A Garden
See how the flowers, as at parade,Under their colours stand display’d:Each regiment in order grows,That of the tulip, pink, and rose.But when the vigilant patrolOf stars walks round about the pole,Their leaves, that to the stalks are curl’d,Seem to their staves the ensigns furl’d.Then in some flower’s belovèd hutEach bee, as sentinel, is shut,And sleeps so too; but if once stirr’d,She runs you through, nor asks the word.O thou, that dear and happy Isle,The garden of the world erewhile,Thou Paradise of the four seasWhich Heaven planted us to please,But, to exclude the world, did guardWith wat’ry if not flaming sword;What luckless apple did we tasteTo make us mortal and thee waste!Unhappy! shall we never moreThat sweet militia restore,When gardens only had their towers,And all the garrisons were flowers;When roses only arms might bear,And men did rosy garlands wear?
Words in this poem
- tulip n.
- Any plant of the liliaceous genus Tulipa. Many varieties are cultivated for their beautiful, often variegated flowers. Tulip tree. [F. tulipe, OF. also tulipan, It. tulipano, tulipa, from Turk. tulbend, dulbend, literally, a turban, Per. dulband; -- so called from the resemblance of the form]
- patrol v. i.
- To go the rounds along a chain of sentinels; to traverse a police district or beat. [F. patrouiller, O. & Prov. F. patrouiller to paddle, paw about, patrol, fr. patte a paw; cf. D. poot paw, G. pfote, and E. pat, v.]
- isle v. t.
- To cause to become an island, or like an island; to surround or encompass; to island.
- erewhile adv.
- Some time ago; a little while before; heretofore.
- luckless a.
- Being without luck; unpropitious; unfortunate; unlucky; meeting with ill success or bad fortune; as, a luckless gamester; a luckless maid.
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Garden is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Oxford Book of English Verse, 1250-1900, Project Gutenberg ebook #66619; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Andrew Marvell, A Garden, in Poems (1621–1678), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66619, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/obev-andrew-marvell/a-garden.html, id L16104.
Form and metre
A Garden is 26 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 92% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.1 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 23% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in octosyllabic couplets, other poems in iambic tetrameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 AABBCCDDEEFFGGHH--IIJJKKLL paradeA · display'dA · growsB · roseB · patrolC · poleC · curl'dD · furl'dD · hutE · shutE · stirr'dF · wordF · isleG · erewhileG · seasH · pleaseH · guard · sword · tasteI · wasteI · moreJ · restoreJ · towersK · flowersK · bearL · wearL
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| See how the flowers, as at parade, | 8 | ···/··˘/ |
| Under their colours stand display’d: | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Each regiment in order grows, | 8 | ·/˘˘·/˘· |
| That of the tulip, pink, and rose. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| But when the vigilant patrol | 8 | ···/˘˘˘/ |
| Of stars walks round about the pole, | 8 | ········ |
| Their leaves, that to the stalks are curl’d, | 8 | ········ |
| Seem to their staves the ensigns furl’d. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Then in some flower’s belovèd hut | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Each bee, as sentinel, is shut, | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| And sleeps so too; but if once stirr’d, | 8 | ········ |
| She runs you through, nor asks the word. | 8 | ········ |
| O thou, that dear and happy Isle, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The garden of the world erewhile, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Thou Paradise of the four seas | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Which Heaven planted us to please, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| But, to exclude the world, did guard | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| With wat’ry if not flaming sword; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| What luckless apple did we taste | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| To make us mortal and thee waste! | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Unhappy! shall we never more | 8 | ˘/˘··/˘· |
| That sweet militia restore, | 7 | ··˘/˘˘/ |
| When gardens only had their towers, | 9 | ·/˘/˘··/˘ |
| And all the garrisons were flowers; | 9 | ···/˘˘·/˘ |
| When roses only arms might bear, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| And men did rosy garlands wear? | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.