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a yo un g
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, Table of Contents
(You can use this to navigate the document)
SUMMARY 4
THE POEM WITH A BREAKDOWN OF STANZAS 5
Stanzas 1 - 11 5
Stanzas 12 - 22 8
Stanzas 23 - 34 11
Stanzas 35 - 46 15
Stanzas 47 - 58 18
Stanzas 59 - 63 21
VOCABULARY 23
Stanzas 1 - 6 23
Stanzas 7 - 16 24
Stanzas 17 - 24 25
Stanzas 25 - 32 26
Stanzas 33 - 40 27
Stanzas 41 - 48 28
Stanzas 49 - 57 29
Stanzas 58 - 63 30
SPEAKER / VOICE 31
LANGUAGE 31
FORM AND STRUCTURE 38
ATTITUDES 41
CONTEXT 42
Bocaccio’s The Decameron 44
THEMES 47
, SUMMARY
Lorenzo and Isabella are young Florentines, living in Florence, Italy during the
Medieval era . At this time, Florence was one of the richest cities in the world, and
the banking capital of Europe. Isabella is of aristocratic heritage, and her brothers
are wealthy - so they are very set on preserving their wealth by marrying Isabella
off to a rich suitor. Lorenzo is an unsuitable love interest for Isabella, as he is of a
lower class - being employed by one of the brothers. In their eyes, he is not wealthy
enough to be considered a suitable match for her, either financially or in terms of
social status.
Lorenzo knows this, so even though he loves Isabella he tries hard to keep it a
secret. She feels the same, and represses her intense feelings for the same reason.
They cry into their pillows, saying they can’t stand it any longer. Then one day, they
are both sick from keeping their love to themselves, and Isabella faintly cries out
Lorenzo’s name, being stressed by how sick he looks - this is enough for him to
realise that she loves him back, and they begin a hidden relationship, meeting in
secret trysts at dawn and dusk.
They have a brief moment of happiness, but then the brothers catch on to their
love. Jealous and angry, they conspire to lead Lorenzo into a forest and brutally
murder him. Then, they tell Isabella that he’s gone away to a far off land, and they
don’t think that he’ll ever return. Isabella is heartbroken; her beauty and youth
begin to wither away.
Lorenzo visits Isabella as a ghost, perhaps while she’s dreaming. He reveals that he
was murdered and tells her where he was buried - in his ‘forest tomb’. With a maid,
Isabella goes back to the forest and digs him up. She takes his head back to Florence
with her, and cries over it. To keep it hidden but also close to her, she buries it in a
pot and plants basil over it; she spends most of her free time crying into the pot, and
as a result it grows into the most beautiful basil in the whole kingdom.
The brothers eventually realise that the pot contains Lorenzo’s head, they steal it
and Isabella becomes frantic, not understanding why they would take it from her.
She dies soon afterwards.
