In what ways does William Blake's 'The Garden of Love' show the constraints of Religion upon society?

In what ways does William Blake's 'The Garden of Love' show the constraints of Religion upon society?

William Blake expressed many views on constraint within his poetry, whether this be through love, abuse, sickness or as we will look into now- religion. William Blake had firm ideas on how religion affected society, we see opinions of it being an oppressive negative thing, which is often abused for the high-ranking positions of power and knowledge in society.

     'The Garden of Love' can firstly be linked directly to the Bible as we could trace this back to the Garden of Eden. As the title 'The Garden of Love' is at the beginning of the poem, in fact, the very title itself, this also acts as a similarity between it and the Garden of Eden, which too is at the beginning of something- the Bible. The definition of the word 'Eden' is found in the words 'delight' or 'a state of innocence or bliss'. Both of these definitions, whether derived from the Biblical story or not are very much similar to feelings of love. This could be what William Blake is touching upon in his poem. He may in fact be referring to a modern form of Eden, but perhaps in defiance towards religion refuses to use the Biblically acclaimed word 'Eden' and instead replaces it with 'Love'. This both gives the poem a more modern feel and could show an act of both breaking free of and undermining the Bible.

     The capitalisation of words shows a vast importance and emphasis upon them, and when looking upon these words more closely it becomes clear that the capitalised words are all in some form or another Biblical. The capitalisation of 'Chapel', 'Garden of Love' and 'Priests' all link back to the Bible very clearly. The fact that these words alone are capitalised over all the others can be reflective of how the church and everything linked to it is more powerful than the ordinary everyday society. This capitalisation can also be reflective of the influence of the church, too. The only other word capitalised in the poem is 'And', which is used with syntactic parallelism throughout the final stanza. This could be referencing the repetition of 'And it was good' throughout each stage of creation in Genesis, showing how religion goes on to judge people, perhaps unfairly in Blake's eyes. Or it could be a mere statement of how religion creates a form of monotonous order and simplicity to life, something which to Blake's imaginative and creative mind would have most likely despised.

     As a brief overview we read how the writer has returned to a place he knows as 'The Garden of Love', only to find a Chapel with 'shut' gates. The connotations of pessimism radiating from the poem and directed towards religion are extremely condemning. We see how religion and what we see as representations of freedom and happiness are set up as dichotomies 'I turn'd to the Garden of Love that so many sweet flowers bore. And I saw it filled with graves' Blake shows the graves by the Chapel as the antithesis of the flowers that had once been there. This image of graves replacing flowers shows an idea of death replacing life, an entrapment or  constraint of the past holding back new life and not allowing it to progress or enjoy what the world holds for it. The 'Garden of Love' is a concept that seems to show a life of simple pleasures, freedom and innocence, yet the replacement of this area of emotion with a cold locked up Chapel shows not only how the Bible may condemn such an existence, but show how love can be ruined perhaps through religious constraints and rules. Love itself is a free emotion, something which Blake may well have felt as a writer, to have the rules of religion attempt to dictate how he should feel a free emotion would have created some form of conflict which may have been expressed in his poetry as a form of protest.

     It is clear that William Blake is seeing something fundamentally wrong with Religion in the poem as he talks of 'tomb-stones where flowers should be'. This sense of what things 'should' be shows not just a vision but the illusion of another more joyful world which has been lost. The idea that things are not as they 'should' be shows a stubbornness to the statement, too, that religion does not belong here and that it is overpowering an area in which it has no place and knows nothing of. It shows a bleak act of suppression, showing that instead of accepting differences, the rules of the church are seen as firm and unyielding, crushing imagination and young love.

     The image of the Chapel being 'shut' also show a coldness to the building, as if it is not welcoming to all, and that it may be somewhat selective about who it chooses to give its blessing to. To contrast this with the idea of a 'Garden', something natural which cannot be contained or controlled to which all beings may enter and exit as they choose, we see a true restriction on freedom. The line of 'Thou shalt not. writ over the door' is again referencing to the Bible fairly directly as we see links to the Decalogue. The idea of being told not to 'writ over the door' shows not just a lack of trust, but a sense of vandalism in the youth. This reckless feeling of mistrust between the church and the outsiders and the feeling that it may pass order onto those within and outside its community as it holds a divine authority is what may have driven Blake to question this authority in his poetry.

    The images of Priests in 'black gowns' seen as 'walking their rounds' shows a firm picture of order and routine. Where everything may be plain and ordered, none of the chaotic life that love and freedom may contain, but order and restrictions alone. Everything seems to be at a slow pace. The fact that the Priests are walking in 'rounds' again brings us back to the idea of monotony and repetition.

