The Garden Analysis

How vainly men themselves amaze

To win the Palm, the Oke, or Bayes;

And their uncessant Labours see

Crown'd from some single Herb or Tree,

Whose short and narrow verged Shade

Does prudently their Toyles upbraid;

While all Flow'rs and all Trees do close

To weave the Garlands of repose.



Fair quiet, have I found thee here,

And Innocence thy Sister dear!

Mistaken long, I sought you then

In busie Companies of Men.

Your sacred Plants, if here below,

Only among the Plants will grow.

Society is all but rude,

To this delicious Solitude.



No white nor red was ever seen

So am'rous as this lovely green.

Fond Lovers, cruel as their Flame,

Cut in these Trees their Mistress name.

Little, Alas, they know, or heed,

How far these Beauties Hers exceed!

Fair Trees! where s'eer you barkes I wound,

No Name shall but your own be found.



When we have run our Passions heat,

Love hither makes his best retreat.

The Gods, that mortal Beauty chase,

The Gods, that mortal Beauty chase,

Apollo hunted Daphne so,

Only that She might Laurel grow.

And Pan did after Syrinx speed,

Not as a Nymph, but for a Reed.



What wond'rous Life in this I lead!

Ripe Apples drop about my head;

The Luscious Clusters of the Vine

Upon my Mouth do crush their Wine;

The Nectaren, and curious Peach,

Into my hands themselves do reach;

Stumbling on Melons, as I pass,

Insnar'd with Flow'rs, I fall on Grass.



Mean while the Mind, from pleasure less,

Withdraws into its happiness:

The Mind, that Ocean where each kind

Does streight its own resemblance find;

Yet it creates, transcending these,

Far other Worlds, and other Seas;

Annihilating all that's made

To a green Thought in a green Shade.



Here at the Fountains sliding foot,

Or at some Fruit-tress mossy root,

Casting the Bodies Vest aside,

My Soul into the boughs does glide:

There like a Bird it sits, and sings,

Then whets, and combs its silver Wings;

And, till prepar'd for longer flight,

Waves in its Plumes the various Light.



Such was that happy Garden-state,

While Man there walk'd without a Mate:

After a Place so pure, and sweet,

What other Help could yet be meet!

But 'twas beyond a Mortal's share

To wander solitary there:

Two Paradises 'twere in one

To live in Paradise alone.



How well the skilful Gardner drew

Of flow'rs and herbes this Dial new;

Where from above the milder Sun

Does through a fragrant Zodiack run;

And, as it works, th' industrious Bee

Computes its time as well as we.

How could such sweet and wholsome Hours

Be reckon'd but with herbs and flow'rs!

.: :.

Marvell is a great set of comics such as spiderman and daredevil. Screw british literature

| Posted on 2009-10-07 | by a guest

.: :.

This reading is very narrow and simplistic in that it assumes Marvell is just accepting the garden as a happy state to experience a retreat within- 'abbihilating all thats made,' also suggests destruction, the garden is representative of the place where the fall occured,but notice in this poem adam wander 'without a mate,' so this is before the fall- thus even though its before the fall there are still sinister connotations with the garden and nature itself regardless of it being fallen or not. also consider two important lines from marvell's poetry 'the garden of the world ere while...what luckless apples did we taste, to make us mortal and thee waster.' consider keats- to autumn- the apples dropping about his head, a very odd way of describing that motion, concentrating more on the physical action of them dropping than of the fruit gained from that action. nature in excess, nature as dangerous.

| Posted on 2009-05-18 | by a guest

.: :.

* "vainly men amaze"- reminiscent of Milton’s frequent references to vanity
* "the palm, the oak, or bays"- the listing is similar to what is done in epic form; each item respectively refers to war, public life, and poetry. There is a sense that men can never seem to attain high recognition in all arenas.
* "uncessant labors"- similar to how Adam and Eve toiled in the Garden
* "some single herb or tree . . . / Does prudently their toils upbraid / Society is all but rude, / To this delicious solitude."--compare to PL IV.250-251: "Hesperian fables true, / If true here only, and of delicious taste." Marvell seems to shun society in favor of nature. Marvell especially shuns the company of women, as he clearly prefers the beauty of the trees to the beauty of any woman; he remarks on the cruelty in carving a woman’s name in the trunk of a tree since the woman represents such frivolity and the tree is true beauty.
* Like Milton, Marvell alludes to Daphne and Apollo and the significance of the tree in their story ("laurel grow") as well as allusions to Pan ("after Syrinx speed, not as a nymph, but for a reed") also signifying the importance of the reed that may or may not reflect music.
* Marvell’s speaker appears to delight in nature as "Ripe apples drop about my head" and nature meets his every whim; he is ecstatic to be surrounded by beauty.
* "Annihilating all that’s made / To a green thought in a green shade"-- He places all the efforts of his mind on the garden that god has created for him.
* "My soul . . . There like a / bird it sits, and sings / Then whets, and combs its silver wings"--This evokes the image of an angel or dove (mentioned in Psalms 68:13) as well as Milton’s Wisdom who "plumes her feathers, and lets grow her wings" in "sweet retired solitude" (Comus 375-80)
* "Such was that happy garden state, / While man there walked without a mate:"--Marvell’s speaker seems content without a wife or help mate:
* "Two Paradises ‘twere in one / To live in Paradise alone."-- In other words, Adam would have been better off without Eve
* "Skilful gardener"--Is it God or Adam who actually tilled the soil?

| Posted on 2008-12-28 | by a guest