the garden of love

Question 1

essence of the poem

Answer 1

The poem recounts a man visiting a garden from his childhood where a chapel has been built. The Garden is now something dispiriting and loveless and argues that religion should have a focus on love and joy, as it once did, not rules and restriction.

Question 2

William Blake

Answer 2

• Romantic poet - critical of corrupting influence of institutions e.g church and monarchy
• devout Christian but a dissenter
  
  • he worshipped outside of the constraints of religion and found inspiration in religious texts
• criticised marriage laws and demands of fidelity which reduced love to mere duty, not authentic affection
• forerunner to the Free Love Movement - called for an end of state interference in sexual matters such as marriage and adultery

Question 3

Title

Answer 3

‘The Garden of Love’
immediate biblical connotations to the Garden of Eden
- Adam and Eve have to leave because of their sin - eating the forbidden fruit
- In this poem, the love is prohibited from the garden as it is infringed on by the Church

Question 4

Themes

Answer 4

religion, corruption, memory

Question 5

Rhyme Scheme

Answer 5

ABCB ABCB ABCD

Question 6

Form

Answer 6

First quatrain sets up story using monosyllabic language - metre and rhyme adhere to simplicity.

Question 7

Metre

Answer 7

iambic tetrameter

Question 8

‘I went to the Garden of Love,
And saw what I never had seen’

Answer 8

Engages with the senses and first person recollection amplifies his reaction to this.
‘Never’ = frustrations at the Church

Question 9

‘A Chapel was built in the midst,
Where I used to play on the green’

Answer 9

• the chapel is manmade, unnaturally altering the garden, contrasting the previous depth of nature
  -Capitalisation of ‘Chapel’ signals how it is an eyesore
• childhood associated with freedom and liberation

Question 10

‘And the gates of this chapel were shut’

Answer 10

• church is physically exclusive
  
  • as well as emotionally, forbidding people from enjoying their desires and pleasures
• extra syllable shows the intruding and disruptive nature of the church on the garden

Question 11

‘And ‘Thou shalt not’ writ over the door’

Answer 11

• repetition of conjunction ‘polysyndeton’ - builds momentum
• 10 commandments
  
  • emergence of what biblical ideas are held high in society
  • authoritarian tone
  • harsh in prominent position
    (door and centre of poem)

Question 12

‘And I saw it was filled with graves,
And tomb-stones where flowers should be.’

Answer 12

• anaphoric repetition of ‘and’ , establishes that nature is being neglected in favour of decay
• negative imagery of death overshadowing where life should be

Question 13

‘And priests in black gowns were walking their rounds,
And binding with briars my joys and desires.’

Answer 13

• internal rhyme emphasises monotony of the priest’s routine and religion in general
• enforces a gothic theme, connoting darkness and ominousity
• perversion of Christs crown of thorns - image is one of pain / humiliation
• those subject to church’s harsh rules are controlled not just externally, but internally by having to accept its teachings and mode of thought
• ‘binding’ ‘briars’ ‘desires’ = assonance, slows pace, denoting speakers reluctance to accept change

Question 14

Rhyme in stanza 3

Answer 14

ABCD, super simple
Blake is clear religion blocks hope and instead replaces it with ritual, obligation and a lack of humanity.