Green Thoughts:

Andrew Marvell's 'Garden' of Enlightenment Thinking

Garrett Hazelwood

There have been many critical interpretations of Andrew Marvell's famous poem, ''The
Garden'', and these texts represent an enormous diversity of conflicting readings of the work.
Lawrence Hyman, for example, claims that the poem should be understood through purely
sexual terms. In contrast, Margaret Carpenter interprets the poem through a discussion of its
relevance to the Book of Genesis. In another reading, Nicolas Salerno views the poem through
an exclusively historical lens and focuses on the ways in which the poem echoes popular 17th
century horticultural manuals; while yet another critic, Daniel Stempel, imagines that the text
demonstrates Marvell's Cartesian leanings. While each of these readings of ''The Garden'' - along
with countless other approaches to the text - present compelling arguments as to the poem's
meaning, their incredible diversity and variously contradictory arguments demonstrate not only
the complexity of the poem, but also the inherent impossibility of the simultaneous accuracy of
the majority of those same interpretations. In an effort to clear things up, this paper will humbly
propose yet another reading of ''The Garden'', and illuminate, in the most comprehensible terms
possible, its actual meaning as intended by Andrew Marvell. This explanation of the poem will
examine textual and historical evidence, as well as build upon several earlier critical
interpretations of its meaning, in order to illustrate its discussion of newly emerging 17th century
enlightenment thought with its emphasis on the value of progress and reason. Furthermore, I will
endeavor to show the poem's representation of the collision occurring at the time of its creation
between increasingly antiquated medieval modes of thought and the divergent modern thinking
that began to take hold during the early modern period and would eventually lead to a major
revolution in western thought.

In order to properly interpret the meaning of ''The Garden'' we must first place it within
an historical framework. However, because the exact date of the poem's creation is unknown, it
is impossible to pinpoint its exact position in history It is known that Marvell lived from 1621
until 1678, and although many scholars maintain that Marvell wrote the poem in his youth, at
least one has argued that it was written no earlier than 1668 (Pritchard). In any case, the poem
must have been written sometime in the mid 17th century: a watershed moment in the history of
Western scientific thought, and the time during which such great thinkers as Descartes, Galileo,
and Locke were doing their most important work. This was the time when the early foundations
of Enlightenment thought began to gain considerable influence among the English intellectual
society, and being a member of that group, Marvell was certainly influenced by this movement,
which championed ''the use and celebration of reason'' and asserted that ''the goals of rational
man were knowledge, freedom, and happiness'' (''Enlightenment''). One scholar even makes the
argument that Marvell was directly influenced by Descarte's idea of dualism (Stempel).
Additionally, it is important to note that although Enlightenment ideas had begun to take hold in
the 17th century, its principles were still extremely new, and therefore must have seemed very
radical to most people during this time period.

After situating ''The Garden'' in an historical context, its underlying theme, which
champions Enlightenment ideals over vain quests for glory and material gain, can be identified
with much greater ease. Throughout the poem, Marvell uses the image of the garden and the
shade it provides to symbolize a place of quiet and innocence, which he illustrates as an ideal
environment for stimulating thought, progress, and reason. In contrast, he depicts the prizes
gained from endeavors seeking honor or material gain as casting a narrow shadow that fails to
provide the shade he uses as a central metaphor in the poem.

For evidence to support these claims, we can begin by looking to the first and fourth
stanzas. Marvell opens his poem with a criticism of ''how vainly men themselves amaze / to win
the palm, the oak, or bays'' (ll. 1-2). He then tells his readers that the labor expended in seeking
these plants, which represent various awards for military, civic, and poetic achievement, prove
worthless because they provide nothing of substance but a ''narrow verged shade'' (ll. 5).
Furthermore, because the narrow shadow produced by these material awards is hardly enough to
create the shade provided by ''all [the] flow'rs and all [the] trees'' (ll. 7) in his garden, he criticizes
the men who seek them for wasting their labors. Then, in the fourth stanza, Marvell echoes this
earlier point through two examples from Greek myth. Carpenter was wrong in saying that these
lines represented a perversion of Greek myth, because even though she was correct in pointing
out that ''Apollo and Pan chased these nymphs for what they were, not for that into which they
were to be metamorphosed,'' (159) the text doesn't necessarily contradict that point. If the lines
are examined more closely, they merely represent the notion that Apollo and Pan were like the
vain men in the first stanza who sought after earthly material prizes, thinking they would prove
of great value, but were only rewarded with the ''narrow verged shade'' (ll. 5) provided by laurel
or a reed.

The key to connecting the first and fourth stanzas is to pay particular attention to
Marvell's uses of the plural and the singular. When he writes critically of the prizes that vain men
seek, he refers to them in the singular, subtly pointing out the insignificant amount of shade
provided by a single leaf or tree. In the fourth stanza, he talks about the Greek Gods ending their
chase in the singularity of ''a tree'' and Syrinx turning into a single reed. However, when he talks
about plants in the plural, he is referring fondly to the entirety of nature, which he values in the
poem as a place that provides generous shade and therefore facilitates thought and reason,
thereby also stimulating progress. Therefore, Marvell is arguing that to gain a simple token from
nature is pointless in that it begets nothing but itself, whereas using the entirety of nature
represented through the use of the plural to cultivate thought and progress is far superior.
Additionally, benefiting from the natural world by using it to create thought and produce
progress is a perfect illustration of the way proto-Enlightenment thinkers sought to progress
mankind's knowledge through the examination of nature.

