TO BE OR NOT TO BE, THAT IS THE QUESTION.
SINALO THOMAS
ENGLISH PAPER 2 PREPERATIONS
1. The Garden Love:
SUMMARY AND BACKGROUND
The speaker describes revisiting a place he remembers from his childhood, only to find that it
has been taken over by a chapel or church. Instead of welcoming him in, the chapel has the
negative ‗Thou shalt not‘ of the Ten Commandments written over the door. He is prevented
from entering. He attempts to explore the surrounding garden instead. The place which used
to be full of 'sweet flowers' (line 8) has been filled with graves and tombstones. Furthermore,
patrolling priests, in dark robes, prevent him from experiencing or reliving his 'joys & desires'
(line 12). A chapel should also be open and welcoming. However, this one is closed and
forbidding. He rebels against the idea of original sin and believes that love can‘t be
sanctioned by religion. The Garden of Love is an allegorical satire of the Church. The Chapel
represents the church. The garden is symbolic of freedom. Blake believed that love and
sexuality were natural and shouldn‘t be dictated or limited by a ruling authority. The Garden of
Love is a symbol of this belief – that desire and sex should be natural aspects of human life.
Blake attacks cruelty, hypocrisy and the other evils that he saw in society that were destroying
imagination and frustrating the natural desires of people.
Stanza 1
Line 1: I went to the Garden of Love. The poet revisited the Garden of Love, open green piece
of land where he used to play. Garden of love – suggests a place where beauty is deliberately
cultivated.
Line 2: And saw what I never had seen: Literally – the place was very different, not the way
he remembered it. Figuratively—this experience amounts to a sudden realisation of what has
been in front of the speaker for some time, but he was unable to ‗see‘ the reality clearly
before. He was dismayed to see that in the green open place, a Chapel (church) had been
erected in the middle of the place were boys and girls together used to play.
Line 3: A Chapel was built in the midst, The Garden represented the state of innocence
where joy prevailed and everybody could enter the place. The Chapel has taken the place of
the speaker's old playground. The Chapel represents the Church and its oppressive role.
Religion has destroyed the Garden of Love. It is now devoid of any joy. Built – this was an
intrusion by man/ society into the free world of childhood and innocence.
Line 4: Where I used to play on the green. ―Play‖, the innocence of youth green nature. The
harmony between man and nature no longer existed. The Garden of Love represented human
happiness and freedom. However, the imposition of the Church in the form of the Chapel has
ruined the setting. Also symbolises growth, fertility. Tone: Shock at what has changed.
Stanza 2
This stanza describes how the Chapel ruins the speaker's freedoms and joys.
Lines 5-6: And the gates of this Chapel were shut, and Thou shalt not; writ over the door. The
speaker attempts to enter the Chapel. The gates of the Chapel were closed and above the
door he saw the warning ‗Thou Shalt Not‘. Thou shalt not – this refers to all of the Ten
Commandments in the Old Testament and not a specific commandment. This refers to all the
restrictions of the Church, which Blake believed were the source of inequality and
helplessness in society. Gates shut implies that people were not free to act. Capital letter and
full stop makes the command forbidding & hostile.
Line 7: So I turn’d to the Garden of Love, The poet then turned his attention to the Garden of
Love. He wanted to see if anything else had changed. He was hoping that the place of his
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, fond memories has not changed; he was expecting to see the beautiful flowers that he
remembered.
Line 8: That so many sweet flowers bore. Sweet flowers – represents love, pleasure,
relationships and what man naturally enjoys in life. Also symbolic of innocent love. The
Church destroyed many of the joys (sweet flowers) in life with their rules.
Stanza 3: This stanza depicts the adverse changes that have enveloped the Garden of Love
during the present time.
Lines 9-10 And I saw it was filled with graves, And tomb-stones where flowers should be: The
Garden portrays an aura of total unease and misery. Instead of flowers, he saw graves and
tomb-stones. These had replaced the flowers that the Church had forbidden. The graves and
tomb-stones symbolise the death of freedom. The repetition of ―and‖ creates a feeling of
finality and a building up of the tone of doom and the feeling that no one escapes.
Line 11: And Priests in black gowns were walking their rounds, priests in black gowns –
symbols of the church which caused mourning and despair. Walking their rounds – the ritual
of the priests was done mechanically. Rounds is associated with following a set, inflexible
routine. There was no real concern for the people. The restrictive rules are enforced by
"Priests in black gowns," or the clergy. The clergy of the time enjoyed gluttony, mistresses,
and many other things while preaching against them to the masses.
Line 12: And binding with briars, my joys & desires. briars – Briars have thorns. They refers to
the painful rules and restrictions of the church. Joys and desires – these include the physical
pleasures he is denied by the rule-bound morality of the church. The speaker is indignant of
the discrepancy between deed and word because while the clergy "bind with briars [his] joys
and desires" they enjoy the same "joys and desires." They were bound by all the rules and
regulations of the church and his joys and desires are labelled as sin.
THEMES
The distortion of Christian belief about the future life Blake attacks the approach of
Christianity which encouraged the denial of sexuality and other powers in the present, in the
hope of future reward and bliss. He felt that this led to permanent failure to attain human
fulfilment.
The oppressive role of the church / Control of people: Society makes its fears, guilt and
shame into rules and laws which are then enshrined in social institutions such as the authority
of parents, the Church and the State or Monarchy.
