Isabella; or the Pot of Basil story read aloud

WATCH THE VIDEO!



This video i happened to find on YouTube basically tells a shorter version of the poem, in less and more detail in different parts of the poem, but is an excellent resource to get the overall main idea of the poem without actually reading it. Poetry in general is difficult to comprehend no matter how intelligent you may be. There are just some things you may never understand, so transforming poems like this into short stories that are suitable for just about anyone is an incredible thing to do. Searching for any type of video on this specific poem on YouTube was surprisingly very difficult, there are only about three different videos, and they are all pretty similar. The other videos that came up in the search were pointless and not even remotely close to having anything to do with Keats's original poem. I was surprised of this because there were a variety of videos about the other poems people chose to blog about. Also, Isabella; or the Pot of Basil is one of the top romantic poems of all time, you would assume there would be all kinds of articles, interesting facts, videos... Etc. Even though the romantic era may not be the most popular time, it is still looked upon as

Back to the video, the narrator’s voice actually draws you in, it is a soft woman’s voice, and in my mind it is almost as if Isabella is telling the story herself. The video begins exactly like the poem does, but instead of using vocabulary from the 1700's, it is told in more modern language so it makes it easier to understand. This story in particular has been told in many different ways, and told from a few different people, so I feel like this video sort of mixes a few of the forms in which the poem is told. The video may not have footage or real pictures, but the paintings are so beautiful, and they actually help put that "real picture" in your head.

This video is a great way for all ages to distinguish the meaning behind John Keats's Isabella or the pot of basil. And the creator of it did an outstanding job of creating such an helpful resource. Like I said before, poetry is not the easiest read, and a lot of the time we don't understand what were reading. Although the video is not exact,  would still recommend watching the video to everyone interested in Romanticism and that era of writing.

Growing up: Prose Poem

There are many things in life to overcome, and so little time to overcome those things.
For a short period of time in our lives our childish instincts wish it all away, our innocence and youth, our irresponsibleness, our reliance on others. Yet for an even bigger portion of our lives our adult wisdom wishes it all could go back to those younger years, but there is nothing that can be done to reverse it all.
Growing up and moving on may be the most fearful change in our lives, the time where we begin to take charge on our own is a scary thought.
Until the time comes to take the first step in growing up, you don’t really truly appreciate how pure and sweet innocence really can be.  How easy and carefree our lives used to be.
It brings tears to my eyes when I realize how very fast sixteen years flies, my youth gone forever and no time for re-tries.
Very first job, throw that on top of school, family friends and a love life will be the first step in growing up and learning just how hard it is to prioritize. Will I be able to handle it all? Only time will tell.
I use to complain about cleaning my room and picking up my toys in the living room because that was too much to handle, how do I go from this to that in such a short amount of time.
It’s crazy to know that from now on I will always have to be responsible for myself; I will now be in charge of my own future, my own life, my own everything. And it all began so soon.  There is beauty in growing up, don’t get me wrong. But it is just so sad how often people believe their best years are the older years, when really our youngest, although most naive years, are the greatest years. And we shall never forget them through all the chaos we may will face in our lives.
Growing up, we will all be faced with this reality, and we all got to do it somehow, someday.

Community Blog Aassignment

 Review of, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner




In our English class here at The Center for Advanced Learning we have been assigned to create a blog revolving around either a specific Romantic Poet or Romantic Poetry in general. One of the groups throughout the several classes chose to research and blog about Samuel Coleridge's "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner." The blog was extremely well put together. The poem, "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" is slightly confusing, and quite a hard read, so it was nice to have the group break certain parts of the poem down and clarify. When our teacher read bits and pieces of the poem aloud to the class, it was very interesting but then when I read the poem alone I had a tough time understanding what exactly I was reading. I chose to do the community blog assignment on this specific blog because I want to know and understand what exactly I read, because I know it is an all time classic.

