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10 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Summary of what it means |
A speaker visits a garden he used to play in when he was younger. The garden is no longer full of flowers and life. It is now "dead" and is filled with symbols of death such as "tombstones" and "briars" - which are prickly shrubs and close-minded "clergy"- group of religious people. These people prevent him from reliving his young Joy's and desires |
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Structure of poem |
Three stanza poem Made of quatrains (4 lines) First two stanzas have ABCB rhyme scheme Final one changes rhyme scheme to ABCD Lack of rhyme in the last stanza empahsies the death and decay have overtaken a place that once held so much life and beauty for the speaker |
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Flowers in the garden symbolise? |
Joy and desires of youth |
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Change in garden |
When speaker returns there is a Chapel in the garden with the words "Thou shalt not" which implies that religion is restricting people and preventing them from fulfilling innocent desires and natural pleasures- like sexuality |
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Symbolism |
Speaker feels the graves are the graves of his desires. Shows how religion tries to bury ones desires and repress them. Whike the black clad priest binds his Joy's and desires with briars (thorn shrub) This is a not so subtle way of the speaker showing his critique if religion on society and how it represses joy, desire and freedom of self |
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The garden and relating to the bible |
The poem evokes or tells about two gardens in the Old Testament. The first image is of the Eden before the Fall. This refers to the garden where Adam and Eve were free to live without restrictions or constraints. They were free to express their sexuality or in fancy terms could "practice uninhibited sexual expression" The second one, which in the poem is referring to the state of the garden that the speaker finds. Is like the Eden after the Fall. Where sexuality is surrounded by shame, repression and forbidding |
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"The green" |
The colour green is associated with growth, fertility and spring. Village greens (gardens) were places of play and freedom. In the poem the green means a place of fun and freedom. Such as youth and its lack of shame with sexuality or desirs. In the poem the speaker finds it has been taken over by repressiveness as he has gotten older |
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The chapel |
Is bounded by gates and is shut. This shows it is a place where people are not free to act (repeated again with Thou shalt not) It is associated with the loss of lives (mention graves) The priests wear uniforms and patrol the grounds like guards. They confine any opportunity to gain freedom ("binding...desires") in a potentially painful way ( "briars" - thorns. We get the imagery of being blinded with thorns) |
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Capital letters in the poem for emphasis. |
Words like "Garden of Love" are capitalised so that we know they are of importance or symbolise something greater "Chapel" is capitalised which emphasises the importance of how the speaker is mentioning it. "Priests" - shows how they seem large and threatening- as if they loom large in the garden. They are made to seem like guards which circle around chapel to keep out undesirables. The capital letter and full stop underline the importance of "Thou shalt not". Which makes the command forbidding and hostile or aggressive |
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The use of tense |
Lines like "never had seen" or "bore flowers" tells us that time has passed. He is now older and suggest that maybe he has only realised reality now that he is older. |
