The Garden of Love: Structure & Language Techniques

The Garden of Love: Notable Themes & Related Poems

Transformation: Blake illustrates the change from innocence to experience in the transformation of the garden into a chapel with ‘tombstones where flowers should be.’
Religion: There is a clear critique of institutionalized religion, seen in the chapel being ‘builded’ in the garden, representing rules and restrictions, which contrast the joyful freedom previously associated with the space.
Psychological Experience: The speaker’s internal experiences and emotions are brought to life through the symbolic landscape.

Poems that could be compared and contrasted with The Garden of Love in terms of themes and vocabulary include:

The Garden of Love: Key Quotes & Their Significance

‘I saw it was filled with graves, And tomb-stones where flowers should be’ – This represents the shift from innocence to experience, with flowers (symbols of natural, free beauty) replaced with tombstones (symbols of death and restriction).
‘And the gates of this Chapel were shut’ – This represents Blake’s critique of the closed-mindedness and exclusivity of institutionalized religion.
‘And “Thou shalt not” writ over the door’ – A reference to the Ten Commandments, symbolizing the restrictions imposed by dogmatic religion.

The Garden of Love: Poetic Techniques & Language Use

Contrast – Blake uses stark contrasting imagery (‘flowers and tombstones’) to highlight the transformation of the garden and to symbolize the speaker’s loss of innocence.
Metaphor – The entire poem serves as an extended metaphor for the speaker’s psychological and spiritual experience.
Repetition – The phrase ‘And I…’ at the beginning of many lines emphasizes the speaker’s self-reflective journey and personal experience.