Garden of Love By William Blake ‘Songs of Experience’ 1794 Georgian period Early Romantic poet

Historical context: Literary context Blake was an early Romantic and reformist poet He saw poetry as a tool for social commentary and change Romanticism is… A rebellious, anti-authoritarian spirit. Freedom for the individual. Importance of natural, spontaneous, intuitive response Critical of religious dogma and social parameters that restrict human impulse Songs of experience = tone of despair and about the corruption of love/ innocence Historical context: Time of immense social change Industrial Revolution beginning Challenge to traditional religious sensibilities Social unrest French Revolution : liberty, equality and fraternity (overthrow of the monarchy) Blake opposed organised religion, was suspicious of the monarchy and railed against corruption of power.

Is there much love in this garden?? What about the title? Garden of Love Is there much love in this garden?? Poetic form: a lyric (first person & emotional content) and a lament (poem expressing grief for someone or something lost

‘THOU SHALT NOT’ (LINE 6) USE OF A MORAL IMPERATIVE EIGHT OF THE TEN COMMANDMENTS IN THE OLD TESTAMENT BEGIN WITH THIS WHAT MOOD DOES THIS ESTABLISH? WHAT KIND OF LOVE IS BEING FORBIDDEN? (AT AN EARLY POINT IN HISTORY SEX WAS ASSOCIATED WITH EVIL, VIRGINITY WITH GOODNESS) IS CHURCH , IN BLAKE’S EYES, ABOUT WHAT YOU CAN OR CANNOT DO? ‘Celibacy is a gift from God’ Catholic code of canon law The fall of mankind ……If Adam had preserved his obedience to the Creator, he would have lived forever in a state of virgin purity, and that some harmless mode of vegetation might have peopled paradise with a race of innocent and immortal beings*. Darwin’s Origin of the Species changed how we understand desire – as an animalistic, natural impulse. (1859)

How is the poem structured? A02/1 Stanzas One and Two Garden of Love (a reference to…) The green (symbolises…connotes…) Sweet flowers (imagery ? Long vowels? Sibilant sounds? The speaker reflects on how the green used to be …… Contrast Freedom versus Control Natural versus manmade Gentle versus painful Stanza Three Graves (death imagery) Tomb-stones (unnatural / man made / memorial / religious symbol) Black gowns (colour imagery) Briars (connotes…) The speaker criticises the negative impact of the chapel on the green PASTORAL SCENE IDYLLIC CHILDHOOD INNNOCENCE PLAY FERTILITY PRE-LAPSARIAN GARDEN (BEFORE THE FALL OF MANKIND) UNINHIBITED CEMETERY POST-LAPSARIAN STATE (AFTER THE FALL) SHAME REPRESSION PROHIBITION IMPRISONMENT DEATH CONTROL EXPERIENCE JUDGEMENT

Is it a personal or political poem? Is this poem typical of the love poetry we have read in the collection? A04 Is it a personal or political poem? Does it have a specific or general audience? Is it documenting love in an intimate or detached way?

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 Stanza one Visits the garden from a perspective of innocence ‘never had seen’ Capitalised place name? Chapel = symbol of organised religion / sin / law (3) ‘in the midst’ –centralised position? (4) Past tense ‘used to’ ‘play’ ‘green’

(1/2) ‘And’ anaphora Shut (verb) Gates (noun) (2) Obedience and repression religious reference (3) ‘turn’d’ (verb) how are the chapel and garden juxtaposed? (4) Natural imagery ‘so’ (adverb) long vowels sibilant sounds ‘bore’ past tense End- stopping in each line? And the gates of this chapel were shut,  And ‘Thou shalt not’ writ over the door;  So I turn'd to the Garden of Love,  That so many sweet flowers bore.

And I saw it was filled with graves,  And tomb-stones where flowers should be:  And Priests in black gowns, were walking their rounds,  And binding with briars, my joys & desires. ‘And’ anaphora / repetition / listing ‘filled with’ ‘graves’ symbolising.. (2) Juxtaposition ‘tomb-stones’ and ‘’flowers’ modal verb ‘should’ (3) ‘Priests’ symbol of … ‘black’ colour imagery / contrast ‘gowns’ connotes … ‘walking their rounds’ suggests (4) verb ‘binding’ present participle ‘binding’ alliterative plosive consonants /b/ internal rhyme / assonance ‘binding’ ‘briars’ ‘desires’

Rhyme scheme regular in first two stanzas (2nd and 4th rhyming) abcb defe and then breaks down in the third stanza ghij No end rhyme in stanza three showing the lack of harmony / death and decay of love Tightening internal rhyme in stanza three imitating the constricting actions of the priests with their closed minds and dogmatic rules RHYME

Anapestic trimester (stanzas one and two) weak/ weak/ strong A rising meter like iambic which creates a conversational, natural rhythm Until line 6 ‘Thou’ which moves into a heavy treble stress which conveys the severity of the prohibition A missing syllable after ‘graves’ adds weight to the last word on the line Last two lines tetrameter METER http://crossref-it.info/textguide/songs-of-innocence-and-experience/13/1598

Practice question for your revision: Examine the view that the church and love are in opposition in The Garden of Love