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by: Anonymous
In the garden there strayed
A beautiful maid
As fair as the flowers of the born;
The first hour of her life
She was made a man's wife,
And was buried before she was born.
Though this poem may be short, it packs a deep meaning. The poem itself is an allusion and it also embodies vivid imagery along with an intriguing rhyming pattern. In six concise lines, Anonymous, expertly shows his emotion on the classic Adam and Eve story.
This poem is an allusion to the story of Adam and Eve being banned from the Garden of Eden for eating the forbidden fruit. The "beautiful maid" "strayed" "in the garden" (line 1-2). The maid is Eve and the garden being referenced is Eden. The choice of using the word "strayed" is because Adam and Eve are often depicted wandering around aimlessly in the garden. Lines 4-5 also make the allusion to the Bible story abundantly clear because Eve was created for Adam. "Buried before she was born" references that God kicked her and Adam out of the garden because of her indiscretion.
This poem has many parts to it. The speaker is an outside speaker looking in on the maid. The time setting is the Creation of Man, taking place in the Garden of Eden. The tone is straight forward, it simply tells it how it is. There was a pretty girl, she was a man's wife very soon, and she was in trouble even earlier. The last line is important due to the word choice. Because it says she "was buried before she was born" it implies that she died, as burying is a common after death ritual. The poet also uses the word "made" in reference to being a wife (line 6). This directly alludes to the writing in the Bible of Eve being "made" or created for Adam.
"In The Garden" is a six line poem of complete imagery. It is easy to conjure up an image of a beautiful young woman wandering in a garden. The third line is a simile representing just how beautiful the woman is, but also making an image of gorgeous flowers just sprouted in the garden. The last three lines are imagery of a whirlwind creation of a human to please someone else and then burying that woman. The rhyming scheme is a, a, b, c, c, b. The poet chose to rhyme the first two lines, the middle lines, and then make the second and last line the same word. This adds a certain element of whimsy to the poem, making it seem as if this fateful Biblical story could be a nursery rhyme.
The poet of "In The Garden" does a wonderful job of giving his or her view on the story of Adam and Eve. It is expertly written in a way that makes the allusion obvious without using actual terms from the story it alludes. The word choice is important because it's what clues the reader in that the maid dies in the end. Finally, the six lines are all imagery making for a vivid image in the reader's mind.
This is an interesting interpretation of the poem. However, I'm not sure I entirely agree with this interpretation. I think that you focus a lot on the imagery of the poem, but don't exactly comment on the other aspects of the poem. I think that you could comment on the double meaning of "strayed". Not only did they wander around in the garden, they also strayed from God's wishes. Also, I think that this poem comments on Eve's role as a woman, which you briefly commented on, but did not go into in depth. I think that would have been an interesting point for discussion.
ReplyDeleteI really like that you chose to write about this poem, as it was one that I struggled with understanding/interpreting, and it is interesting to see how you perceived it. Your first two body paragraphs are very clear in analysis of the quote. I like that as well as stating the rhyming scheme, you describe the impact of using this style on the tone of the poem. One thing I am still confused about is the importance of buried meaning death. Had you reiterated part of the story that this connects to it might have been helpful. Once again, this was a really interesting post!
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