Here is a link to the blog: The Rime of The Ancient Mariner

I mainly looked focused on one of the posts on this blog which was the Symbolism post, because that's where I had the hardest time understanding the poem. Throughout the post about the symbolism and impact, it goes into great detail about how the sun and the moon are symbolized and why. Although it may seem obvious to some people when they read the poem of why the moon and sun are portrayed the way they are, I think that you could get so many different perspectives; it was nice to read a clear statement that made had information to back it up. When i read the poem I did not get the image in my head that the poem reflects on Christ and it was very interesting to read from that point of view. Ending this post was very interesting to me as well because I had no idea how often and how recent this poem is being referenced. This poem had quite an impact on our culture it is awesome to see how even hundreds of years later the same literature is being used.

This blog is important for those who are interested in a fabulous Romantic poet. Samuel Coleridge has such an amazing writing style, and really knows how to draw people in and keep them interested. If you can understand the writing he does it is neat to see the connections or the symbolization's created throughout his poetry to things or people around even today. Even if you are just looking for blogs to simply check out, this is one worth reading, guarantee you wouldn't be disappointed.

Stylish Writing

John Keats's writing style;

Here is a link to a website that has some information about his John Keats's writing.

Keats's style and techniques he uses to write his poetry played a huge roll in romantic poetry. The unfortunate and terrible mishaps that happend to Keats's throughtout his lifed actually helped his writing in very postivie ways. He was able to channel all of his emotions into his poetry, allowing people to connect with him and relate or atleast understand what he was dealing with and going through. Basically Keats chose to write about the things his family and parents lacked, which was structure and romance.Thus stating he had a very unique sense of style of writing. Keat's has a very elaborate word choice and is talented with using vocabulary that can create images in your head to help guide you through his reading. This is very helpful because at times his poetry could be very tricky to read and you really need that visual imagery to help you grasp the real concept. Keats's writing was a little more risque than someone people liked, and that worked in his bennefit sometimes, and then other times it brought him down. People criticized him all the time because he was not afraid to tell it how it is, and speak his crazy mind, but he also had readers who kept wanting more from him because his writing could easily keep your attention. It took some time for people to fully understand the man and his writings, and after a while other poets began to use his style of writing, making it not so crazy (out there) but more common. Keats's had started a new phenomenon of romantic poetry. His writing was influentional, infact, he is known to be one of the most unfluentional poets in the Romantic era. Through all the stress his life held, writing was the one thing that helped him cope, he was able to say exactly how he felt and not be judged or told different because his writing was free. Keats has influenced the writiters of today, young and old, and im sure will continue to unfluence many more after them.

 His writing is simply legendary.

John Keats's "Isabella: or, the Pot of Basil"

To check out John Keats's "Isabella: or, the Pot of Basil" online for free, click HERE!



"Isabella or the Pot of Basil" is one of John Keats's most popular poems. Keats often associates love and pain both in his life and in his poetry, this poem is a great example of both. Here is a brief summary of the poem: The poem tells the tale of a young woman whose family intends to marry her to "some high noble and his olive trees", but the twist beings when she actually falls in love with the servant boy, Lorenzo, who is also one of her brother's workers. The brothers knew that they had met, but wishing to avoid a scandal, they pretended to have seen nothing. Finally they guide Lorenzo to a small area outside of the city, and there murder him. They tell their sister that Lorenzo had been sent on a long journey, but when days, weeks, even months, had passed, she could no longer restrain her uneasiness, and asked when he would return. The brothers tell Isabella nothing of the truth and try to lead her to believe that Lorenzo left on his own and do not know why he has yet to return. Isabella kept her love for so long, is a victim to fears and doubts, but in her solitude she called on her lover, making piteous moan that he would return. And he did, but only when she had fallen asleep, Lorenzo's ghost appeared, pale, blood-drabbled, with garments rent and mouldy, and addressed her: "Isabella, I can never return to you, for on the day we saw each other last your brother’s slew me." (Slew meaning murdered.) Isabella, slightly knowing of where Lorenzo's body lies because of him telling her in her sleep, searches for the grounds where Lorenzo's body lies, and ends up finding Lorenzo, dead just like he had told her. She then cut's his head off the body and buries Lorenzo's head in an old pot full of basil which Isabella tends to obsessively, while mourning the loss of her one true love. One day her brothers return and steal the pot that she had buried Lorenzo's head inside. Leaving Isabella feeling dead inside, sad and so lost with nothing left.