The Garden of Love By: Julia McDonald “The Garden of Love” is, quite obviously, a poem about life and the pursuit of happiness. It is also about the effects that negativity can have on love. Blake uses religion to convey the idea that negativity “…pervades and corrupts all life”(51 n.9), further supporting it with his use of rhyme scheme and imagery. In searching for love people often times emerge scarred and hostile from their fruitless …showed first 75 words of 1331 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1331 total…disrupting the easy and natural optimistic heart. Blake conveys this point with the convenient use of a confining institution such as the Church, which he further supports with a fine use of imagery and an effective incomplete rhyme scheme and voice. He quite easily showed that the negativity others accept through their life experiences end up robbing others of their innocence, as they choose not to process their emotions, but dwell in them. Word Count: 1313