09/24/2021
From Miss VanDamme:
My 8th graders just finished reading the haunting narrative poem "Isabella; or, The Pot of Basil," by Keats. In it, a young woman's lover is murdered by her brothers because they think him too low for her, the lover's spirit comes to her by night to tell her where he is buried, and she goes to the grave, severs his head, takes it home, puts it in a pot of basil, and waters the plant with her tears.
This haunting story has been captured countless times in art, and my eigth graders were disappointed in every rendering. Putting a skull on the pot was too "on the nose," her face was not sufficiently sad, the colors were too bright and vibrant, etc.
So I asked them to paint their own picture - in their minds - and then describe it to me. Here are some highlights.
"Her head rests on the pot, her face touching the damp soil, and her hair draped carelessly over her shoulder, parts of it resting in the dirt."
"It looks like her body is growing into the pot, as if she is pressing herself into the dirt. Her tears and hair are being drawn into the plant as if her body is dissolving into it."
"No description can emphasize the graveness of this setting, for no pain is stronger than lost love." (From a 13-year-old boy, by the way.)