     The last line of the poem 'binding with briars, my joys & desires' brings us back to the Biblical imagery. We can see connotations of not just pain, but reference to Jesus' crucifixion with the idea of the crown of thorns. These 'briars' binding Blake's 'joys and desires' could show how the church is not just condemning them, they are being suffocated and killed by the rules of an autonomous leader. 'Binding' and 'briars' are both plosive consonants, incorporating both a sense of anger and emphasis on the words as if the final line of the poem is not ending on a conclusive note at all, but that of frustration at the sheer influence and power of religion as it seeks to control how society should be.

William Blake- The Sick Rose

William Blake- The Sick Rose

The outer shell of the poem tells the story of how a rose has been infected by an invisible worm which was blown into the bed of petals (much to its joy and relief) within a storm. This worm is consequently killing the rose by residing within it.

If we look beyond the surface we can see that the image of the worm and flower may stand as a very vivid metaphorical cover for a story. The idea of the flower makes us think of a woman, as it stands as a romantic and classically feminine image. This flower is ruined and killed by the invasion of this worm, which we could see as representing a man. If a woman became seduced by a man, letting him into her life it was easy for her to become ruined by him. Left to rot and wither once the man had taken from her what he needed.

The mention of the rose being ‘sick’ could refer to perhaps being sick within its mind to let the worm come to it for relief from the storm, allowing itself to be used as a sacrifice for the survival of a parasite. It could also be merely referring to the damage done to it, as the tone appears somewhat pitying of the flower ‘O Rose, thou art sick’. The reference to the bloom as ‘Rose’ and not by another name such as ‘flower’ also shows us how it could be a woman, as Rose is also a woman’s name.

The use of the word ‘crimson’ has connotations of passion and love, however the colour is also harsh and dark, making us think of blood. The rose is dying, perhaps bleeding to death. The mention of the worm finding ‘thy bed of crimson joy’ also shows us how the rose, or woman’s fall from grace was from giving in to the man sexually as her downfall was due to her ruin. The use of the word ‘joy’ also is very representative of the story, we see that perhaps the rose was fooled, manipulated or tricked by this metaphor of the man.

The final stanza is fairly similar to what we might see as an abusive relationship, as the concept of love is still contained, yet one party is fading away at the use of the other ‘And his dark secret love does thy life destroy.’ The rose may not even be noticing it’s dying and being sick, explaining how we hear the voice telling it that it is so, showing a naïve, oblivious form of love that disregards all personal feelings for the benefit of the lover. The sheer extreme of placing all you love above yourself, not noticing the damage it does to you behind the scenes as you see nothing but the other and their wellbeing as important. In this sense it is as if the worm has infected the very mind of the rose itself.

Comparison between Matthew Arnold’s ‘Dover Beach’ and ‘A Modern Sappho

Comparison between Matthew Arnold’s ‘Dover Beach’ and ‘A Modern Sappho

Matthew Arnold’s ‘Dover beach’ is an iconic piece of poetry marking a turning point in literature in which new ideas and theories on what’s out there or not out there are voiced. Romance is a key theme within the poem, however there is a distinct loneliness paired with it also as the language used does touch on romance as the ‘sweet night air’ is mentioned along with Arnold’s line ‘ah, love, let us be true.’ Despite these tender lines there is no audible response from the lover we assume Arnold is speaking to, with the use of words such as ‘Come’ and ‘Listen!’ we could read that although the lover is there the they are distant from one another. 

     Dover Beach also holds a large sensation of entrapment as the land is set up as the antithesis of the sea which Arnold is looking out at. The land is described as ‘moon-blanched’ which gives a sense of it being blank and dead, as Arnold looks out at the sea in contrast we see it described as ‘glittering’ and ‘gleam[ing]’, he seems to be yearning for the freedom of the sea, the freedom and life- to break away from the dead earth he is stranded upon. We could also see this as a metaphor for how Arnold may feel trapped within love as he is with his partner perhaps in person, but not in spirit. 

     The water is a common theme throughout Arnold’s poetry, we also see it mentioned in ‘A Modern Sappho’ where we are told of the 'river'. Water in both poems seems to have some form of metaphorical meaning. In 'Dover Beach' the sea seems to represent an unattainable freedom, yet it also holds a sense of vast emptiness, perhaps even a lack of point to life itself. We can almost taste the sense of some form of mid-life crisis, that there is nothing left to aim for in life after settling down and marrying. The imagery built up in the description of the water 'withdrawing' and 'retreating' can be taken in such a way that we could see an illusion of Arnold's life being washed away before his very eyes. The idea of the water being drawn away shows a certain nakedness and vulnerability to Arnold, his life is stripped of all challenge and meaning, and perhaps this is what he believes the world to be like when we look beyond it. The idea that something so large and empty holds a great deal of power could be representative of how the world itself has power over those within it, yet its intentions and the natural law it follows are shallow and cruel. In 'Dover Beach' the reference to water is built up to form a distinctive sense of isolation, yet in 'A Modern Sappho' this water is used with the mention of a 'boat' which could signify travelling or moving towards some form of conclusion 'let me pause, let me strive, in myself make some order'. This moment of speaking to himself shows us as the readers that there is a great amount of grief being felt by the narrator, a sheer uncertainty, and once again the sense of being alone. 

