The Garden of Love, William Blake: Summary & Analysis
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In "The Garden of Love" by William Blake, the poet presents a critique of institutionalized religion and its impact on human emotions, desires, and natural instincts. Through vivid imagery and symbolism, Blake explores the contrast between the sacred and the profane, highlighting how religious dogma can suppress individual expression and the natural human experience of love and joy. The Garden of Love by William Blake I laid me down upon a bank,
Where Love lay sleeping;
I heard among the rushes dank
Weeping, weeping.
Then I went to the heath and the wild,
To the thistles and thorns of the waste;
And they told me how they were beguiled,
Driven out, and compelled to the chaste.
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.
And the gates of this Chapel were shut
And ‘‘Thou shalt not,’’ writ over the door;
So I turned to the Garden of Love
That so many sweet flowers bore.
And I saw it was filled wi…