"The Garden of Love": A Venture into a Poet's Past of Promiscuity
             Titles of poems are often derived from actual content of the passage, though the title itself may not reflect the poem's tone and meaning. That deems quite true with William Blake's poem "The Garden of Love," as the symbolic name of the poem does not describe what one expects to read after addressing the title. Instead, "The Garden of Love" is a figurative designation to a man's past of promiscuity and guiltless pleasure. Blake ventures back to a place he has obviously been before and attempts to return to his past of immoral behavior after having gone through some sort of transition. The imagery created around the religious symbols reveals Blake's transition was the commitment to marriage before his return to the playground and the graves are metaphors for the loss of previous lovers. With the images of a cemetery and the binding actions of the priests that symbolize the action of marriage, Blake admits his regret of making the lifelong vow of commitment. This passage is a personal account of an abstract expedition into a past of premarital sex that now proves adulterous. The symbolism and tone prove Blake's concept of love and marriage quite contradictory to the commonly accepted view of love.
             Blake reveals that he goes to "the Garden of love" in line one and later in the first stanza it is apparent that he has visited before. The only change so far is the chapel in the midst, a perceptible demonstration of marriage. The garden itself and playing green represent Blake's belief that the freedom and lack of responsibility before matrimony are much more inviting than the commitment he has made to his wife. Where he was once allowed to play liberally now stands an inalterable symbol of his commitment to monogamy.
             Though Blake has already expressed that he favors hi...