives, perceptions or emotions rather than ideas.
"La Belle Dame sans Merci" is a narrative poem telling the story of a traveler encountering a pale, sickly, melancholy knight. When the traveler asks what the knight is doing wandering around in the remote countryside, the knight tells a story of having been seduced by a female fairy or elf. After a ride and extended foreplay, they have a (discretely worded) sexual encounter and while the knight is asleep, the woman leaves. Since then the knight has wandered mournfully around the area of their meeting.
One can read the poem romantically, seeing the knight as a victim, seduced by the beauty of the fairy. The central idea can then be seen as focusing on the longing for beauty being fatal and destructive but still leading to moments of ineffable joy for which the romantic knight or artist sacrifices everything.
One could also look at the poem more realistically. First, the knight blaming the woman for his unhappiness and having him "in her thrall" can be seen as silly. He willingly slept with her. She left. Rather than indulging in melodramatic moping, one could argue that he should get back to his knightly duties. Thus we could also argue that another central idea is that romantic delusions interfere with getting on with one's daily life and duties.
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