A Comparison of Boccaccio and Keats

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Recommended: Literary devices and their effects

The aims of Boccaccio in his original 1370 version of 'Lisabetta' are

far different from those of Keats who wrote 'Isabella' 500 years

later. Keats has carefully analysed the original story, and selected

various aspects that he thinks are important to develop into his

63-stanza poem, and has also omitted information that he sees as not

important and not relevant to the core plot.

The foremost topic that Keats' elaborates is the love affair between

Lorenzo and Isabella. He tries to evoke many more emotions from the

reader than Boccaccio does, as he believes that this is an important

aspect of the story that needs to be developed. In Boccaccios story,

the love between the two grows rapidly - almost instantly. However,

Keats takes much longer to deliver the information, thus building

tension and giving the poem more body. He uses such phrases as "Glossy

hair which once could shoot lustre into the sun", which gives us a

vivid description of the attraction of Lorenzo.

However, Keats expands on this emotional aspect of love by creating a

large amount of tension between the lovers. Keats does this by giving

a sense of awkwardness between the two lovers - by describing to us

how difficult it is for both parties to express their love for each

other. He uses vastly descriptive phrases like "But to each other

dream, and nightly weep". This again evokes much more emotion from the

reader than the Boccaccio story, which is an attempt to keep their

attention through what is a rather lengthy and menacing piece of

poetry.

Boccaccio lays the facts out plainly for the reader - using language

like "Lorenzo appeared to her in a dream", and "After which, he

described the place where they had buried him". However, Keats

involves the reader much more by using more advanced and interactive

writing styles - "It was a vision. - In the drowsy gloom…" and "Red

whortle berries droop above my head…"

The writing styles of Boccaccio and Keats are vastly different - for

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