Isabella Flashcards
What is the main conflict in the poem?
Romantic enchantment and cold reality/ capitalist greed.
How could Isabella be seen to be more relevant to 19th century audiences?
As Keats criticises capitalism.
What is cold reality and capitalist greed represented by?
The brothers who destroy their idyllic world.
If the poem was to be interpreted as romantic enchantment versus cold reality, how could events such as the visit from Lorenzo’s ghost and the strange cultivation of Lorenzo’s head be seen?
As a lament from the loss of love and pleasure and beauty which results from the pressures of social and economic demands- an expression therefore of poignant longing to escape reality.
In what way, on the other hand, could the idealised world of the lovers be considered just as limited as the brother’s cold, rational world?
Absorbed in their passion, Lorenzo and Isabella exclude the larger world of human society. In this sense, their naivety and complete unawareness of the outside world make them vulnerable and unable to cope with or defend themselves against the manipulative tactics of the more worldly brothers. Therefore, in this sense, the poem can be seen to be questioning the feasibility of their idealism.
Psychoanalyical reading of Isabella?
A psychoanalytical reading might focus upon what the poem is suggesting about the construction of identity. Arguably, Isabella can find no identity through love and is only defined as female when the passion between the lovers is transformed through death into a mother-child relationship. Lorenzo’s head in the pot becomes the macabre object of a ‘child’ which Isabella, in a perverse maternal role, nurtures with her tears.
How is the loss.of love between Isabella and Lorenzo presented as impossible?
- From the start of the poem, love and death are inseparable.
- Their love is condemned in their society- and is litterwlly concealed (it Is a secret) .
- Repetition of ‘could not’- impossibility.
What does ‘before the dusk’ suggest?
That darkness is to come- there is always full darkness following dusk but there is also no hope from the beginning (fate)
2 quotes suggesting the lovers’ incompatibility?
‘Meek and wild’, ‘love and misery’.
What does ‘tread upon the air suggest’ (2)
- Too good to be true, unrealistic.
2. . Loss of control and that their fate is sealed beyond their control, suggesting their love was always doomed.
What biographical truths is there in the poem? Are these present in other poems?
Class anxieties between him and Fanny Brawne. In a
many of Keats’ poems, the male lover finds himself inferior in status, such as Lamia and La Belle Dame.
What is the impact of Keat’s narrative interventions?
Arouses sympathy for the lovers and engages the reader.
Analysis of ‘Fair Isabella/…Poor simple Isabella’. (3)
- Keats protective and sympathetic towards her- he knows she is vulnerable.
- Suggestion of purity as later is she is also referred to as ‘untouched’
- Alternatively, calling her ‘simple’ and ‘fair’ suggests naivety- Keats thinks the lover’s view of love is ‘simple’ and he is mocking it.
What could Keats’ pessimistic view of love be derived from?
His own tragic experiences- Fanny Brawne and family deaths.
What is suggested by the seasonal imagery?
Whilst the device of spring turning to summer represents a continuation of the lovers’ painful yearning, it also forebodes the relationships inevitable end. Lorenzo’s declaration of love s filled with imagery of the seasons, describing how she led him from a ‘wintry cold’ to a ‘summer climb’ with her love. The references to spring are ominous and foreboding as ultimately winter will come, and the flowers will die—> impeding tragedy. Also, the contrast between the two seasons shows dramatic changes can occur suddenly, making their love as temporary as the seasons.–> Keats’ pessimism about love.
