GCE O/L - New syllabus

English Literature made easy - Poetry

The Garden of Love
William Blake

I went to the Garden of Love,
And saw what I never had seen,
A chapel was built in the midst,
Where I used to play on the green.

And the gates of this chapel were shut,
And 'Thou shalt not' writ over the door,
So I turned to the Garden of Love,
That so many sweet flowers bore.

And I saw it was filled with graves,
And tombstones where flowers should be,
And priests in black gowns were walking their rounds,
And binding with briars my joys and desires.

Commentary: William Blake (1757-1827)

William Blake could be classified as a Romantic Poet. Blake had no particular tendency to follow any specified direction. Swinbarn called him "The only Poet of supreme and poetic genius."

Blake's poetry usually dealt with rather psychological problems. His rhythm patterns, simple bringing out meaning, and he generally varied the rhythm pattern giving weight to the word, and the repetition of words giving emphasis to the meaning.

In this poem "The Garden of Love" Blake recalls to the day, he went to the garden of Love and his extreme surprise seeing a chapel built in the midst of the garden where he used to play. The gates to the garden were shut with the words "Thou shalt not writ over the door".

The Poet had but one choice, that is to turn to the Garden of Love,

That so many sweet flowers bear."

The poet seems to be emotionally disturbed when he saw "the graves" and "tombstones where flowers should be" To the poet "Where flowers should be" and Tombs taking the place of the flowers is a surprising situation "Tombs - flowers".

The poet's consciousness of the Nature's gift the flowers, tender, beautiful and fascinating and the contrasting situation Tombs where flowers should be.

"That so many sweet flowers bore

And I saw it was filled with graves."

The image of the priests in "Black Gowns were walking their rounds,

And binding with briars my joys and desirs"

The image of the flowers suggesting serene beautiful, tender silky setting and the contrasting image of priests in "Black Gowns" walking their rounds. The colour Black suggesting the sad situation existing.

"And binding with briars my joys and desires" Blake's diction style is simple and unique, with exquisite wording. Blake maintains the rhythm and rhyme keeping the theme alive, Blake's poetry is rather related to "moral problems" He uses symbolism to highlight his intense feelings making his readers share with him, his views and ideas.

"And I saw it was filled with graves and Tomb Stones where Flowers should be" "Blake's quality as a powerful poet is best seen in his shorter poems" (Angela Hussein) "Sensitive and perceptive analysis of the ideas" in this poem, the structure, the simple rhythm pattern varying in logical manner to bring out the meaning.

"And I saw it was filled with graves,

And tombstones where flowers should be

And priests in black gowns were walking their rounds

And binding with briars my joys and desires."

Mrs. C. Ekanayake, Retd. Specialist Teacher Eng.