     'A Modern Sappho' already tells us a great deal within its title alone. Sappho being the Greek poet who flung herself from the top of a cliff after being unable to cope with the pain of her unrequited love. The use of the word 'modern' is referring to the poet himself- bringing in a sense that he is very much an incarnation of Sappho and destined for the same fate. Modern also hints that perhaps Arnold is beyond his time and feeling out of touch with the present world. 

     Building further upon the reference to water and the sea in Arnold's 'Dover Beach' we read of the 'Sea of Faith'. The 'Sea of Faith' is capitalised, stressing the importance of both of these ideas brought together, in some senses we could see this as personifying the sea and the concept of faith. There is a certain ambiguity as to whether this faith is of a religious standpoint or in relation to the topic of love. If we see it in a biblical sense then we might further take the idea of being alone on the world to say that as there is nothing out there for us, there can be no omnibenelovent God either. We can conclude that all we really have on this earth is our faith, and without our faith we have nothing. 

     The form of each poem is extremely different. In 'Dover Beach' the poem is written in the shape of waves going down the page, the structure is firm and every line in every verse follows a pattern of one short line, two longer lines, then one short and another two longer. Every line adheres to this rule and each line across each verse in the pattern are nearly exactly the same length. This shows a very firm and rigid, yet repetitive structure, reflecting the monotony and repetition of society and the waves of the sea. 'A Modern Sappho' has a very different form, set out again in a very firm and unchanging structure that runs throughout. The image of the poem laid out on page holds an instantly recognisable poetic picture, the couplets make the words instantly recognisable as a classic poetry form. This could be linking back to Sappho, the ancient Greek poet who is mentioned in the title. The firm structure which also appears in the form of this poem could be representing a sense of being unable to change what is fixed- in this case the fact that the woman he loves is in love with somebody else.

     The dichotomy of structure between both poems is represented clearly in the varying sentence structure. 'Dover Beach' uses a great deal of enjambment which builds up a sensation of flowing and of everything leading back to the same point, returning over and over to the sense of hopelessness and being trapped in an unbreakable chain of events. In juxtaposition 'A Modern Sappho' has a very disjointed style of sentence structure, the poem begins as very broken up by the use of hyphens, reflecting a very raw and painful feeling of grief. The short sharp points which the poem commences with shows the thoughts of a turbulent mind with rushing thoughts that both seem to be growing and dying down as the poet slowly seems to realise that this fate is unchangeable and he is destined to be alone. We see the pace of the poem changing as the use of hyphens die down and are replaced with commas, making the poem seem slower and calmer, yet more defeated. 

     The use of language in Arnold's poetry is very bittersweet, romance touches the surface at points yet at times will become drowned out by the overwhelming sense of a lack of worth and doubt. In 'Dover Beach' the language used sets a very tranquil scene, words such as 'calm', 'full', 'gone' and 'vast', hint at the ideas of life being over. Pessimism riddles 'A Modern Sappho' as the words used reflect Arnold's empty and lonely state. The words used in the first half of the poem are monosyllabic and blunt, exposing a very emotionally fragile and raw emotion 'gone', 'still', 'pause', 'weep', 'cold' and 'gloom' are just a few of these words used to paint the bleak picture of hopelessness and powerlessness that Arnold seems to be experiencing. The strain on the word 'will' is highly noticeable as it is the only word in the whole of the poem in italics, this places emphasis on the feeling of having no confidence, hope or self worth 'let my turn, if it will come, be swift in arriving!' Arnold seems very much out of control in his poem 'A Modern Sappho' perhaps driven mad by jealousy and tortured by the scenes he describes, he describes his heart as 'Foolish' the word capitalised for emphasis as he accuses his heart 'dost thou quiver?'- this shows him questioning his own emotions, blaming them and unable to control them.

    

     The syntax in 'A Modern Sappho' is very awkward indeed, bearing light on Arnold's turbulent emotions. The syntax used in 'Dover Beach' is far more controlled and ordered showing a more thought-out and well-meditated outlook whereas 'A Modern Sappho' seems far more rash in comparison. 'A Modern Sappho' incorporates both the use of anaphora and syntactic parallelism where lines such as 'Let me pause, let me strive' , 'I shall suffer, I shall weep' and 'their love, their passion' show a controlled use of repetition for impact upon the reader. 