After identifying and criticizing those who value glory and material prizes over reason
and progress, Marvell uses natural imagery to illustrate the virtues of Enlightenment ideals.
Perhaps the most compelling instance of Marvell's identification of nature as a place that
facilitates Enlightenment thought occurs in the second stanza when he identifies the garden as a
place where ''fair Quiet'' and Innocence reside. By asserting that nature, as represented by the
garden, is a place of quiet and innocence, Marvell is illustrating two crucial features that produce
new ideas. Quiet, obviously, is the ideal environment for focused meditative thought, and
innocence is a necessary component for the production of questions. In other words, being
innocent involves lacking understanding and therefore is the necessary foundation for seeking
new knowledge. Furthermore, Marvell tells his readers that the ''sacred plants'' (ll. 13) belonging
to Quiet and Innocence, ''only among the plants [in the garden] will grow'' (ll. 14), evoking the
idea that Quiet and Innocence cultivate growth. This image of growth, in turn, implies that Quiet
and Innocence cultivate progress through their encouragement of thought. Pursuing this idea into
the next stanza, we see yet another indication of Enlightenment ideals when Marvell claims that
instead of carving the name of a person into a tree as cruel lovers do, he will only carve them
with name of the trees themselves. This notion highlights the value Marvell places on identifying
nature for what it truly is rather than assigning it the name, and therefore characteristics, of
humans. This can be identified as an instance where Marvell advances a scientific understanding
of nature over an abstract notion of personifying, and therefore overlooking the true physical
description, of the natural world.

''The Garden'' continues to illustrate nature as a catalyst for thought and progress in
stanzas five through eight, and makes use of biblical imagery in stanzas five and eight to tie
down its argument championing Enlightenment ideals. As pointed out by Hyman in his critical
interpretation of the poem, stanza five evokes strong images of man's fall from the Garden of
Eden. However, what he failed to note was Marvell's ambivalence towards, and even celebration
of, this fall. The stanza describes the temptations of the garden causing the speaker in the poem
to literally ''fall on grass'' (ll. 40), but quickly transitions into the next stanza where it tells that he
simultaneously escapes from ''pleasures less'' (ll. 41) and ''withdraws into [the] happiness'' (ll. 42)
of the mind. What Marvell is describing with these lines is that instead of man's fall from Eden
being a bad thing, it was actually wonderful because by eating from the Tree of Knowledge, man
was deprived of the physical pleasures of Eden, but rewarded with something much greater, the
gift of knowledge. This is why Marvell tells us that the mind ''creates, transcending these
[material objects], / far other worlds, and other seas,'' (ll. 45-46) implying that through thought
man is able to create worlds far superior to the physical one our bodies inhabit. He explains that
nature provides a space that allows our minds to dissolve everything material into ''a green
thought'' (ll. 49), or in other words, a new idea. It is through these 'green', or new, thoughts that
we are able to soar into the trees, where nature provides us with a shady place of rest where we
can prepare our minds ''for longer flight'' (ll. 55) to new ideas and even greater heights. After
illustrating this idea, which is the primary argument of the poem, Marvell returns to his initial
suggestion, that the solitude and quiet of nature provides man with the perfect environment to
reason, by giving his readers an image of Adam wandering alone in Eden in the eighth stanza.
He claims that ''two paradises 'twere in one / to live in paradise alone'' (ll. 63-64), pointing out
once again that nature provides us with a paradise for thought as well as for physical pleasures.

The last stanza of ''The Garden'' concludes the poem with an image illustrating the
benefits of man's use of nature as an instrument for progress. Salerno explains in his critique of
the poem that the creation of huge sundials by a certain arrangement of trees and flowers were a
feature of some of the period's more elaborate gardens. Marvell describes one of these incredible
sundials when he explains ''how well the skilful gardener drew / of flowers and herbs this dial
new'' (ll. 65-66). This image is used as a concrete example of the achievements of science that
man can create with the help of nature, and furthermore, by using a sundial to provide this
example, Marvell is also providing an image of time, which helps to evoke the notion of
progress.

After a careful analysis of the entire poem, we can come to see just how multi-layered
and complex the imagery of ''The Garden'' is. As I have already explained, Marvell uses the
image of a garden to evoke a number of ideas. First, by framing his poem within a garden he is
able to point out the way that the natural world provides a retreat for silent, solitary thought.
Secondly, it allows him to easily evoke biblical imagery and use it to illustrate the way nature
provides us with knowledge, just as it did when man first ate from the Tree of Knowledge.
Finally, it also allows him to contrast man's use of nature to achieve the Enlightenment goals of
progress and happiness with the vanity of laboring after worthless material prizes. In turn, we
can understand this condemnation of labor for the sake of glory or material prizes as represented
by the ''palm, the oak, or bays'' (ll. 2) as a direct criticism of pre-Enlightenment values that failed
to place importance on thought, reason, and progress. Marvell wrote ''The Garden'' in a time
when Enlightenment ideas were first starting to emerge in Europe in order to solicit more
widespread appreciation of their value to society, and by writing with this goal in mind he has
left long standing evidence of the struggle between the ''green thoughts'' of the Enlightenment
and the pre-existing values of European society. Luckily for us, and for the advancement of
human knowledge of the natural world, Enlightenment thinkers like Marvell won that conflict,
and in so doing, set the stage for the countless multitudes of green thoughts that would be built
off of theirs.
The Garden: Andrew Marvell - Summary and Critical Analysis

The Garden by Andrew Marvell is a unique poem which is romantic in its expression,
metaphysical in its word-game, and classical in its music. It is romantic because it is about the
nature in subject and theme, and it is the expression of the poets personal and emotional feelings
about life in the nature (and society).

