Lines 47-48
Annihilating all that's made
To a green thought in a green shade.
• We're going to preface this section of the summary by telling you that this is one of the most debated and famous passages, not of this poem, but of Marvell's poetry in general. And that's saying a lot because the dude talks about some pretty complex stuff. Okay, on with the analyzing.
• We're still talking about the imagination, or the capacity of the mind to create and imagine things that don't exist in the physical world. These images that the mind comes up with annihilate, or obliterate, all the images of things that do exist in the physical world.
• Fun fact: another definition of "annihilate" is to "treat as non-existent," which we think works perfectly with what Marvell is trying to say.
• But what does it mean to annihilate something "to a green thought in a green shade"? There are theories, Shmoopsters, but no definitive answers. But this sounds fun so we'll have a crack at it anyway.
• Let's take it piece by piece. What do you think a "green thought" is?
• A good place to start is to go back to other places in the poem where Marvell has mentioned the color green. Remember back in stanza 3, when the speaker talked about green as "am'rous"?
• But also remember that he's not talking about amorous in the normal sense. The speaker's got a thing for trees. So, "a green thought" is possibly a kinda-sorta-romantic thought about nature. Which makes sense, because if you're thinking about nature, you're likely thinking about things that are green.
• The same principle applies for figuring out "in a green shade." Our speaker is in a garden and we know he feels that being in the garden allows him to think better. So, "a green thought in a green shade" is talking about an original kinda-sorta-romantic thought about nature made while in nature.
• Put all together, the lines say: the mind rejects thinking about what exists in the world in favor of coming up with original thoughts about nature, and original thoughts about nature can only occur while the person thinking them is actively in the natural world.
• So here's a question for you Shmoopsters: by that standard does this poem qualify as "a green thought in a green shade"?
Lines 49-52
Here at the fountain's sliding foot,
Or at some fruit-tree's mossy root,
Casting the body's vest aside,
My soul into the boughs does glide:
• We get to stanza 7 and our speaker is kickin' it. He's relaxing at the base of a fountain, he's leaning up against a nice, mossy fruit tree root and just generally having a grand old time.
• But while his body is stationary, his soul is just waking up. "The body's vest" is another way of saying "skin," so our speaker is talking about an actual out-of-body experience.
• His soul is gliding away into the trees, but he doesn't seem concerned about it at all.
• The soul, in fact, is running the whole show. We don't know where this is going but it sure has gotten good.
Lines 53-56
There like a bird it sits and sings,
Then whets, and combs its silver wings;
And, till prepared for longer flight,
Waves in its plumes the various light.
• Describing what the soul is up to is apparently a little tricky, so Marvell uses another simile to help make things more clear.
• The speaker's soul is like a bird.
• This soul-bird seems happy, too. It's sitting, singing, and getting its feathers all fancy.
• The bird is also preparing for "longer flight," which brings in the second part of our simile. Indirectly, the migration of a bird is being compared to the death of the speaker. The "longer flight" is actually the permanent separation between soul and body at the time of natural death.
• You might think that death would be a downer, but the speaker's soul seems very okay with the idea. Its "preparation" seems actually very pleasant and relaxing. Why do we think our speaker is able to be so calm?
• Poetic devices like alliteration and consonance don't play a huge role in "The Garden," but we did notice some S sounds appearing pretty frequently in this passage. They're soft, breathy, and contribute to the overall relaxing tone of the stanza.
Lines 57-60
Such was that happy garden-state,
While man there walked without a mate:
After a place so pure and sweet,
What other help could yet be meet!
• The "such was" that opens stanza 8 refers immediately back to the situation being described in stanza 7. Remember, where the speaker's soul was flying around like a bird?
• Apparently the speaker thinks that is what it was like in The Garden of Eden (that happy garden-state) before Eve came along and ruined everything.
• The speaker can't imagine why God would have thought it necessary to add anything to his creation after making Adam.
• That's interesting because, without Eve, more people could obviously not have existed.
• Line 60 is a fairly direct reference to a Bible verse in Genesis: "And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him."
• So does this mean our speaker's yearning for solitude flies in the face of what God ordained back at the beginning of time? Or is this just another example of Marvell's famous wit?
Lines 61-64
But 'twas beyond a mortal's share
To wander solitary there :
Two paradises 'twere in one
To live in Paradise alone.
• The speaker seems resigned to the fact that his dream of solo Paradise will never actually come true, but that doesn't mean he's giving up the chase.
• Lines 63 and 64 are super-famous. They essentially say that living in Paradise would be great, and living by yourself would be Paradise. So it would be a double-Paradise if you could live in Paradise and not have to share it with anyone else.
• And we're sure Marvell meant to include that it would be three paradises in one if Shmoop could be there to keep him company.
• Also, a quick point about tone. Did you notice how lines 63 and 64 sound kind of like an aphorism, or proverb? They make a profound point, but do it in an incredibly concise, clean kind of way. This is very typical of Marvell's poetry. He picked the style up from classical authors, but always makes sure to mellow out the terseness with a little flowery language. That way, the poem sounds succinct and clean without becoming too harsh.
Lines 65-68
How well the skillful gard'ner drew
Of flow'rs and herbs this dial new;
Where from above the milder sun
Does through a fragrant zodiac run;
• In line 65, the speaker praises the gardener for the work he has done.
• Using another metaphor, Marvell compares the speaker's garden to a sundial made of flowers and herbs. We recommend checking thisout if you want to know more about how sundials work.
• According to the metaphor, the changing of the seasons turns the flowers into mini-sundials. You can follow the passing of time by watching the flowers bloom, grow, and fade in the same way that you can track time by keeping your sundial handy.
• The "fragrant zodiac" is really just another way of restating the metaphor. Different zodiac signs correspond with certain positions of the sun in the sky, so the "fragrant zodiac" is the different flowers and herbs that bloom and wither at different times of the year.
• This can also be looked at from a spiritual perspective, where God is the gardener-clockmaker and the sundial measures not just the passing of a day or a year, but the life of the speaker.
Lines 69-72
And, as it works, th' industrious bee
Computes its time as well as we.
How could such sweet and wholesome hours
Be reckoned but with herbs and flow'rs!
• We're still working with the sundial metaphor in the final lines of the poem, except now a new piece has been added: the bee.
• The bees are presented as being "industrious" and "computing their time" or keeping track of their days. Their most logical metaphorical counterpart, then, is people.
• Marvell even comes out and says it in line 70: the bees compute their time "as well as we." This could mean that they do just as good of a job as we do, but it could also mean that bees keep track of time just like humans do.
• The last two lines of the poem bring everything together. Our speaker, like the bees, chooses to spend his hours in the garden, amongst the herbs and flowers. But if we switch gears and go back to imagining the garden as a sundial, the sentiment still works, because the herbs and flowers are literally being used as ways to keep track of time.