# LXI explained — Poetry

> Chapter companion for Poetry by John Keats.

## 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.

## Character check-ins

### Isabel

Sweet Isabel is dying a lonely death after her basil plant was taken.

### Echo

Invoked to sigh from Lethean isles.

## Key lines

> 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._

## Links

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