Its style is metaphysical because it uses the conceit, forceful argument, allusions (references)
from sources like the Bible, myths and metaphysical philosophies. And it is a classical poem in
its form because the stanzas, rhythm, rhyme and word-choice is like in classical poetry (carefully
perfected form, and a language different from the ordinary). The theme is that the garden (which
is the symbol of life in nature) is the perfect place for physical, mental and spiritual comfort and
satisfaction, unlike the society where pleasure is false and temporary.

The poet has finally found the nature and realized its value; he claims that the nature is the only
true place for complete luxury. 'The Garden' is a unique metaphysical poem which is Romantic
in its subject matter and also contains classical elements in its diction, meter and structure. The
poem is written in heroic couplet, which deals with the poets experience of feelings and ideas
about the garden that represents the nature. The poet begins by comparing the nature with society
and social life and criticizing the society and busy worldly life.

In the first stanza, the speaker criticizes men who vainly amaze themselves by putting a
garland of a few leaves and believing they have achieved victory, prestige and reward for all
their endless labors. But in fact, the true and complete pleasure lies in the complete garland of
repose in the nature. In the second stanza, he personifies the quietness and innocence in the
nature and speaks to them saying that he has at last found them after losing his time in mens
company. Then, he calls the trees amorous (sexually playful or powerful). Expressing such an
odd emotion and attachment with trees, he criticizes lovers for cutting trees to write their
beloveds names. In the fourth stanza, he claims that when mens heart of love and youth is
finished, they turn to the nature. According to the speaker, even the gods did this, when for
example, Apollo and Pan changed their lovers into trees.

In the second part of the poem (stanza 3-7), the speaker develops his arguments and opinions
about the nature. In the fifth stanza, he gives a very sensuous description about his physical
pleasure. In the sixth, he argues that this pleasure is moreover mental. Here he uses an odd
metaphysical philosophical idea that the mind contains another world and garden as well inside
it. In the seventh stanza, he further claims that this pleasure has a spiritual aspect. He
romanticizes how he feels; he feels as if his soul is singing and gliding from tree to tree as a bird,
combing its feathers, and preparing for the eternal flight of salvation. Here is also an indirect
allusion of the Holy Spirit of the Bible.

The third and last part of the poem is the conclusion (stanza 8 and 9). Before making the
concluding remark that there can be no question of genuine pleasure without the nature, the
speaker compares himself with the lonely Adam in Eden; he also argues that being lonely was a
second paradise (heavenly state) for Adam, before Eve brought about the fall. In the ninth stanza,
the speaker thanks God for creating a unique world of its own that is the garden. The garden or
the nature in general, has its own time: the rush and hurry of the society doesnt apply here. Even
the sun seems to have its own sweet course. The garden is therefore the only source of true
physical, mental as well as spiritual satisfaction and repose.

As a metaphysical poem 'The Garden' uses conceit, wit, far-fetched images and allusions, and a
dramatic situation. The balance of emotion and intellect is also another metaphysical feature. The
romantic myths about god Apollo and Pan is changing girls and enjoying the nature, the Biblical
allusion of Adams lonely happiness are heterogeneous ideas yoked by violence together
within the context of the argument. The trees and peace of the garden are personified and even
sexualized! The argument about physical pleasure is twisted into the argument about mental
pleasure. At that point, the poet brings a truly metaphysical idea about the mind. He argues
according to a medieval philosophy that his mind is an ocean of all the things and images of
the real world. He further extends the idea of pleasurable experience by arguing that his pleasure
is actually spiritual. There he goes on to create the imagery of his soul flying like a dove and
preparing for the eternal flight of salvation. The same idea of spiritual pleasure is also related to
the comparison with Adam in Eden. The last stanza also contains another metaphysical element:
the idea of the garden as a separate sun-dial. The poem is also a dramatic and emotional
expression of personal feelings, which is at the same time balanced with witty and intellectual
ideas and allusions. This unified sensibility also gives the poem another feature of metaphysical
poetry.

As a classical poem, the poem exhibits the qualities like the use of a different poetic diction,
heroic couplet, careful rhythm and design, classical and educated allusions, and so on. The
poems main line of argument is not difficult to summarize. But, there are so many difficult
words and even ordinary words used in unusual sense. Many sentences have a Latin-like
word order, with the verb at the end, and so on. There is a classical perfection in its meter and
design and structure as a whole.

The main theme of the poem is that peaceful life in the nature is more satisfying than social life
and human company. The poem is striking in its sensuous imagery, witty ideas and a balance
between romantic and classical elements, as well as its metaphysical qualities.
How vainly men themselves amaze
To win the palm, the oak, or bays ;
And their uncessant labors see
Crowned from some single herb or tree,
Whose short and narrow vergd shade
Does prudently their toils 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 busy 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! wheres'e'er your barks 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,
Still in a tree did end their race.
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 wondrous life is this I lead!

