Isabella or The Pot of Basil Revision Flashcards
AQA Paper 2 Revision
What form is the poem?
Ottava Rima
The poet makes use of a number of gothic conventions. How many can you name? (5)
Prolonged period of love being held back.
Gloomy forest setting.
Lorenzo’s Ghost appearing at midnight.
Grief and Madness
The macabre burial of the head in Basil.
‘poor simple Isabel!’ sets the protagonist up immediately as what?
A vulnerable and innocent victim.
‘a young palmer’ is an intertextual reference to what?
Romeo and Juliet - ‘holy palmer’s kiss’ - which immediately establishes the Lorenzo and Isabella as tragic lovers.
What is the effect of the anaphora in the first stanza?
It shows the depth of their devotion to each other and also the frustration that they cannot be together.
Why does Keats capitalise ‘Love’ in the first stanza?
To Keats and other Romantic writers, abstract emotions were also given more significance.
Keats’ meaningful descriptions of love in the poem - such as ‘her lute-string gave an echo of his name – are thought to be inspired by who?
Fanny Brawne
‘He knew whose gentle-hand was at the latch // Before the door had given her to his _____.’
eyes
In the fourth stanza, Keats uses a lot of pauses, caesura and punctuation, why?
It symbolises the separation between the two.
‘I may not speak // And yet I will, and tell ___ ____ all plain.’
my love
‘I will drink her _____’
tears
What does ‘Stifled his voice’ symbolise?
Social convention that prevents him from speaking to her.
Analyse: ‘Alas! When passion is both meek and wild!
The antithesis could show Lorenzo’s conflicting emotions, his love versus social convention.
It could show their doomed, alluding to their different natures and how they cannot work together.
‘If Isabel’s quick ____ had not been wed.’
eye
In Stanza VIII, Lorenzo tells Isabel of his love. How does Keats create a sense of foreboding about that confession?
Through the semantic field of death. ‘my grief’, ‘its doom’ ‘grieve’ ‘cannot live’.
What technique does Keats use in Stanza IV to create a positivity surrounding their love?
Natural imagery - ‘leading me from wintry cold’ ‘‘to summer clime’ ‘the blossoms that unfold’ ‘lusty flower’
In Stanza X, how does Keats temper the mood and remind us of tragedy?
‘Twin roses by the zephyr blown apart’.
What is the significance of ‘a ditty fair // sang’?
Ditty is an archaic word for a short song. It is light-hearted showing her happiness but the length indicates the foreboding danger that will cut their time short.
How is ‘All close they met again, before the dusk’ significant?
The caesura emphasises the approaching darkness that will ruin their love.
What is a hyacninth?
A funeral flower
‘Than idle ears should pleasure in their ____.’
Woe
What is actually being suggested in the line ‘Were they unhappy then? – It cannot be–’?
It is suggested that there relationship cannot ‘exist’ due to the social constraints. The use of dashes serves to separate them further, symbolising the barrier between the two.
In Stanza XII, what does the anaphora of ‘too many’ emphasise?
The common trait in love being heartache.
Analyse: ‘there is richest juice in poison-flowers.’
Poison foreshadows the harm that will come. However, richest juice suggest the taboo nature of their love made their feeling stronger.
What does ‘enriched from ancestral merchandise’ suggest about the brothers?
That they have inherited wealth and have not had to work for it. It gives them an immediate sense of entitlement.
Analyse: ‘And for them many a weary hand did swelt // In torched mines and noisy factories.’
It depicts the brothers as cruel masters, possibly linking them to mill and factory owners during the Industrial Revolution.
Why might Keats link the brothers to the Industrial Revolution?
Because as a Romantic, Keats had an affinity with nature and therefore a dislike of those in industry, depicting the brothers as some such people.
The brothers are described as ‘_____ - _____ they turned an easy wheel.’
Half-ignorant
What is the example of anaphora Keats uses in Stanza XVI to establish the brothers as villanous?
‘Were they proud?’
