Isabella Quotes

Question 1

“Know that the richest juice in poison flowers”

Answer 1

• Stanza thirteen
• Love, tragic victims, fate, death, nature, fatal flaw, suffering, blindness
• Love is presented through nature imagery
o Motif of flower imagery symbolizes their love blooming and ultimately dying (natural process – inevitable tragic fate)
o Nature has a symbiotic relationship with readers – generally considered God’s creation in the Bible – shows the importance of their love to them – emphasizes role as tragic victims as there is fated not to last
• Taste imagery – overindulgence (“delicious love”)
• Juxtaposition of “richest juices” and “poison” foreshadows that fatal flaw of overindulgence in their sweet, “honeyed” love will only lead to the deathly and intoxicating connotations of “poison” – illustrated through Lorenzo’s death (“Lorenzo slain and buried in”)
• This nature/flower imagery contrasts with stanza nine, where their love “grew, like a lusty flower” – emphasizes that their “lust” will lead to inevitable tragic fate of death – can only lead to suffering – they are blind to this
• Emphasized through juxtaposition of “sweet” and “bitterness”
• Foreboding atmosphere created – dramatic irony as readers know there will be a disruption of their love – emphasizes roles as tragic victims
o This conflict of interests (love and tragic fate) Is introduced from the first line of the poem – “fair Isabel, poor simple Isabel” – juxtaposition of “fair” and “poor” – foreshadows why their love is fated to a tragic end – Lorenzo is poor (“servant”)
• Emphasizes their roles as tragic victims as they were “twin roses”, yet fated to tragic end due to class differences (“servant of their trade designs”) – rigid social class structure in 19th century – Isabella was expected to marry a “high noble”
• Semantic field of suffering throughout – “with every mourn their love grew tenderer / with every eve deeper and tenderer still”
o Anaphora “with every” – shows their love building – paired with “mourn” and “tenderer” shows the suffering and fragility of their love – a sense that their love will be disrupted (tragic fate)

Question 2

“And she forgot the stars, the moon, and sun / And she forgot the blue above the trees”

Answer 2

• Stanza 53
• Tragic victim, suffering, identity, reality vs illusion
• Anaphora – “and she forgot” – shows her detachment from herself as a result of her suffering from Lorenzo’s death
o Without Lorenzo and her love, she loses interest in reality as it “[makes] sad Isabella’s eyelids ache”
o Punished for her overindulgence – tragic victim – “hollow eyes” – lifeless
• Semantic field of dreams – “phantom”, “magic”, “light” – Isabells takes more of an interest in her “dreams” than reality due to suffering