# LIV explained — Poetry

> Chapter companion for Poetry by John Keats.

## What happens

Isabel continues to nurture the basil plant with her tears, causing it to grow thick, green, and beautiful, more fragrant than other basil tufts in Florence, as it draws life from her fears and the hidden head of Lorenzo.

## Themes in this chapter

### Love and Loss

Isabel's grief for Lorenzo is channeled into nurturing the basil plant, symbolizing her undying love and loss.

### Sorrow and Melancholy

The basil plant thrives on Isabel's tears and fears, embodying her sorrow and melancholy.

## Character check-ins

### Isabel

She feeds the basil plant with her tears, nurturing it from her grief.

### Basil

The basil plant grows beautifully, fed by Isabel's tears and the hidden head.

## Key lines

> And so she ever fed it with thin tears, Whence thick, and green, and beautiful it grew, So that it smelt more balmy than its peers Of Basil-tufts in Florence; for it drew Nurture besides, and life, from human fears, From the fast mouldering head there shut from view: So that the jewel, safely casketed, Came forth, and in perfumed leafits spread.

She constantly watered the basil with her tears, making it grow lush and fragrant, surpassing all other basil in Florence, because it also drew sustenance from her fears and the decaying head hidden beneath it; thus the precious basil emerged and spread its perfumed leaves.

_Describes how Isabel's tears and the hidden head of Lorenzo cause the basil to flourish._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_14_se/chapters/liv
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_14_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_14_se/chapters