Keats’ condemnation of the brothers in Stanza XVI seems to take an anti-capitalist stance ‘red-lined accounts’ and ‘richer than songs’. What does this show us about Keats?
That Keats has sympathy for the suffering of ordinary working people.
‘Fair Isabella in her ____ nest?’
downy
How does ‘in her downy nest’ presents Isabella in comparison to her ‘proud’ brothers?
It presents her as innocent and delicate like the fluffy feathers of baby birds.
Who is referred to as ‘Hot Egypt’s pest’?
The brothers
‘Must see behind, as doth the ______ ______’.
Hunted hare
Analyse: ‘Must see behind, as doth the hunted hare.’
The zoomorphism presents the brothers as the predators and Lorenzo as the prey.
Who is Boccaccio?
An Italian writer and poet who wrote a similar story in prose and is praised by Keats in the poem for his ability to depict lovers and and their feelings.
Why do you think Keats addresses ‘O eloquent and famed Boccaccio’?
To point out the lasting legacy of love stories told through these high art forms, indicating their importance.
‘To some high noble and his olive-trees’ indicates what about the brothers and their reasons for disliking Lorenzo?
It shows that they want her sister to marry someone else for their wealth.
‘To make the youngster for his _____ atone’
crime
Why does Keats capitalise ‘Mercy’ in ‘cut Mercy, with a sharp knife to the bone’?
To give added importance to the abstract (typical of Keats). Compassion and love should outweigh thoughts of wealth and status.
In stanza XXV, Keats returns to idea of Lorenzo sensing Isabella before he sees her - ‘the light whisper of her footstep soft’ - why does he do this?
To remind us of the depth of their connection, increasing the tragic nature of this scene as the reader know the brothers mean him harm.
What does ‘amorous dark’ refer to?
It refers to sexual desires, reminding us of the forbidden nature of their relationship, again perhaps making a reference to Romeo and Juliet.
What is significant about their goodbye in Stanza XXVI?
There is a dramatic irony to it as the reader starts to/or understands that this is actually their final goodbye, yet she leaves ‘merrily’.
‘So the two brothers and their _______ man // Rode past Florence’
‘murder’d’
What is the effect of the juxtaposing language in Stanza XXVII? ‘stream // Gurgles’ ‘dancing bulrush’ against ‘murder’d man’ ‘‘sick and wan’ and ‘for the slaughter’
The natural world seems filled with life, contrasting the humans who are linked to death and suffering. Even the brothers are ‘sick and wan’ possibly linking them to an idea of guilt or concern for what they are about to do.
What is interesting about the line ‘There was Lorenzo slain and buried’?
It is oddly minimalist, particularly considering the rest of the poem.
Why does Keats choose to present Lorenzo’s murder in such a minimalist fashion?
- because the act of the murder is too horrific to relate.
- the ease and speed with which Lorenzo is dispatched, increases the callous presentation of the brothers.
‘It aches in ________ – is ill at peace’
loneliness
Why do the brothers dip ‘their swords in water’?
To attempt to cleanse themselves of their sins.
‘Each ______ by his being a murderer.’
richer
What technique - typical of Keats - is used here? ‘Poor Girl!’
Exclamatory
In Stanza XXX, what could Keats be referring to through language choices such as ‘pleasures’ ‘instead of love’ ‘gentle moan’ and ‘low murmuring’?
A sexual longing.
What does Keats imply when he calls ‘Selfishness, Love’s cousin’?
That the two are intrinsically linked.
What does her ‘richer zest // came tragic’ imply?
That he feelings of passion, lust and longing for him becomes deeper grief ‘and sorrow’.
In Stanza XXXII, the ‘autumn’ and ‘the breath of winter’ arrives. What technique is this?
Pathetic fallacy.
In Stanza XXXII, Isabella is referred to as ‘sweet’ rather than ‘fair’ as she was earlier. What does this indicate?
That she is more mature and has lost her innocence. Whether or not this is from her relationship or the loss of Lorenzo is unclear.