Ripe apples drop about my head ;
The luscious clusters of the vine
Upon my mouth do crush their wine ;
The nectarine, and curious peach,
Into my hands themselves do reach ;
Stumbling on melons as I pass,
Insnared with flow'rs, I fall on grass.
Meanwhile the mind, from pleasure less,
Withdraws into its happiness :
The mind, that ocean where each kind
Does straight 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 fountain's sliding foot,

Or at some fruit-tree's mossy root,
Casting the body's 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 prepared for longer flight,
Waves in its plumes the various light.

Such was that happy garden-state,

While man there walked 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 skillful gard'ner drew

Of flow'rs and herbs this dial new ;
Where from above the milder sun
Does through a fragrant zodiac run ;
And, as it works, th' industrious bee
Computes its time as well as we.
How could such sweet and wholesome hours
Be reckoned but with herbs and flow'rs!
"The Garden" is basically a poem about someone who thinks that hanging out in nature is the
coolest thing a person could do, and being able to hang in nature by yourself is the whipped
cream and cherry on top of that already delicious garden sundae. But the poem doesn't start out
that way. In fact, the poem opens far, far, away from Marvell's garden world with a
condemnation of society. It criticizes men who work their butts off to gain public recognition
because really, they're losing outall that time in the office means they aren't spending time in
the great outdoors and, according to Marvell, they're got their priorities all mixed up.

Next the speaker talks about how he used to look for "quiet" and "innocence" in society but has
discovered that even the best that mankind has to offer isn't as awesome as the solitude of nature,
a point which is capped off by a cute little anecdote that explains why trees are better than
girlfriends. And just in case anyone remains unconvinced, the speaker calls in some Greek
mythology for backupeven classical gods like Apollo and Pan, he says, liked plants better than
people.

Stanza 5 marks a shift in the speaker's argument from nature vs. society into pure praise for the
awesomeness of nature, epitomized by the idea of "the garden." Wherever this garden is, the
speaker is clearly pumped up about the idea of spending lots of time there. There's lots of
delicious fruit, so many melons that you can't even find room to walk, and nice cushy grass to
fall on in case you get too drunk on all the wine that "luscious clusters" of grapes are dripping
into your mouth.

Marvell then takes things up a notch and starts talking about spiritual things like the mind and
the soul. It's complicated language, but the speaker is basically saying that being in the garden
allows the mind to be at its best and the soul to be its most content. And what would be
extremely awesome for the mind and soul would be the opportunity to enjoy the garden alone; in
Biblical terms, Adam would have been better off if Eve never existed (the jury is still out on
what Marvell's wife thought about this last bit). The poem concludes with some images of God
as a gardener-clockmaker and compares the flowers in the garden to a super-huge sundial by
which humankind can measure their lives.
Lines 1-4

How vainly men themselves amaze

To win the palm, the oak, or bays;
And their uncessant labors see
Crowned from some single herb or tree,

The speaker starts off in a kind of scoffing, mocking tone: look at all those silly men working
their behinds off out there trying to win some trees. How ridiculous are they?
But these aren't just any trees. The palm tree, the oak, and the bay, or laurel tree all have
special significance in classical traditions. A crown made out of the branches of each tree is given
out to people who deserve honor in a specific field: the palm tree for military honors, the oak
tree for political honors, and the laurel tree for poetic honors.
These awards are a big deal. They mean someone important (the king, emperor, governor,
despot, whomever) has noticed your work and called you out for being awesome, and that kind
of recognition also opens up the door for making more money or getting yourself a better job.
Translation: there are lots of reasons to want those tree crowns and lots of people willing to
work very, very hard to get them.
Our speaker doesn't seem to be one of those people, though. He doesn't praise the work ethic
of these men; he mocks them for working so hard for something so insignificant. We don't know
exactly what our speaker has got against all these men who are striving for glory, but the use of
words like "vainly" (in vain), "uncessant" (never-ending), and "labors" (hard work) indicates a
negative impression.
Take a look at line 4. The phrase "crowned from some single herb or tree" isn't meant to sound
impressive. Crowns are generally very elaborate, and are obviously associated with royalty and
power, but the crowns here are made out of "some single herb or tree." The speaker can't even
be bothered to figure out what kind of herb or tree it is! It's just "some herb"and a "single"
herb at that. It seems like our speaker thinks that sounds pretty lame.

Lines 5-8

Whose short and narrow vergd shade

Does prudently their toils upbraid;
While all flow'rs and all trees do close
To weave the garlands of repose.

