How Lisa Loved the King

Set in medieval Palermo after the Sicilians' liberation from French rule, this lyrical historical poem celebrates King Pedro of Aragon as the shining ideal of chivalric nobility. Against the bright pageantry of a tournament, George Eliot turns to Lisa, the gentle daughter of a Florentine merchant, whose imagination is captured by the king's heroic presence and raised into a vision of perfect beauty, courage, and justice. Lisa's love is less earthly desire than worship: tender, intelligent, and spiritually exalted, she feels herself too humble to reach the king and is consumed by a private longing that separates her from ordinary life. As her passion deepens into anguish, her family grows anxious, and Lisa asks only that her love be conveyed to Pedro before she dies. Music becomes the bridge between her inner devotion and the courtly world when she summons the singer Minuccio, who agrees to transform her confession into song. Through this mediation of love and art, the poem explores youthful idealization, sacrifice, and the yearning to make an inward truth heard. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.