Friday, December 31, 2010

Isabella or The Pot of Basil: Influence on society and why its not very popular today

Isabella, or, the Pot of Basil is narrative poem by John Keats about the love obsession of Isabella, a young beautiful girl of a wealthy family who falls in love with Lorenzo, a trade servant. Staged in the middle ages, the poem follows the growing love between Lorenzo and Isabella, and the growing danger that their love brings. With social status at such extreme opposites, the two lovers keep their love secret in order to avoid the wrath of Isabella’s family, who plan to marry off Isabella to “some high noble and his olive trees”. Although the last sections of the poem finds Lorenzo, Isabella, and her evil brothers all at different ends of a great tragedy, Isabella and Lorenzo’s dangerous and passionate romance have been a popular subject for romanticism art and have influenced several great painters in a number of different styles. The most noted painters on the topic of Isabella are Millais, Hunt, Waterhouse, and Alexander.
           

           John Everett Millais (1829-1896) painted Lorenzo and Isabella, an episode depicting Lorenzo (in pink) and Isabella early on in the poem, eating a dinner. Millais used symbolism to convey the future story that plays out in Keat’s poem; For example, Lorenzo is giving Isabella a blood orange, symbolizing his future death. The brother across from Isabella is cruelly kicking the dog at Isabella’s side, which makes him a clear antagonist. Millais was a poet, artist, and critic and more can be read about him and his Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood on this site.


William Holeman Hunt’s(1827-1910) painting Isabella and the Pot of Basil is further along in the poem. The painting depicts Isabella in a nightgown, surrounded by light and colorful house decorations, cradling the pot of basil. Like Millais, Hunt was a poet, artist, and critic in the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and filled his paintings with symbolism and detail. In the painting, red roses next to the pot symbolize the love of Lorenzo and Isabella while a skull ebbed in the pot symbolize Lorenzo’s undignified end. Isabella wears a white nightgown, symbolizing her purity of heart (or maybe that’s the only color nightgown she had?).

Does Hunt’s Isabella look a bit heavy for a broken-hearted lover wasting away for want of Lorenzo? If you thought so, here’s the reason: Hunt was a realist and preferred painting real-to-life. At the time, the only model he had was his wife, and she was pregnant with their son. Thus, pregnant, pining Isabella mourns life away in Hunt’s painting.


            John William Waterhouse (1849-1917) portrayed his version of Isabella more dreary and loyal to the “pining Isabella” description of Keat’s poem. A pale Isabella clutches the earthen pot stiffly, looking just as woeful and inanimate as her surroundings. The dark colors of the painting bring out the despondent feel of the work. Waterhouse was also part of the PRB group and shared the group’s philosophy on artwork.



John White Alexander(1856-1915)  also recreated Isabella and the Pot of Basil. Alexander’s style is the least symbolic but does not lose detail, portraying Isabella alone in the dark with her pot of basil. Of all the works on this topic, Alexander’s Isabella portrays the tragedy darkest. Alexander was not among the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, instead starting out as a cartoonist for newspapers.


Although Isabella, or the Pot of Basil stirred up some activity in art, it apparently did not achieve great influence points in music or make any great ballads. As far as society and culture goes, very few obvious, straight-from-John-Keats materials exsist today. There are a few works that have sprung from romantic roots and have some characteristics of Isabella's story, but not many are really trully drawn from Keat's Isabella. I imagine that the reason there are fewer poems, stories, songs, and movies illustrating a theme like Isabella is because the concept wouldn't sell well, or at least not as well with a love-obsessed maiden who simply withers away than a vengful heroine who blazes 9mm 's at every enemy she sees. Or if it doesn't sell well, it’s simply not a pleasant topic. Isabella and Lorenzo, while a classic story of forbidden love, takes a very unpleasant turn once Isabella grabs a knife. And while the thought of Isabella’s eternal devotion to her dead Lorenzo is quite the romantic theme for any romanticist or transcendentalist, Isabella stops getting pity at a certain point. If John Keats where around today, he could have made much more money if Isabella threw down her basil pot and started carrying a sword. Uma Thurman could be Isabella, and we could have Kill Bill 3.   

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