Isabella: or The Pot of Basil: Imagery, symbolism and themes

Imagery and symbolism of Isabella: or The Pot of Basil

The poem contains examples of religious imagery, as in l.2 with a reference to ‘palmer’ or pilgrim. Just as the pilgrim seeks a shrine where he may worship God, so Lorenzo needs a woman to worship, through whom he may worship Love. In l.64 Keats uses the word ‘shrive’, i.e. confess. Just as the pilgrim cannot be at peace until he has confessed his sins and has received absolution, so Lorenzo feels the necessity of confessing his love.

Notice how the repetition of the same words in l. 83-4 helps the reader to feel the unchanging nature of their devotion and joy in one another.

Notice also the effect of the two extended similes in stanza 34 and the way that they enable the reader to feel Isabella’s anguish. She is roused from the lethargy of despair and endowed with almost supernatural energy and willpower as she sees a vision of her murdered lover.

Some readers have seen the visit of Lorenzo’s ghost and Isabella’s exhumation of her lover’s body and strange cultivation of his head as symbolizing the loss of love, pleasure and beauty which results from the pressures of social and economic demands.

Themes of Isabella: or The Pot of Basil

In common with The Eve of St Agnes, one of the poem’s chief themes is the contrast of cold hatred and concern for family honour with the warmth and passion of young love.

Isabella’s brothers are ruthless capitalists and Keats lists their mines and factories, their cruelties and the poor people they exploit (such as the naked Ceylon diver). They are in love with ‘red-lined accounts’ and are the epitome of pride. Keats may have derived such disdain for these money-graspers from letters which the enlightened manufacturer Robert Owen wrote to The Examiner. These were printed by Leigh Hunt, along with Hunt’s own editorials attacking those who put profit above their concern for human happiness. Hunt wrote:

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