Speaker or Narrator, and Point of View
The narrator is told from the perspective of a third person objective point of view.
Form and Meter
The poem is written in a heroic couplet form.
Metaphors and Similes
One of the main metaphors used in the poem is the court where Le Bel Inconnu ends time and time again. The court is used here to represent the social norms a people had to follow but also the confinement many people experience.
Alliteration and Assonance
We find an alliteration in the line “The furrow followed free”.
Irony
One of the main ironies in the poem is the way in which Le Bel Inconnu listens to what the King is commanding him to do even though he does not like him and does not want to live near him.
Genre
Heroic poem
Setting
The action described in the poem takes place in the distant past, during King Arthur’s time. The action takes place at King’s Arthur court as well as in the forests surrounding them.
Tone
The tone used in the poem is a violent and also heroic one.
Protagonist and Antagonist
The protagonist is Le Bel Inconnu and the antagonists are the monsters he fights during his heroic quest.
Major Conflict
The major conflict in the story is between the main character’s desire to do what he wants and the need to follow social norms.
Climax
The poem reaches its climax when Le Bel Inconnu discovers the body of a dead knight near his house and becomes convinced that his purpose in life is to become a knight as well.
Foreshadowing
Le Bel Inconnu is revealed to be the son of one of the Knights of the Round Table, Sir Gawain. Even though Le Bel Inconnu is unaware who his father is, the fact he was born out of the union between a famous knight and a woman foreshadows his later desire to become a knight as well.
Understatement
We have an understatement in the beginning of the poem when the main character claims he will never fulfill his dream of becoming a knight. This is proved to be an understatement at the end of the poem when the main character is made a knight.
Allusions
One of the main allusions in the poem is the idea that the power women have is given to them through marriage. This is proven time and time again when the narrator makes reference to the women in the poem and the reason why they have a great influence over the people around them.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
N/A
Personification
We have a personification in the line “The woods are getting ready to sleep”.
Hyperbole
We have a hyperbole in the line “it got so frigid that all spoken words froze solid”.
Onomatopoeia
We have an onomatopoeia in the line ““The moan of doves in immemorial elms”.
