Quotes Flashcards
“By gradual……….”
“By gradual decay from beauty fell”
Isabella assumes Lorenzo has left her. She is left in tragic isolation and we see the beginning of her deterioration.
“Fair”
Epithets like “fair” are repeated throughout, helping to emphasise Isabella’s role as something tragic - her fate will be unjust and undeserved - heighten pathos. Tragic inevitability.
“In blood…………..”
“In blood from stinging whip”
The villainous nature of her brothers creates a jarring juxtaposition between their corrupt nature and her innocence. Exploitative of workers, use violence to keep them in line.
Chief antagonists
Animalistic terms to describe the brothers
“Hungry” “shark” “hawk”
The brothers are presented to be predatory via a semantic field through the use of animalistic imagery.
Establishes a clear division between victim and villain and to potentially present capitalist leaders to be predatory and ruthless in comparison to the innocent symbols of emotion and love which Isabella and Lorenzo embody.
“What feverous………..”
“What feverous hectic flame/ Burns in thee, child?”
Defying gender roles
“Fair Isabel,………”
“Fair Isabel, poor simple Isabel”
From the opening line we are positioned to sympathise with Isabel, she is immediately established as a victim. Keats wants us to pity her for the tragedy to be successful in creating pathos, he also wanted to portray his own message that denying people the ability to love whoever they want causes pain and suffering.
“Great bliss was……….”
“Great bliss was with them, and great happiness grew”
Establishing the height from which the characters inevitably fall from. Their ecstasy and intense love will never endure, it will be temporary, and ultimately tragic.
“Ledger-men” “money-bags”
Further characterisation by the brothers obsession with wealth.
Preoccupation with wealth and status: 19th century industrialists.
“All…….”
“All delight”
Happiness emphasised. The delight of Isabella as seen by Lorenzo will be short lived. It is a poignant moment full of pathos.
“She weeps…….”
“She weeps alone”
Beginning of deterioration
Tragic isolation
Overwhelming feeling of pathos evoked for the tragic victim
Melancholy feeling to the stanza
“The murderous………”
“The murderous spite of pride and avarice”
Reference to why the poem’s tragic antagonists murdered Lorenzo
Avarice - greed
Lorenzo was mercilessly stabbed, killed and buried
“A brother’s……….”
“A brother’s bloody knife!”
Isabella’s moment of anagnorisis
“Sweet spirit………..”
“Sweet spirit thou hast schooled my infancy”
Childhood ended
Innocence has been corrupted
No longer naive/ deluded/ deceived - she knows the truth
“Until her heart………”
“Until her heart felt pity to the core”
Talking about the nurse
Reader can align themselves with the nurse in this moment
Absolute sense of pathos
“And she forgot……….”
“And she forgot the stars, the moon, and the sun”
So consumed by grief that nothing else matters.
“She withers, …………….”
“She withers, like a palm cut by an Indian for its juicy balm”
Emotional investment
Draining/ exhausting herself to death
Deterioration of her health = plant getting more beautiful
“Sweet Isabel”
Few stanzas from the end
Highlights tragic innocence, she doesn’t deserve this
Tragic inevitability - there will be no redemption
“No heart there……..”
“No heart there in Florence but did mourn”
Everyone mourned the death of Isabella.
“Alas!…………..”
“Alas! When passion is both meek and wild!”
Narrative voice directs sympathy and pity from the reader towards Lorenzo who loves Isabella but is too scared to say anything.
Oxymoronic - he wants to speak and express how wildly in love with her he is but cant because he is scared
“With every morn…………”
“With every morn their love grew tenderer,”
Romantic mood
“Their murdered………”
“Their murdered man”
Fate
Ominous foreboding
Tragic inevitability
“Sick and……….”
“Sick and wan/ The brothers’ faces in the ford did seem,/ Lorenzo’s flush with love.”
Contrast of skin
“The breath of…………”
“The breath of Winter comes from far away,”
Keats use of pathetic fallacy to reflect the mood and atmosphere surrounding Isabella after Lorenzo leaves
“So sweet Isabel/……..”
“So sweet Isabel/ By gradual decay from beauty fell”
“And every night in………….”
“And every night in dreams they groaned aloud,/ To see their sister in her snowy shroud.”
Brothers are beginning to feel guilty
“Upon the skirts………”
“Upon the skirts of human-nature dwelling/ Alone.”
Doesn’t fit iambic pentameter, showing things aren’t right and this is a turning point as Isabella is learning the truth
“A brother’s……”
“A brother’s bloody knife!”
Isabella realises the truth
Plosive alliteration creates harsh sounds that show anger
“Sweet basil, ………..”
“Sweet basil, which her tears kept ever wet”
Isabella’s sadness is emphasised when her tears are enough to water the basil
“And so she……….”
“And so she died forlorn,/ imploring for her basil to the last”