The speaker continues his scoffing in lines 5 and 6, but the wording is a bit tricky so we'll help
spell it out. Line 5 opens and we're still talking about tree crowns. In case you were wondering,
our speaker's opinion of them hasn't improved: these crowns are so worthless, they can't even
offer shade! Instead of being an honor, the crowns are, in essence, a badge of disapproval.
The "short and narrow verged shade" of the wreaths upbraids, or censures, the toils and labors
of the men striving to earn them.
If you're confused already, don't worrylines 7 and 8 get us up to speed. The wreaths from
lines 1-4, it seems, are being compared to "all flow'rs and all trees." The criticism of their "short
and narrow vergd shade" makes sense when you think about the shade you'd get from wearing
a crown or wreath compared to the shade of a whole canopy of trees, vines, and flowers.
 It seems that, while all those men are busy with their "uncessant labors," the speaker is kickin' it
out in nature. The flowers and trees out in the natural world are weaving themselves together
to create a beautiful, stress-free, super-shady environment for the speaker to relax in.
This stanza, as a whole, is making a point about workaholics. The speaker is wondering why men
spend so much time working in their stuffy offices to earn one measly crown of oak branches
that can't even keep them out of the sun when all those men could and should be spending time
with the hundreds of different kinds of trees that exist in the garden.
The answer to the speaker's question, of course, is that the crowns are not just tree branches
woven together, they symbolize somethingglory, honor, talent, and recognition. But the
speaker already knows that, and he's twisting the tradition in order to prove a point: the natural
world has better things to offer than the man-made world. Our speaker doesn't really think that
men who work their bums off to write the best poem ever want the crown of laurel because
they want to use its branches for shade. He's taking a tradition that uses something from nature
to celebrate a public accomplishment and saying things should be the other way around: we,
the public, should be celebrating nature instead.
This kind of tradition-twisting and wordplay is a form of wit, and wit is something Andrew
Marvell's poetry is known for.
Keep your eyes open for other situations in "The Garden" where familiar stories, traditions, or
ideas are interpreted in unfamiliar ways.
Here at the beginning of a poem is also the perfect time to take notice of the rhyme, form, and
meter. As you might have noticed, this poem is broken up into nine stanzas, each of which is an
octave (a fancy name for a stanza with 8 lines). It's also good to note that the poem is written in
rhymed couplets of iambic tetrameter. Questions? We've got lots more to say about the role of
rhyme schemes and stanza forms in "The Garden," so if this has whetted your appetite, zip over
to the "Form and Meter" section to dig a little deeper.

Lines 9-12

Fair Quiet, have I found thee here,

And Innocence, thy sister dear!
Mistaken long, I sought you then
In busy companies of men.

In stanza 2 we learn that our speaker has found "Fair Quiet" and "Innocence" "here." Where
exactly "here" is we don't know yet, but we know where it is not. Lines 11 and 12 tell us that the
speaker, once upon a time, looked for "Fair Quiet" and "Innocence" in society, but came back
empty-handed.
Lines 9 and 10 use a literary device known as personification, or the act of referring to a non-
living object (idea, place, thing, quality) as if it had personal attributes. Marvell refers to "Fair
Quiet" as having a sister, Innocence, and therefore personifies the two ideas.
You might be tempted to label the speaker's address to "Fair Quiet" in line 9 as an apostrophe,
but is it really? It looks an awful lot like one, but in order for it to be a true apostrophe, it has to
be an address to someone or something who isn't there. "Fair Quiet" is referred to as being
"here." Of course, whether or not you consider it an apostrophe depends on where you think
"here" is. Let's keep reading to see if we get any more clues.
Lines 13-16

Your sacred plants, if here below,

Only among the plants will grow.
Society is all but rude,
To this delicious solitude.

The "your" at the beginning of line 13 refers all the way back up to "Fair Quiet" in line 9. So now
the speaker, it seems, is talking about Fair Quiet owning plantsplants which, we learn in line
14, only grow among other plants.
At first glance line 14 seems like a weird and totally obvious statement to make. Why should Fair
Quiet's plants not be found with plants belonging to anyone else?
In order to really understand lines 13 and 14, we have to dip into a little seventeenth century
philosophy. These lines are actually referring to the idea that all the plants on earth are inferior
versions of the plants that grow "above" or in heaven. The sunflowers you see out your window,
for example, are all well and good, but they aren't anywhere close to being as beautiful as the
sunflowers that grow in the afterlife.
Marvell is talking up nature. He's saying that, if the sacred versions of plants exist anywhere on
earth, they'd be found hanging out with the other plants. Nature, even in its inferior, earthly
form, is a more suitable place for sacred plants than anything human society could come up
with.
Lines 15 and 16 sum things up: society can't compare to being alone in the great outdoors.
The mention of "solitude" in line 16 catches our attention. The speaker isn't just trying to escape
the hustle and bustle of city life; he's saying "I want some 'me time' out here in the country and
don't anyone even think of trying to tag along." It seems that the only way to stay truly removed
from society is to have no company at all.

Lines 17-18

No white nor red was ever seen

So am'rous as this lovely green;

In these lines the speaker is comparing colors, and his conclusion is a surprising one: apparently
green, not red or white, is the most romantic color.
But what does it mean for a color to be "am'rous" (amorous)? The dictionary definition of
amorous is "showing, feeling, or related to sexual desire," but green isn't usually a color we
associate with love. In fact, red and white are much more traditional. Hmm.
Now whenever colors appear in poetry, you can usually bet that some fairly significant
symbolism is going to come along with them. Traditionally speaking, white represents
innocence, red symbolizes lust and romance, and green is the color of fertility.
So what do you think? Does the association of green with fertility make it an "am'rous" color? Or
is Marvell pulling another witty trick and getting at something else entirely? Let's read on
Lines 19-24

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! wheres'e'er your barks I wound
No name shall but your own be found.

