# XXI explained — Poetry

> Chapter companion for Poetry by John Keats.

## What happens

The brothers discover Lorenzo's love for their sister Isabel and her love for him, and they become bitter and angry that a servant should be happy in her love when they had planned to marry her to a wealthy nobleman.

## Themes in this chapter

### Love and Loss

The brothers' discovery of Lorenzo and Isabel's love sets the stage for impending loss, as their bitterness threatens to tear the lovers apart.

### Social Critique and Mortality

The brothers' disdain for a servant's love and their mercenary plans critique class hierarchies and the commodification of marriage, foreshadowing tragic consequences.

## Character check-ins

### Lorenzo

Lorenzo is the object of the brothers' bitter thoughts as they discover his love for Isabel.

### Isabel

Isabel is loved by Lorenzo, and her brothers are angry that she returns his affection.

## Key lines

> These brethren having found by many signs What love Lorenzo for their sister had, And how she loved him too, each unconfines His bitter thoughts to other, well-nigh mad That he, the servant of their trade designs, Should in their sister’s love be blithe and glad, When ’twas their plan to coax her by degrees To some high noble and his olive-trees.

The brothers, having discovered through various clues that Lorenzo loved their sister and that she loved him back, each vents his bitter thoughts to the others, nearly insane with anger that a mere servant in their business should be happy and cheerful in their sister's love, when they had planned to gradually persuade her to marry a wealthy nobleman with olive groves.

_This passage reveals the brothers' discovery of the romance and their materialistic, class-conscious opposition to it._

## Links

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