# XXXVI explained — Poetry

> Chapter companion for Poetry by John Keats.

## What happens

The pale shadow speaks with a strange, piteous sound, reminiscent of a palsied Druid's harp, as Isabella listens intently. The voice carries a ghostly undersong, like hoarse night winds among sepulchral briars.

## Themes in this chapter

### Sorrow and Melancholy

The ghostly speech is filled with piteousness and languor, evoking deep sorrow.

### Mortality and the Sublime

The pale shadow's voice from beyond the grave underscores mortality and the eerie sublime.

## Character check-ins

### Isabel

Isabella hangs on the music of the pale shadow's speech.

### Lorenzo

The pale shadow speaking is Lorenzo's ghost.

## Key lines

> Strange sound it was, when the pale shadow spake; For there was striving, in its piteous tongue, To speak as when on earth it was awake

It was a strange sound when the pale ghost spoke, struggling to speak as it did when alive.

_Describes the ghost's effort to communicate._

> Languor there was in it, and tremulous shake, As in a palsied Druid’s harp unstrung

The voice was weak and trembling, like a paralyzed Druid's harp with broken strings.

_Compares the ghost's voice to a damaged harp._

> And through it moan’d a ghostly undersong, Like hoarse night-gusts sepulchral briars among.

A ghostly undertone moaned through the voice, like harsh night winds through graveyard briars.

_The sound is likened to wind in a cemetery._

## Links

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