Isabella or The Pot of Basil

Cheeks paler by the break of June

Start of poem

Eros - love sick

June - Juno, the goddess of marriage and childbirth

Sick even in summer

Flowers bloom in summer as well as loads of flower imagery in general - beginnings, love, beauty

Pale foreshadows their death

To some high noble and his olive-trees

The brothers plotting to marry Isabella off to a rich person

Nobles often have moral integrity which contrasts the brothers

Olives represent peace and reconciliation which may imply that the brothers are on bad terms with people

Olives contrast the brothers' nature

Trees - life, romanticism

Dipped their swords in the water

They feel guilty for killing Lorenzo

Tries to clean or atone for their sins

Dipped - carefulness, guilt infects even the most intimate or routine moments

Swords - reminds us of the brutality

Water - nature is being violated

She withers like a palm cut by an Indian for its juicy balm

Isabella's tears from withering is keeping the basil alive

Emotionally wounded from someone's ulterior motive

Juicy balm is something sweet and nourishing, but the context is bitter