In case you missed his point about trees being better than people back in stanza 2, Marvell
illustrates it here with a nice bit of imagery.
Ever heard your parents refer to "old flames" from back in their high school days? This goes back
to a really common simile that compares the heat of a romantic relationship to the heat of a
burning flame. Marvell, though, turns this comparison around; the heat of the flame becomes a
cruel thing, and instead of comparing romantic heat favorably to the heat of fire, Marvell draws
on fire's capacity to destroy and burn things up.
So when Marvell writes that lovers are "cruel as their flame," he's saying the lovers are
destroying things in the same way that fire does. As we'll see in the next line, he's referring
immediately to trees but many people also interpret this line as a critique of romantic
relationships in general. They read it as saying something more like this: lovers, who are as cruel
to the outside world as they are to each other.
These lovers are engaging in the old-fashioned practice of carving each other's names into tree
bark. But why is Marvell describing this as "cruel"? It seems harmless enough, right?
In line 21: a-ha! There's something these lovers don't know about what they're doing. Either
that, or they know and choose to ignore it.
According to Marvell, the cruelty is a result of a lack of appreciation. The lovers are too busy
wooing their women to notice that their totally clichd romantic gestures are destroying
something that's far more beautiful than their ladyloves. Being attracted to women, apparently,
is for ignoramuses. Trees are the new ladies. You get the picture.
As you might have expected, our speaker is not going to fall into the same trap. "Fair trees!" he
apostrophizes, if anyone ever catches me carving anything into your bark
They'll only find a big heart with "I <3 OAKS" written in it.

Lines 25-26

When we have run our passions' heat,

Love hither makes his best retreat:

We've moved onto the next stanza, but we're still talking about romantic love in line 25. The line
essentially reads "when we have exhausted our sexual desire," but there is a pun going on with
the word "heat." Marvell is immediately referring to "heat" as in romantic heat, but it also refers
to the "heat" as the heats of a race.
The pun on "heat" introduces us to the predominant metaphor in this stanza, which compares
the pursuit of sexual passion to the running of a race.
After our sexual desires are exhausted, love retreats to "hither." Now "hither" is an old-timey
word that probably even your grandparents are too young to have used. It basically means
"towards this place," a.k.a. the garden.
 But what is Marvell really saying? That after we're sick of loving people we start loving plants?
How does Love, a feeling, retreat anyway?
Notice that Marvell personifies Love in line 26 by referring to "his [] retreat" (our emphasis).
Love is no longer a feeling, but a person. The retreat, then, is a person's retreat. This raises lots
of questions concerning the speaker's opinion of the worth of romance and of society in general.
Chew on that one Shmoopsters, and let us know what you come up with.

Lines 27-32

The gods, that mortal beauty chase,

Still in a tree did end their race.
Apollo hunted Daphne so,
Only that she might laurel grow,
And Pan did after Syrinx speed,
Not as a nymph, but for a reed.

Just in case you don't believe that all love stories end with dudes ditching their women for trees,
Marvell has some good old-fashioned mythology to back up his point.
The gods, he says, known connoisseurs of "mortal beauty," really weren't into the ladies; they
only wanted women for the plants they would become.
This isn't as totally crazy as it sounds. People are occasionally turned into plants according to
Greek mythology. But it doesn't go down quite how Marvell tells the story, either.
Marvell uses the stories of Apollo and Daphne and Pan and Syrinx as examples, which you can
read in more detail here and here. In super-abbreviated form, both stories involve men (Apollo
and Pan) who fall madly in love with ladies-nymphs (Daphne and Syrinx), but the ladies want
nothing to do with them or any other man. The men chase the women all over the woods and
are about to catch them when river gods decide to swoop in and save the day by turning the
ladies into plants. (Daphne becomes the laurel tree and Syrinx becomes a reed.) Hence, the
"race" of the gods ends in trees.
Marvell's rendering of the story, though, leaves out the part where Apollo and Pan are
devastated and the river gods were actually being sneaky and vindictive. (Daphne's father really
wanted grandchildren and was punishing his daughter for wanting to remain a virgin.)
But, once again, Marvell knows this. He isn't using the stories to support his "trees are better
than people" point because he thinks that's how it actually happened; he's twisting the stories
around in an attempt to be witty.
We think Marvell's super witty, but that doesn't change the fact that this stanza gives readers,
especially modern readers, some serious pause. Is there some resentment of women lurking
under the surface here? And if there is, does that affect the way you look at the rest of the
poem?
The tone of this stanza is a little tongue-in-cheek, but also a little dark.
Marvell is, after all, making a joke out of two myths about rape. Eek.

Lines 33-36

What wondrous life is this I lead!

Ripe apples drop about my head;
The luscious clusters of the vine
Upon my mouth do crush their wine;

Now we're in stanza 5 and, man, does our speaker seem excited to be here. "What wondrous
life is this I lead!" This sounds like a par-tay.
And, as you might have noticed, it also sounds remarkably different in tone than what we
encountered in the previous stanza.
This, folks, is what we call a volta. Volta is an Italian word meaning "turn" and, in poetry, it
represents the specific place in a poem where the speaker's train of thought shifts, changes
abruptly, or "turns."
Words like "but," "and yet," or "alas" are common indicators that a volta might be right around
the corner, but here the transition is more subtle. The shift in thought is really more like a shift
in argument. The speaker turns from his argument that nature is better than society and begins
talking, instead, about why nature is so awesome.
The speaker does a great job of making the garden sound like the sweetest place on earth. Ripe
apples falling from the trees, grapes leaking their juices into his mouth
Actually, it also sounds a little too good to be true. This passage also marks where "The Garden"
really becomes a pastoral poem as opposed a poem that just talks about nature. A pastoral is a
poem that presents nature in an idealized and unrealistic form, as opposed to describing nature
as it actually appears. So while we know that apples do get ripe and fall from trees and grapes
are occasionally leaky, the romanticized, totally perfect, blissful way in which it's described here
is a little too perfect to be taken at face value.
Nature is also proactively giving the speaker everything he wants. He isn't picking the apples,
they're dropping right in front of him. The "luscious clusters" of grapes are squeezing
themselves into his mouthno effort needed.
This no-work-necessary description of nature creates the idea that nature is awesome because
it's a place that is both luxurious and relaxing. In an era where being outside is more likely to be
associated with plowing the fields than playing in gardens, this is an important distinction to
make.

