An Analysis of Andrew Marvell’s ‘The Garden’
I begin by prompting a comparison with “To His Coy Mistress” to promote an awareness of the concept of persona, a central issue to establish the nature of the poetic utterance in “The Garden,” which plays with seriousness and mockery. Then I proceed to analyze each stanza, commenting on the elements of symbolic reference, literary allusion, punning, and ironic statement that pervade the whole poem, and which ultimately lead to an assessment of the poem’s theme, and the issue of how this is qualified by the tongue-in-cheek tone employed, and by the subversions introduced by Marvell.
Stanza 1
In stanza 1, I address the several meanings of “vainly” and the classical and biblical connotations of the judgment implied by this term and by the other evaluative adverb, “prudently.” The elements of wit are analyzed in relation to the truth value of the central argument of the stanza: celebration of contemplative life versus active life.
Stanza 2
In the 2nd stanza, I go through the several instances of play and wit, as well as the implied subversion of literary tradition: in particular, gardens as “dignus amore locus” and the conventional vision of the Golden Age as an age of free love.
Stanza 3
The treatment of stanza 3 approaches the extreme reversal of the familiar pastoral hyperbole about women’s beauty and explores the puns by which the speaker mocks human love. The praise of plants to the disparagement of human love and beauty leads to a discussion of the means by which this criticism is effected, which ends in a consideration of the speaker’s attitude to human language.
Stanza 4
The 4th stanza carries the argument of stanza 3 to its logical conclusion: making love to trees. After a discussion of the way in which human love is again dismissed by means of yet more puns, I focus on the reversal of the fiction of Ovid’s Metamorphoses that this stanza accomplishes. I conclude by referring to the mechanism operating behind this conceit and pointing at its disruptive value. I anticipate one of the features of this poem, and Marvell’s poetry: inconclusiveness.
Stanza 5
In stanza 5, there is a change of gear. I refer to the preliminary questions to lead to the central tenets of the poem: its argumentative (not descriptive) nature, and the dissolving of the speaker’s consciousness so as to permit the state of contemplation that stanzas 6 and 7 deal with. As this stanza is the most descriptive one of the whole poem, I point at the uncertainties derived from its description of the garden, and I relate it to the kinds of gardens in 17th-century England and garden poetry. Besides, special attention is given to the literary devices used here (personification, symbolism, synecdoche, hyperbole, allusion), as they point at the relation of Marvell to literary tradition and underscore the central issues of the poem.
Stanza 6
The activity of the mind presented in stanza 6 contrasts with the passivity of the speaker in 5, which makes the point that contemplation is not a passive state, but an active search. I discuss some of the most troublesome expressions in the poem from the point of view of criticism and relate the interpretations I tend to favor with the argument of the rest of the poem. I link the speaker’s vision of the creative mind with the creative process of art.
Stanza 7
The 7th stanza revolves around the allegory of the bird as the soul, as well as the other elements in the poem typical of pastoral lyrics (the fountain and the light). Their symbolic value is analyzed. The relationship with literature is perceived as underpinning many of the references, either by alluding to literary tradition or by implicitly commenting on the role of the poet and imagination.
Stanza 8
In the 8th stanza, I address another reversal of a familiar motif. In this case, it is the biblical account of creation which is meddled with and turned around through several instances of wit. The inconsistencies and contradictions derived from this are put forward.
Stanza 9
The last stanza dispels the illusion of this ideal retreat and introduces references to the real world, which is presented as the reality the speaker has to return to since this withdrawal can only be an interlude. I analyze the implications of the conceit of the floral sundial, the figure of the gardener, the pun in “time,” and the symbolic value of “bees.” The final question ending the poem serves to introduce the issue of inconclusiveness and ambiguity, as well as wit and humor, as features characteristic of Marvell. These are set in the frame of the historical context, whereby they are seen to respond to the aesthetics of conflict: the subversive, argumentative nature of the poem is related to the atmosphere of the time. The relationship of Marvell with literary tradition and with the accepted values of the day is approached, and one classification of “The Garden” on the grounds of its relation with past and current literature is outlined. A series of the oppositions perceived in the whole poem is finally listed, pointing thus to the paradoxical and elusive nature of the poem.