"The Garden of Love"

"I went to the Garden of Love,
And saw what I never had seen:
A Chapel was built in the midst,
Where I used to play on the green."

- Published: 1794
- Author: William Blake
- Form: 3 Quatrains, usage of the word "and" repetitively (once in 1st stanza, twice in 2nd, 4x in third)
- Theme: Religion

The focus of this poem is mainly on religion because of the restrictions the church gives to its citizens - where one's relationship to God was once free, it now comes with obstacles that impede. The last line ends with "And binding with briars my joys & desires" because the speaker feels like Adam and Eve, cast out of the Garden of Eden, only able to look from the outside in.

Notes:
- The Christian point of view is directed toward the state view of Christianity.
- The Joys of expressing the self become binded by the Church.

Volume D p.94
Winnie Jaing - TA: Amanda Waldo - Discussion 1H