Lines 37-40

The nectarine, and curious peach,

Into my hands themselves do reach;
Stumbling on melons as I pass,
Insnared with flow'rs, I fall on grass.

The wording here is pretty clear: fruit is so plentiful that it's literally rolling itself into the
speaker's hands; there are so many melons he can't even find a place to walk, and even if he
does trip up, it doesn't matter because he's falling on a soft, cushy bed of grass.
Once again we see nature proactively giving the speaker everything he needs. Fruit, melons,
flowers, a nice place to lie downthe garden has got it covered.
The idea of the speaker falling introduces some of the biblical imagery, specifically Garden of
Eden stuff, that will become more prevalent in stanza 8. Adam and Eve's decision to eat the
forbidden fruit is commonly referred to as the "fall of man."
 The speaker also "falls" in his garden, but his fall reinforces the idea of the garden as a safe and
relaxing place. He is ensnared with flowers, not by Satan, and falls on grass instead of into sin
and eternal damnation.

Lines 41-42

Meanwhile the mind, from pleasure less,

Withdraws into its happiness:

While our speaker is physically busy relaxing in the garden, his mind, it seems, is busy as well.
To be precise, the mind is "withdrawing into its happiness," or basically getting itself to a swell
state where the mind can do what it loves to dothink.

Lines 43-46

The mind, that ocean where each kind

Does straight its own resemblance find;
Yet it creates, transcending these,
Far other worlds, and other seas;

In line 43 we see the mind described as "that ocean." Since we know the mind is not actually an
ocean, this means we have a metaphor on our hands. But before we can really dive into the
meaning of that metaphor (no pun intended), there are some things you need to know about
seventeenth century philosophy. Sound fun? Great!!
The logic behind this "mind is ocean" metaphor goes back to a theory about nature that was in
vogue back in Marvell's day, namely that for every species on land there is a corresponding
species that lives in the ocean. Ever heard of manatees referred to as " sea cows" or tuna called
"the chicken of the sea"? It's kind of like that, except that the theory goes farther and says that
there is a tuna = chicken kind of equation for every single species on earth.
Now, Marvell's metaphor compares the mind to the ocean, but what he's really trying to say is
that, just like the all the ocean creatures correspond to all the land creatures, the mind has in it
a corresponding image for every the object in the world.
Think of it like this: you've seen a desk before, yes? Okay. So, now you can picture what that
desk looks like in your mind. A desk isn't physically in your head (ouch!), but there is an image of
a desk in your mind that you can call up should you ever need to remember what a desk looks
like.
But we're not done yet. Marvell has to take the metaphor even further to get to his real point,
which goes something like this: the mind is capable of holding all these images of things that
exist in the real world, but it is also capable of creating worlds of its own, that is, imagining
things that do not exist in real life.
The speaker of "The Garden" thinks these images that the mind creates "transcend" or surpass
any images that are merely remembered or absorbed from the physical world. For example, no
one has seen the soul, but using our minds we can think about the soul and imagine what it
might be like. This, according to the speaker, is the highest and best level of thinking, and being
in the garden is a good thing because it seems to help the speaker reach this higher level. Phew.
Lines 47-48

Annihilating all that's made

To a green thought in a green shade.

We're going to preface this section of the summary by telling you that this is one of the most
debated and famous passages, not of this poem, but of Marvell's poetry in general. And that's
saying a lot because the dude talks about some pretty complex stuff. Okay, on with the
analyzing.
We're still talking about the imagination, or the capacity of the mind to create and imagine
things that don't exist in the physical world. These images that the mind comes up with
annihilate, or obliterate, all the images of things that do exist in the physical world.
Fun fact: another definition of "annihilate" is to "treat as non-existent," which we think works
perfectly with what Marvell is trying to say.
But what does it mean to annihilate something "to a green thought in a green shade"? There are
theories, Shmoopsters, but no definitive answers. But this sounds fun so we'll have a crack at it
anyway.
Let's take it piece by piece. What do you think a "green thought" is?
A good place to start is to go back to other places in the poem where Marvell has mentioned the
color green. Remember back in stanza 3, when the speaker talked about green as "am'rous"?
But also remember that he's not talking about amorous in the normal sense. The speaker's got a
thing for trees. So, "a green thought" is possibly a kinda-sorta-romantic thought about nature.
Which makes sense, because if you're thinking about nature, you're likely thinking about things
that are green.
The same principle applies for figuring out "in a green shade." Our speaker is in a garden and we
know he feels that being in the garden allows him to think better. So, "a green thought in a
green shade" is talking about an original kinda-sorta-romantic thought about nature made while
in nature.
Put all together, the lines say: the mind rejects thinking about what exists in the world in favor
of coming up with original thoughts about nature, and original thoughts about nature can only
occur while the person thinking them is actively in the natural world.
So here's a question for you Shmoopsters: by that standard does this poem qualify as "a green
thought in a green shade"?

