Isabella; Or, The Pot of Basil Flashcards
“Fair Isabel”
Fair implies beauty and moral goodness - sympathetic characteristics
“Poor simple Isabel!”
Builds a sense of tragic inevitability + foreshadows an unhappy ending - tragic trope
“Without some stir of heart, some malady”
Reference to love being a sickness
Enjambment in 1st stanza
Shows ease and unity of their love
“With every” x2
Anaphora shows that their love is building
Cesuras in 2nd stanza
Slows the pace, allows reader to luxuriate in their love
“His continual voice was pleasanter / To her, than noise of trees or hidden rill”
Association of love with pastoral imagery - positive association - Romantic trope
“And from her chamber-window he would catch / Her beauty farther than the falcon spies”
Reference to balcony scene of Romeo and Juliet - deliberate allusion to a text that has a tragic ending for the lovers - foreshadowing
“And constant as her vespers”
Prayers - moral goodness - sympathetic
“Made their cheeks paler”
A further reference to love being a sickness. Paleness is a reference frequently used by Keats - his life is surrounded by death and sickness, so it is a image that recurs
” “To morrow I will bow to my delight, / To-morrow will I ask my lady’s boon” / “O may I never see another night, / Lorenzo, if thy lips breathe not loves tune” “- speech in stanza 4
They both speak 2 lines that rhyme to show their harmony. Also another line combining death and love
“Fever’d his high conceit of such a bride”
Shows he is aware of her status and how she is higher status than him - introduction of an idea which eventually ends their love - start of cause and effect chain?
“She saw it waxing very pale and dead” (stanza 7)
Shows a physical manifestation of his worry and references illness as well as creating a sense of tragic inevitability
“so, lisped tenderly, / “Lorenzo!” - here she ceas’d her timid quest” (stanza 7)
She sees his worry and troubled state and encourages him as much as social conventions allow her too - as a woman she should remain passive and timid - link to Death of a Salesman and Linda’s attitude
” “If thou didst ever any thing believe, / Believe how I love thee, believe how near / My soul is to its doom” “
Prophetic language, enjambment and repetition of “believe” shows an outpouring of his emotions
"”but I cannot live / Another night, and not my passion shrive” “
The line structure emphasises the prophetic language, and “shrive” is used when Romeo speaks to Juliet at the ball in act 1 scene 5 - another allusion that creates more foreshadowing
"”Lady! thou leadest me to summer clime”
She gives him warmth and happiness - positive connotations
” “And I must taste the blossoms that unfold” “, “and great happiness / Grew, like a lusty flower in June’s caress”
Metaphor of desire and a simile which also shows sexual desire. Growth also implies natural cycles which imply that their love will come to an end
“Twin roses by the zephyr blown apart”
Romantic image
“The inward fragrance of each other’s heart”
Intimate image
“Sang, of delicious love and honey’d dart” “joy’d his fill”
Sexual satisfaction, phallic imagery
Stanza 10
Has a happier feeling - lots of enjambment, romantic and pastoral imagery, images of sexual satisfaction, and paralleled positive actions of “he” and “she” give a sense of their love
“Close in a bower of hyacinth and musk”
Contrast of feminine and masculine scents. “Close” is also repeated throughout the stanza (stanza 11) to show unity of their love and how often they meet
“Ah! better had it been for ever so, / Than idle ears should pleasure in their woe”
Narrator interjects to create tension in the narrative and a foreboding tone - creates more tragic inevitability
“Too many tears for lovers had been shed /… “
Anaphora with “too many” emphasises how tragic lovers are often doomed
“Except in such a page where Theseus’ spouse”
Allusion to a myth in which the lovers experience a tragic ending - abandonment, doomed nature of their relationships. Allusions to mythology give the tragic feeling more gravitas
“The little sweet doth kill much bitterness”
The beginning of the line contrasts with the end - ending has lots of negative connotations
“Though Dido is silent in under-grove”
Allusion - shows hyperbolic extremities of love
“Even bees … / Know there is richest juice in poison flowers”
Reference to temptation and creates dramatic foreshadowing
“With her two brothers this fair lady dwelt”
Reminder of her moral goodness - creates sympathy and contrasts with the descriptions of the brothers
“Enriched from ancestral merchandise”
Shows the wealth they have is not theirs - protomarxist criticism of the system of inherited wealth
“And for them many a weary hand did swelt”
Polysyndeton enhances a sense of their employees sacrifices
“In torched mines and noisy factories”
Language is much more industrial which contrasts the natural imagery of previous stanzas - negative association of the brothers
“In blood from stinging whip”
Images of slavery - emphasises cruelty of the brothers
Repetition of “For them” in stanza 15
Shows the power they have over others, foreshadows later events
“For them his ears gush’d blood, for them in death / The seal of the cold ice with piteous bark”, “Half-ignorant, they turn’d an easy wheel, / That set sharp racks at work, to pinch and peel” (stanza 15)
Lots of references to death and negativity. Keats’ narrator is critical of how the brothers treat their work
“Why were they proud?” (repeated) + repetition of comparative adjectives (stanza 16)
Repetition of the same question show that the narrator believes they shouldn’t be proud of their wealth, likely because the narrator is critical of inherited wealth. This question also indicates that the narrator believes they are hubristic, which is ironic as they are not punished for it like a typical tragic hero would be
“Florentines”
Renowned for prosperity at the time of writing - shows wealth of brothers
“In hungry pride and gainful cowardice”
Negative traits in reference to brothers, unsympathetic. Could be extended to be an indictment of those who are successful from capitalism
“two close Hebrews”
Antisemitic reference to Jews being “close” with money - common in poems at the time
“How was it these same ledger men could spy…?”
Implies that the brothers are too involved with money. “Spy” has negative connotations - implies they are looking for wrong doings
“Fair Isabella in her downy nest?”
Repetition of her moral goodness, “downy nest” also implies innocence, and is pastoral imagery, increasing symapthy for her
“How could these money-bags see east and west?”
Metaphor strengthens their criticism
Questions in stanza 18
Tripling of questions shows the narrator’s disbelief and incredulousness
“Must see behind, as doth the haunted hare”
Ominous note to end the stanza - implies Isabella and Lorenzo are the prey
“O eloquent and famed Boccaccio! / Of thee we now should ask forgiving boon”
Appeal to Boccaccio to be forgiving of the lovers, foreshadows a tragic ending
“And of thy roses amorous of the moon / And of thy lilies that do paler grow”
Roses - reference to love, lilies - reference to death. “paler” also strengthens reference to death. Pastoral imagery
Significance of stanzas 19 and 20
Pull from the story in order to create a sense of tragic inevitability
“Grant thou a pardon here”
Keats alleviates himself from the responsibility of the tragic fate of the lovers - creates tension
“But it is done - succeed the verse or fail -“
Added as an afterthought to show the importance of the story being told
“What love Lorenzo for their sister had”
Lorenzo is mentioned first - shows how men are dominant in relationships, but may also represent how Lorenzo is more important to the narrative at this point
“each unconfines / His bitter thoughts to other”
Enjambment suggests that the brothers’ plans are already in motion and are unstoppable
“That he, the servant of their trade designs”
Lorenzo is identified by his social status