What is the effect of the caesura in the line ‘But Lorenzo came not. Oftentimes’?
It creates a blunt tone perhaps representing her realisation that he will not come.
The image of sight is returned to in ‘an eye all pale’. What does the pale eye suggest?
That without Lorenzo she is now blind.
‘every night in dreams they _____ aloud // To see their sister in her snowy shroud.’
groan’d
How are we once again reminded of the love that murder has interrupted in stanza XXXV?
‘Had marr’d his glossy hair which once could shoot // Lustre into the sun’ (through the use of light imagery contrasted with dark ‘doom’)
‘Pale shadow’ ‘piteous tongue’ ‘tremulous shake’ of music ‘ghostly undersong’ ‘hoarse night gusts’ are all used in stanza XXVI and link to which genre?
Gothic
Why does Keats refer to Lorenzo as ‘Its eyes’?
It dehumanizes the ghost.
Analyse: ‘were still all dewy bright // With love’.
The enjambment emphasises the lasting feeling and connection of the two.
Analyse: ‘Upon the skirts of human-nature dwelling // Alone’.
The line shows he cannot pass on and is still suffering in death. However the enjambment draws attention to his true suffering - not having her.
Why does Lorenzo call Isabella a seraph?
They are the highest and noblest celestial being - just seeing her brings him some comfort despite the pain of his suffering and tomb.
Why does Lorenzo state her ‘paleness warms’ and ‘paleness makes [him] glad?’
Her is referring to her beauty. Paleness in this time was considered a desirable trait.
‘I thought the worst was _____ ______’
simple misery
Analyse: ‘school’d my infancy’
Isabella has become more experienced of the evil in the world.
‘And went into that dismal _____-_____’
‘forest-hearse’
‘Ah! this is a _____ to what was felt // When Isabella by Lorenzo knelt.’
holiday
Why when Isabella sees ‘the murderous spot’ does ‘she [seem] to grow’?
The grief she feels gives her strength.
The lily (a flower associated with funerals is described as ‘native’ in stanza XLVI. What does this imply?
That the idea of pain is rooted in love. The two are symbiotic.
‘To dig more _________ than misers can’
fervently
What does ‘she kissed it with a lip more than chill than stone’ imply?
Death. The suggestion is that she is dying herself, such is the intensity of her grief.
‘But to throw back at times her ______ her.’
veiling
What is interesting about the fact that Isabella is engaging in ‘dismal labouring’ in XLVIII?
The brothers killed Lorenzo because they wanted her to marry higher, but here she is connecting to Lorenzo through manual labour.
When finding Lorenzo’s body why did she ‘not stamp and rave’?
Because she is now drained of emotion. Her moment of catharsis has already passed.
'’Twas love ; cold, - dead indeed, but not ______.’
dethroned
‘She drench’d away: - and _____ she comb’d, and kept // Sighing all day – and ______ she kiss’d, and wept.’
still/still
In LIII, what technique is used to shows Isabella’s obsession?
Anaphora - ‘And she forgot…’
‘And so she ever fed it with ____ _____’
thin tears
In LV, which mythological character is referred to who once again links to the idea of tragedy in love?
Echo from the echo and Narcissus tale.
In LVI, why is Isabella referred to once again (echoing the first line) as simple?
She is pure and of a single, loving mind.
‘She withers like a _____’
palm
Who are Baalites?
Worshippers of the God of rain.
Analyse: ‘seldom did she go to chapel-shrift’.
Such is her grief that she has even forgone her faith (consider the importance of that in the Romantic period)
Analyse: ‘For cruel ‘tis,’ said she // To steal my Basil-pot away from me.’
Keats gives her voice here allowing the audience to feel pathos. Basil-pot is also capitalised making clear she is refencing Lorenzo.
Analyse: ‘O cruelty // To steal my Basil-pot away from me.’
Keats gives Isabella the final lines of the poem. It reinforces the tragedy of the poem but also shows the suffering she must go through to reclaim some degree of agency.
