The Garden Of Love

Question 1

When was the poem written? (AO3)

Answer 1

1794 (18th Century)

Question 2

What happens in the poem?

Answer 2

The speaker goes to a place known as the Garden of Love where he used to visit and play as a child. But, the speaker finds it different now - full of graves and closed to the public.

Question 3

William Blake context (AO3)

Answer 3

• devoutly religious (but criticized organised religion e.g. Church of England)
• Romantic poet (interested in youth, innocence and nature)
• trained in art and illustration from a young age

Question 4

What is the form? (AO2)

Answer 4

3 quatrains (simple, expresses clear argument)

Question 5

What is the rhyme scheme? (AO2)

Answer 5

ABCB (but only in the first 2 stanzas)

Final stanza has an internal rhyme

Question 6

End stops (AO2)

Answer 6

All of the lines are end stopped
- reflects a subtle sense of resignation and acceptance
- adds to the simplicity of the poem and makes the message clear to the audience

Question 7

Themes

Answer 7

• religion
• love

Question 8

Links to Gatsby (AO4)

Answer 8

• “Green” is used to describe the speaker’s past, similar to the “green light” that represents Gatsby’s past with Daisy and his desires
• both speaker and Gatsby want to ‘turn’ back time (both struggle with the passing of time)

Question 9

Assonance (AO2)

“Binding” “Briars” “Desires”

Answer 9

‘I’ sound
- slows down the pace which denotes the speaker’s reluctance to accept the changes

Question 10

Consonance (AO2)

“Gates” “Shut” “Shall not” “writ”

Answer 10

‘T’ sound
- focus on binding and negativity (organised religion is significant in locking people out of a relationship with God)

Question 11

Allusion (AO2)

Answer 11

Allusion to the Garden of Eden
- a place of love and innocence before the ‘Fall’
- the newly transformed place reflects after the ‘Fall’
- the church in the garden implies that religious restrictions are preventing humanity’s return to the Edenic sense of being

Question 12

“A chapel was built…” (AO2)

Answer 12

“…in the midst where i used to play on the green.”

• ruined what he once loved and what was good about the world (nature)
• changing something into something it is not
• organised religion has destroyed his innocence

Question 13

“Thou shalt not…” (AO2)

Answer 13

“…written over the door.”

• he cannot enter
• organised religion is not welcoming