Books within books

When I taught, if there was class on Halloween, I always read my students John Keats’ poem, “La Belle Dame Sans Merci.” It’s seasonal, with its withered sedge and finished harvest, and it is haunting, with its “pale kings and princes too.” I never asked for response or analysis – with the exception of a course on the dream in literature, it wouldn’t have been topical – and besides, especially when your work is that of analyzing literature, sometimes it’s nice to just be reminded of the power in a piece, and to let the syllables fall in the air.