     The themes themselves in each poem stand as contrasts, too, as in 'Dover Beach' Arnold is with his lover, yet in 'A Modern Sappho' he is alone and out of love as his love is unrequited. The similarities however link where we see in both poems, with lover or not he still seems to be feeling alone as this overpowering sense of not knowing what life's purpose is, or whether there is one at all seems to haunt Matthew Arnold constantly.

Dover Beach - Matthew Arnold

Dover Beach – Matthew Arnold

This vast expression of a lack of faith by Matthew Arnold creates an illusion of being caught up in the world, powerless to change our path or shape ourselves within it. There is some distant wish to be formed within the world, yet it still seems very much out of reach ‘he who finds himself, loses his misery.’ Written on one of the nights of his honeymoon in Dover we hear a man speaking who has failed to live up to expectations and lost who he is within the world as he has slipped out of touch from situations arising which he was unable to change- demonstrating how this boundless, powerful world is what dictates our lives. The death of his father who had held no real expectations of him left him at a loss, no longer even knowing himself, something which is reflected within his poetry.

     Matthew Arnold broke literary conventions; because of this many people regard his poetry as marking a turning point for literature. This point of change arises from his clear lack of faith alongside with the idea of there being nothing out there in the world for us. Despite the darkness of this idea his poetry is very much indulging in the beauty of the world, however cruel and fixed it might be behind the scenes.

     In his poem ‘Dover Beach’ we see that he seems to be talking to somebody, whom we are lead to assume as Arnold’s wife. There is no reply to his words to her however. This leads us to see the possibility that even though he may be with somebody at the time he still feels alone as words such as ‘misery’ and ‘sadness’ crop up further in the poem.

     Arnold goes on to describe the land as ‘moon-blanched’ as the sea comes to meet it. The idea of the land being ‘moon-blanched’ incorporates a vivid use of imagery building up the picture of a landscape that is in many respects pale and dead- the life having been drained from it. The sea meeting this landscape is a contrast, described as ‘glimmering’ and ‘vast’ capturing a potent and unattainable sense of freedom from the world, rules, and any expectations which life on land captures society within. The sea in contrast to the land is capturing the very essence of life. ‘Bright’ and showing life within its very incessant movement as the waves ‘Begin, and cease, and then again begin.’ However, the ocean is an unattainable freedom, which lurks just out of reach for Arnold, tantalisingly close but still too far away as he remains trapped on the lifeless earth only able to wistfully observe.

     There seems to be a distinct feeling of being lost within the world- too small to make a difference or to change the constant cycle. This sense of repetition and being trapped within a system is held within ‘Dover Beach’ as the feeling of ‘sadness’ is described as ‘eternal’, showing how Arnold truly sees no way out of where he is. The repetition of the waves as they ‘Begin, and cease, and then again begin’ is a reflection of how you could feel trapped in a system such as society and how life can sink into a monotonous, empty state over time.

     Arnold’s line ‘Ah, love, let us be true’ signifies to me how he is uniting with his wife as they are both small playing pieces in this world, imprisoned together. As they are both alone in the world they must come together to face the hardships ahead laid out for them by the world.

The fact that the world is described as having ‘neither joy, nor love, nor light, nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain’ shows the earth as emotionless in many senses, almost as if these qualities are strictly human alone, both the beautiful and the difficult. We see ‘human misery’ commented on, distinctly showing how this is only a human trait. This could be Arnold’s use of language telling us that we as humans only have ourselves to blame for sadness as the emotions belong to us and are essentially our own.

David Copperfield

David Copperfield contains a theme around the beginning of the book that is a very strong genre of love- parental love. Many other forms of love are also touched upon, such as love being lost and being found again (we see this with David's mother losing her husband then later finding Mr. Murdstone).

But we also see how love can clash, when David's mother becomes manipulated by what Mr. Murdstone thinks is best for David and her love for both David and Mr. Murdstone seem to be placed head to head. An example of this is when Mr. Murdstone tries to flog David, his mother 'ran towards us' described as 'burst[ing] out crying'.

As David's mother is torn from him by Mr. Murdstone we see Peggotty stepping up and assuming a very motherly role with David. As they share a tear-filled conversation through the keyhole of the door locking them apart (p.57). As Peggotty calls David 'my own precious Davy', 'pretty poppet', and 'my darling' with what is described as 'infinite compassion'.

As David is taken away to school, Peggotty stops the cart on its journey bursting 'from a hedge' and embracing David, bringing him 'paper bags of cakes which she crammed into [his] pockets'. This shows us how Peggotty has practically stepped up to fill in the motherly role with David as his mother is no longer able to show such affection anymore. This can demonstrate how manipulating and truly controlling love can be as Mr. Murdstone has tried to cut away Clara's motherly bond with David- one of the strongest bonds possible. We also see how reckless love can make people as Peggotty's actions are both motherly yet passionate, taking some risk as she follows the cart to deliver David cakes as he leaves.