The Garden of Love
The Garden of Love
Original Text
William Blake, Songs of Experience (W. Blake, 1794). Blake's Illuminated Books, ed. David Bindman (Princeton, NJ: William Blake Trust; London: Tate Gallery, 1991-). See Vol. 2. PR 4142 B46 1991 Robarts Library. The text is from William Blake's Writings, ed. G. E. Bentley, Jr. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1978): I, 188. PRC 4141 B45 Robarts Library
1I went to the Garden of Love,
2And saw what I never had seen:
3A Chapel was built in the midst,
4Where I used to play on the green.
5And the gates of this Chapel were shut,
6And `Thou shalt not' writ over the door;
7So I turn'd to the Garden of Love,
8That so many sweet flowers bore,
9And I saw it was filled with graves,
10And tomb-stones where flowers should be:
11And Priests in black gowns were walking their rounds,
12And binding with briars my joys and desires.
Publication Start Year
1794
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire
RPO Edition
2003
Rhyme
Form