Frustration with a religious system that condemns the joy that man finds in nature and in
physical pleasure
2|Page
SINALO THOMAS
ENGLISH PAPER 2 PREPERATIONS
1. The Garden Love:
SUMMARY AND BACKGROUND
The speaker describes revisiting a place he remembers from his childhood, only to find that it
has been taken over by a chapel or church. Instead of welcoming him in, the chapel has the
negative ‗Thou shalt not‘ of the Ten Commandments written over the door. He is prevented
from entering. He attempts to explore the surrounding garden instead. The place which used
to be full of 'sweet flowers' (line 8) has been filled with graves and tombstones. Furthermore,
patrolling priests, in dark robes, prevent him from experiencing or reliving his 'joys & desires'
(line 12). A chapel should also be open and welcoming. However, this one is closed and
forbidding. He rebels against the idea of original sin and believes that love can‘t be
sanctioned by religion. The Garden of Love is an allegorical satire of the Church. The Chapel
represents the church. The garden is symbolic of freedom. Blake believed that love and
sexuality were natural and shouldn‘t be dictated or limited by a ruling authority. The Garden of
Love is a symbol of this belief – that desire and sex should be natural aspects of human life.
Blake attacks cruelty, hypocrisy and the other evils that he saw in society that were destroying
imagination and frustrating the natural desires of people.
Stanza 1
Line 1: I went to the Garden of Love. The poet revisited the Garden of Love, open green piece
of land where he used to play. Garden of love – suggests a place where beauty is deliberately
cultivated.
Line 2: And saw what I never had seen: Literally – the place was very different, not the way
he remembered it. Figuratively—this experience amounts to a sudden realisation of what has
been in front of the speaker for some time, but he was unable to ‗see‘ the reality clearly
before. He was dismayed to see that in the green open place, a Chapel (church) had been
erected in the middle of the place were boys and girls together used to play.
Line 3: A Chapel was built in the midst, The Garden represented the state of innocence
where joy prevailed and everybody could enter the place. The Chapel has taken the place of
the speaker's old playground. The Chapel represents the Church and its oppressive role.
Religion has destroyed the Garden of Love. It is now devoid of any joy. Built – this was an
intrusion by man/ society into the free world of childhood and innocence.
Line 4: Where I used to play on the green. ―Play‖, the innocence of youth green nature. The
harmony between man and nature no longer existed. The Garden of Love represented human
happiness and freedom. However, the imposition of the Church in the form of the Chapel has
ruined the setting. Also symbolises growth, fertility. Tone: Shock at what has changed.
Stanza 2
This stanza describes how the Chapel ruins the speaker's freedoms and joys.
Lines 5-6: And the gates of this Chapel were shut, and Thou shalt not; writ over the door. The
speaker attempts to enter the Chapel. The gates of the Chapel were closed and above the
door he saw the warning ‗Thou Shalt Not‘. Thou shalt not – this refers to all of the Ten
Commandments in the Old Testament and not a specific commandment. This refers to all the
restrictions of the Church, which Blake believed were the source of inequality and
helplessness in society. Gates shut implies that people were not free to act. Capital letter and
full stop makes the command forbidding & hostile.
Line 7: So I turn’d to the Garden of Love, The poet then turned his attention to the Garden of
Love. He wanted to see if anything else had changed. He was hoping that the place of his
1|Page
, fond memories has not changed; he was expecting to see the beautiful flowers that he
remembered.
Line 8: That so many sweet flowers bore. Sweet flowers – represents love, pleasure,
relationships and what man naturally enjoys in life. Also symbolic of innocent love. The
Church destroyed many of the joys (sweet flowers) in life with their rules.
Stanza 3: This stanza depicts the adverse changes that have enveloped the Garden of Love
during the present time.
Lines 9-10 And I saw it was filled with graves, And tomb-stones where flowers should be: The
Garden portrays an aura of total unease and misery. Instead of flowers, he saw graves and
tomb-stones. These had replaced the flowers that the Church had forbidden. The graves and
tomb-stones symbolise the death of freedom. The repetition of ―and‖ creates a feeling of
finality and a building up of the tone of doom and the feeling that no one escapes.
Line 11: And Priests in black gowns were walking their rounds, priests in black gowns –
symbols of the church which caused mourning and despair. Walking their rounds – the ritual
of the priests was done mechanically. Rounds is associated with following a set, inflexible
routine. There was no real concern for the people. The restrictive rules are enforced by
"Priests in black gowns," or the clergy. The clergy of the time enjoyed gluttony, mistresses,
and many other things while preaching against them to the masses.
Line 12: And binding with briars, my joys & desires. briars – Briars have thorns. They refers to
the painful rules and restrictions of the church. Joys and desires – these include the physical
pleasures he is denied by the rule-bound morality of the church. The speaker is indignant of
the discrepancy between deed and word because while the clergy "bind with briars [his] joys
and desires" they enjoy the same "joys and desires." They were bound by all the rules and
regulations of the church and his joys and desires are labelled as sin.
THEMES
The distortion of Christian belief about the future life Blake attacks the approach of
Christianity which encouraged the denial of sexuality and other powers in the present, in the
hope of future reward and bliss. He felt that this led to permanent failure to attain human
fulfilment.
The oppressive role of the church / Control of people: Society makes its fears, guilt and
shame into rules and laws which are then enshrined in social institutions such as the authority
of parents, the Church and the State or Monarchy.
Frustration with a religious system that condemns the joy that man finds in nature and in
physical pleasure
2|Page
