"pale kings and princes too,
Pale warriors, death-pale..."See in text(Text of the Poem)
Keats employs diacope, or the repetition of words separated by intervening words, by repeating the word “pale.” In this context, diacope calls the reader’s attention to the similarities between the paleness of the knight and the paleness of the men in his dream. He, like the kings, princes, and warriors before him, has been enslaved by a merciless woman.
"The latest dream I ever dream’d..."See in text(Text of the Poem)
The repetition of the root verb “to dream” in lines 34 and 35 is an example of polyptoton, which involves repeating different forms of the same root word. Polyptoton emphasizes the distressing nature of the knight’s dream. Further, the changing form of the repeated root verb suggests that the knight himself has been transformed by the harrowing experience.
Keats uses epizeuxis, or the repetition of words without intervening words between them, in this line. The repetition of the adjective “wild” emphasizes that the knight has become infatuated with someone who is more like a creature than a woman. In this case, epizeuxis foreshadows the knight’s abandonment while also implying that the knight cannot possess her.
"Her hair was long, her foot was light,..."See in text(Text of the Poem)
Keats employs caesuras, or breaks in the middle of lines of verse, in the knight’s first descriptions of the enchanting woman he encountered. In this context, an em-dash (—) in line 14 and a comma in line 15 both force the reader to pause and take notice of important details about the woman—mainly, that she is not like an ordinary human, and possibly not human at all.
"a fading rose
Fast withereth too...."See in text(Text of the Poem)
The final two lines of the third stanza use enjambment, a device in which a phrase that begins in one line continues into the next line. Keats’s use of enjambment intensifies the romantic image of the listless, forlorn knight wandering the countryside. Further, enjambment calls attention to the metaphor of the “fading rose” that represents the knight’s pale appearance. Given that roses are often associated with romance, it is possible that Keats highlights this metaphor to hint that heartbreak is the cause of the knight’s sadness.
