Isabella Quotes Flashcards
“Know there’s richest juice in poison flowers”
Stanza 13
- nature imagery
- a warning to Isabella that if she indulges in the sweet imagery of the “richest juice” of her and Lorenzo’s intense, “honeyed” love, it will only lead to the intoxicating and deadly connotations of “poison
- juxtaposition to stanza 9 - “grew, like a lusty flower”
Their love “grew, like a lusty flower”
Stanza 9
- contrasts/juxtaposes with stanza 13
- emphasizes the suggestion that overindulgence and “lust” can only lead to suffering and “poison” for Isabella
“And she forgot the stars, the moon, and sun - And she forgot the blue above the stars”
Stanza 53
- anaphora of “And she forgot” emphasizes her detachment from herself and the world/reality - as a result of her suffering, she has lost interest in reality as it “[makes] sad Isabella’s eyelids ache”
“That he, the servant of their trade designs should be in their sister’s love blithe and glad”
Stanza 21
- the brother’s hatred/little respect towards Lorenzo because he is working class
- rigidity of the social classes in the early Nineteenth century
“That he, the servant of their trade designs should be in their sister’s love blithe and glad”
Stanza 21
- the brother’s hatred/little respect towards Lorenzo because he is working class
- rigidity of the social classes in the early Nineteenth century
“Fair Isabel, poor simple Isabel!”
Stanza 1, opening line of poem
- immediately identifies that there will be two conflicting clauses in the poem
- oxymoronic exclamative
- “fair” illustrates Isabella as weak, and has sympathetic characteristics
“With every morn their love grew tenderer - With every eve deeper and tenderer still”
Stanza 2
- anaphora of “with every” - shows that their love is growing
- semantic field of suffering
- dramatic irony - a sense that their love will be disrupted, creating a build up for their tragic downfall
“Twin roses by the zephr blown apart”
Stanza 10
- “zephr” - Greek God of West Wind - asserts a higher power over them - they are destined to be together
- “twin roses” - motif of flower/nature imagery symbolizes their love blooming and ultimately dying (natural process - their love is fated and natural) eg “lusty flower”, “poison flowers”
- pitiable
“Too many tears for lovers have been shed”
Stanza 12
- links their love with destruction
- Keats criticizing their hubristic, consuming love - this intense level of indulgence can only lead to suffering
“The little sweet doth kill much bitterness”
Stanza 13
- transition from “sweet” to “bitterness” - the timeline their story/love - juxtaposition
“I must taste the blossoms that unfold”
Stanza 9
- “taste” - sexual imagery - overindulgence
- flower imagery - their love reflects the pleasure and beauty of nature - an escape and comfort for them and the readers from the “torched mines and noisy factories” from capitalism in reality - reality vs allusion
“With her two brothers this fair lady dwelt”
Stanza 14
- reminder of “sweet Isabella’s” goodness - creates sympathy and contrasts with the “ignorant” descriptions of her brothers - she is a dramatic foil to emphasize their evil nature
“Why were they proud?”
Stanza 16
- repeated throughout stanza
- Keats’ frustration towards the brother’s hubris as they are “enriched from ancestral merchandise” - the wealth they obtain isn’t theirs and they haven’t worked for it - Marxist criticism of the system of inherited wealth
“He, the servant of their trade designs, should be in their sister’s love be blithe and glad”
Stanza 21
- Lorenzo is identified/defined by his social status as a “servant”
- brothers hubristic fear that Lorenzo will taint their image as they have little respect for working class
“‘Twas their plan to coax her by degrees to some high noble and his olive-trees”
Stanza 21
- brothers want Isabelle’s to marry a “high noble” and his “olive-trees” that symbolize money and land ownership - importance of class in marriage
- “coax” - their manipulative nature
