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Suresh Frederick

An Ecocritical Reading of Andrew Marvell’s ‘The Garden’

An Ecocritical Reading of Andrew Marvell’s ‘The Garden’

Dr. Suresh Frederick M.A., M.Phil., Ph.D., PGDJMC.,
Reader in English,
Bishop Heber College,
Trichy – 620 017.

Andrew Marvell (1621- 78) is a metaphysical poet. His poems, The Miscellaneous Poems were published posthumously in 1681. Herbert J.C. Grierson feels that Andrew Marvell is “the strongest personality of all” (xxxvii) metaphysical poets. He goes to the extent of saying that “ at his best” Marvell is “a finer poet than” (xxxvii) John Donne. Andrew Marvell has written some of the finest metaphysical poetry in English. Ecocriticism is a modern theory in vogue in the USA. “Green studies” is the term used in the UK for ecocritism. Both terms are used to refer to the critical approaches, which began in the USA in the late 1980s and in the UK in the early 1990s. The term ‘ecocriticism’ traces back to William Rueckert’s essay ‘Literature and Ecology: An Experiment in Ecocriticism’. This was published in 1978. Cheryll Glotfelty revived the term in 1989. . Applying a new theory to an old poem makes an interesting reading. Andrew Marvell’s ‘The Garden’ is chosen for dissection using ecocriticism. In ‘The Garden’ there are “trees” (7), “flowers” (7) and these two make “ Garlands of repose”(8). Here in the garden, a person can refresh himself by taking rest. He can be in amity with nature. But man is not satisfied with this very big garden. Ironically he is in search of a small portion of a tree or plant. Human beings “amaze” (1) themselves “to win the Palm, the Oke or Bayes”(2). Man goes to war. After a great destruction, he wins the war, and for that he wins a palm leaf. A good ruler receives an oak leaf. An outstanding poet is honoured with a laurel leaf. Victorious warriors, great rulers and excellent poets are rewarded with leaves. A whole garden is full of trees and plants are up for grab, but they get a small leaf for reward. Their hard work seems to be marked by vanity and the reward is in the form of a mere leaf, seems to drive home its message. The victor is unable to understand the value of the garden. He rejects the garden because of the anthropocentric nature of man himself. If he chooses the garden by rejecting the world’s pursuits, he will get not just a wreath of leaves but the tree itself as a garland, the tree with all its flowers and leaves. As Brijiraj Singh in Five Seventeenth-Century Poets explains, “The flowers and trees are so abundant that they join together to form not just a wreath out of leaves but a whole garland to crown with repose the man who rejects the world’s pursuits in favour of the garden” (282-3). This clearly brings out the biocentric view of the poet in turn underlying the anthropocentric nature of man. In the garden, there is quietness. Innocence is also part of nature. Instead of visiting the garden alone and enjoying the “delicious solitude” (16), man visits nature “In busie componies of Men” (12). He is unable to enjoy nature and equally unable to appreciate nature on his own. Society itself is rude towards nature. The lover who visits the garden does not know the value of the garden. The lover does not know that the “lovely green” (18) present in nature is more beautiful than the lady love. “Little, Alas they know or heed, / How far these Beauties Hers exceed! / Fair Trees” (21-3). The trees are more beautiful than the ladylove. The lovers become cruel by wounding the bark of the trees. They “ cut in these Trees their Mistress name”(20). They do not know the value of the trees and of nature itself. The poet is angry and says “No name shall but your own be found”(24). This clearly portrays the anthropocentric nature of the people and the biocentric nature of the poet. The poet wants to equate man with nature. His is an integral vision. In mythology, when gods fell in love with beautiful mortal girls, they turned them into a part of nature. Apollo turned Daphne into a “Laurel”(30). Pan turned Syrnix into a “reed” (32). These gods do not choose any other form even that of a “Nymph” (32) but nature. This also shows how these gods in mythology esteem nature. Living in the garden is a happy state. Even after knowing the value of the garden, man goes away from the garden. “Meanwhile the Mind, from pleasure less, / Withdraws into happiness”(41-2). Eventhough man is in the garden his mind wanders. He is always in search of “pleasure less”(41)i.e., inferior pleasures of the body and mind. He goes into his own world of imagination. Man finds the “resemblance” (44) of animals on the land in the ocean. “He is moving from physical garden to hotus mentis, the garden of the mind”(www2.latech.edu). He can transcend anything; but staying in nature is better than any other thing. Because this definitely destroys all thoughts received from the garden. The poet writes, “Annihilating all that’s made / to a green Thoughts in a greener shade” (47-8). This also brings out the truth that man is anthropocentric and that the poet is biocentric in attitude. What woundr’ous Life in this I lead! Ripe Apples drop about my head; The Luscious Clusters of the Vine Upon my Mouth do crush their Wine; The Nectaren and curious Peach, Into my hands themselves reach; Stumbling on Melons, as I pass, Inshar’d with Flow’rs…(33-40) There are “ripe apples” (34), “Luscious clusters” of grapes, “Nectaren” (37), delicious “peaches” (37) and “Melons” (39). Besides, these fruits are very close and easily reachable. Also these fruits are entagled with beautiful “Flowers” (40). The poet exclaims “What wondrous Life in this I lead!” (33). This life is like living in the Garden of Eden without Eve. The poet says that it is “Two; paradise ‘twere in one / To live in Paradise alone” (63-4). The poet calls this “happy Garden-state” (57). This is the way “the skillful Gardener” (65) created the world. The poet concludes with a rhetorical question: “How could such sweet and wholesome Hours / Be reckoned but with herbs and flow’rs” (71-2). Brijiraj Singh defines the garden as “A place for contemplation that enables man transcend the temporal and natural” (279). This place is far superior and an embodiment of beauty. But man has fallen from this ideal state. The poet says, “I fall on the Grass” (40). Now there is grass. In a few years there won’t be anything to sustain man. Andrew Marvell has a biocentric view and strives for symbiosis. Kevin Hull says, “In his poem Marvell seems to be suggesting that society, as humans have formed it, is not a perfect world we make out to be. Rather, nature or the Garden is what is good”(http://people.stu.ca). Man and nature should live in amity. To achieve this happy garden state man has to strive for symbiosis. He should refrain from destroying nature. William Rueckert says, “The problem now, as most ecologists agree, is to find ways of keeping the human community from destroying the natural community, and with it the human community. This is what ecologists like to call the self-destructive or suicidal motive… The conceptual and practical problem is to find the grounds upon which the two communities – the human, the natural – can coexist, cooperate, and flourish in the biosphere” (Glotfelty 107). Now is the time for the fallen man to rise and see the reality. The reality is symbiosis- that is, to coexist, cooperate and flourish in the biosphere. In Reading the Earth, Michael P. Branch and others explain the term Ecocriticism as “not just a means of analyzing nature in literature; it implies a move toward a more biocentric world view, an extension of ethics, a broadening of human conception of global community to include nonhuman life forms and the physical environment” (www.asle.com). It is not just coexisting but recognizing and broadening the human conception of global community, to include non human life forms and the physical environment. This is ecological wisdom one gets on reading this poem.

Works Cited

Glotfelty, Cheryll and Harold Fromm. ed. The Ecocriticism Reader: Landmarks in Literary Ecology. Georgia : The University of Georgia Press, 1996.
Grierson, H.J.C. ed. Metaphysical Lyrics and Poems of Seventeenth Century. Oxford: OUP,1983.
Singh, Brijraj. ed. Five Seventeenth-Century Poets. Delhi: OUP, 1992.
www.asle.com
www2.latech.edu
http://people.stu.ca

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