Poetry - Garden of Love

Question 1

Context

Answer 1

• Romantic movement
• Devout Christian

Question 2

Key points

Answer 2

• Changes in love over time
• Disillusionment

Question 3

Structure

Answer 3

• ABCB rhyme scheme
• Use of internal rhyme

Question 4

Key quotations

Answer 4

“Garden of Love” / “Where I used to play on the green” / “so many sweet flowers bore”

• Past memories of perfect romance
• Natural imagery, reference to the ongoing romantic movement

“Chapel was built” / “gates were shut” / “Thou shalt not”

• Religious barrier within poem reflects class barrier within Gatsby, creates restriction and limits the continuation of the perfect love that was previously established

“Priests in black gowns were walking their rounds”

• Priests, first mention of other people, following this line metre changes from pentameter to tetrameter, demonstrates disturbance to love caused by external forces
• Sudden appearance of other people restricts the speaker’s “joys and desires”, demonstrates how this has pulled the speaker back to reality and crushed any sense of romantic nostalgia he previously held