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Poetry · Chapter
LXI explained
The speaker calls upon Melancholy, Music, and Echo to express sorrow, as Isabel is dying from grief after her basil plant was taken away.
What happens
The speaker calls upon Melancholy, Music, and Echo to express sorrow, as Isabel is dying from grief after her basil plant was taken away.
Themes in this chapter
Sorrow and Melancholy
The chapter is a direct appeal to Melancholy and Music to mourn Isabel's impending death.
Love and Loss
Isabel's death is caused by the loss of her basil plant, a symbol of her love.
Characters to notice
Key passages
“O Melancholy, turn thine eyes away! O Music, Music, breathe despondingly! O Echo, Echo, on some other day, From isles Lethean, sigh to us—O sigh! Spirits of grief, sing not your “Well-a-way!” For Isabel, sweet Isabel, will die; Will die a death too lone and incomplete, Now they have ta’en away her Basil sweet.”
The speaker implores Melancholy, Music, and Echo to express sorrow, as Isabel will die a lonely death because her basil plant has been taken from her.
The stanza conveys the depth of Isabel's grief and the inevitability of her death.