Lines 49-52

Here at the fountain's sliding foot,

Or at some fruit-tree's mossy root,
Casting the body's vest aside,
My soul into the boughs does glide:

We get to stanza 7 and our speaker is kickin' it. He's relaxing at the base of a fountain, he's
leaning up against a nice, mossy fruit tree root and just generally having a grand old time.
But while his body is stationary, his soul is just waking up. "The body's vest" is another way of
saying "skin," so our speaker is talking about an actual out-of-body experience.
His soul is gliding away into the trees, but he doesn't seem concerned about it at all.
 The soul, in fact, is running the whole show. We don't know where this is going but it sure has
gotten good.

Lines 53-56

There like a bird it sits and sings,

Then whets, and combs its silver wings;
And, till prepared for longer flight,
Waves in its plumes the various light.

Describing what the soul is up to is apparently a little tricky, so Marvell uses another simile to
help make things more clear.
The speaker's soul is like a bird.
This soul-bird seems happy, too. It's sitting, singing, and getting its feathers all fancy.
The bird is also preparing for "longer flight," which brings in the second part of our simile.
Indirectly, the migration of a bird is being compared to the death of the speaker. The "longer
flight" is actually the permanent separation between soul and body at the time of natural death.
You might think that death would be a downer, but the speaker's soul seems very okay with the
idea. Its "preparation" seems actually very pleasant and relaxing. Why do we think our speaker
is able to be so calm?
Poetic devices like alliteration and consonance don't play a huge role in "The Garden," but we
did notice some S sounds appearing pretty frequently in this passage. They're soft, breathy, and
contribute to the overall relaxing tone of the stanza.
(Check out "Sound Check" for more of this stuff.)

Lines 57-60

Such was that happy garden-state,

While man there walked without a mate:
After a place so pure and sweet,
What other help could yet be meet!

The "such was" that opens stanza 8 refers immediately back to the situation being described in
stanza 7. Remember, where the speaker's soul was flying around like a bird?
Apparently the speaker thinks that is what it was like in The Garden of Eden (that happy garden-
state) before Eve came along and ruined everything.
The speaker can't imagine why God would have thought it necessary to add anything to his
creation after making Adam.
That's interesting because, without Eve, more people could obviously not have existed.
Line 60 is a fairly direct reference to a Bible verse in Genesis: "And the Lord God said, It is not
good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him."
So does this mean our speaker's yearning for solitude flies in the face of what God ordained
back at the beginning of time? Or is this just another example of Marvell's famous wit?
Lines 61-64

But 'twas beyond a mortal's share

To wander solitary there :
Two paradises 'twere in one
To live in Paradise alone.

The speaker seems resigned to the fact that his dream of solo Paradise will never actually come
true, but that doesn't mean he's giving up the chase.
Lines 63 and 64 are super-famous. They essentially say that living in Paradise would be great,
and living by yourself would be Paradise. So it would be a double-Paradise if you could live in
Paradise and not have to share it with anyone else.
And we're sure Marvell meant to include that it would be three paradises in one if Shmoop
could be there to keep him company.
Also, a quick point about tone. Did you notice how lines 63 and 64 sound kind of like an
aphorism, or proverb? They make a profound point, but do it in an incredibly concise, clean kind
of way. This is very typical of Marvell's poetry. He picked the style up from classical authors, but
always makes sure to mellow out the terseness with a little flowery language. That way, the
poem sounds succinct and clean without becoming too harsh.

Lines 65-68

How well the skillful gard'ner drew

Of flow'rs and herbs this dial new;
Where from above the milder sun
Does through a fragrant zodiac run;

In line 65, the speaker praises the gardener for the work he has done.
Using another metaphor, Marvell compares the speaker's garden to a sundial made of flowers
and herbs. We recommend checking this out if you want to know more about how sundials
work.
According to the metaphor, the changing of the seasons turns the flowers into mini-sundials.
You can follow the passing of time by watching the flowers bloom, grow, and fade in the same
way that you can track time by keeping your sundial handy.
The "fragrant zodiac" is really just another way of restating the metaphor. Different zodiac signs
correspond with certain positions of the sun in the sky, so the "fragrant zodiac" is the different
flowers and herbs that bloom and wither at different times of the year.
This can also be looked at from a spiritual perspective, where God is the gardener-clockmaker
and the sundial measures not just the passing of a day or a year, but the life of the speaker.

Lines 69-72

And, as it works, th' industrious bee

Computes its time as well as we.
How could such sweet and wholesome hours
Be reckoned but with herbs and flow'rs!
 We're still working with the sundial metaphor in the final lines of the poem, except now a new
piece has been added: the bee.
The bees are presented as being "industrious" and "computing their time" or keeping track of
their days. Their most logical metaphorical counterpart, then, is people.
Marvell even comes out and says it in line 70: the bees compute their time "as well as we." This
could mean that they do just as good of a job as we do, but it could also mean that bees keep
track of time just like humans do.
The last two lines of the poem bring everything together. Our speaker, like the bees, chooses to
spend his hours in the garden, amongst the herbs and flowers. But if we switch gears and go
back to imagining the garden as a sundial, the sentiment still works, because the herbs and
flowers are literally being used as ways to keep track of time.