Introduction of the Poem:
The poem “Come into the Garden Maud” is a love poem in a series of lyrics entitled “Maud; a Monodrama.” It is the twenty second poem in it. The poem is dramatic and psychological in nature. It is a personal poem for the heroine of the poem Maud represents all the three women whom the poet loved at one time or the other in his life. The women are Rose Baring, Emily Sellwood and Sophey Rawnsley. Emily's influence was the deepest on his mind and he married her in 1850. In this poem Tennyson presents his beloved through symbols. Rose Baring is presented as rose of the rose bud garden, lily represents Emily Sellwood and the white rose is Sophey Rawnsley. The poem has emotional intensity. It is the spontaneous outpouring of the poet's soul. It embodies the heart - throbs of the poet himself. Its poignancy is heightened by the fact that not only has the poet identified himself with the neurotic lover, but also with the external world. The lover pours out his passion to the rose and the lily. They wake and watch with him and listen with his own eager expectancy to the footsteps of Maud.
Summary of the Poem:
The speaker is a young man of morbid and unbalanced temperament. His father has died in mysterious circumstances and his family has been ruined by the contrivance of the old lord. The lord's daughter Maud is the playmate of young man's childhood. He falls in love with her. He is in deep love with her. There is somewhat craziness in his love with Maud. Maud is also in intense love with him. This love is scored by Maud's brother. Once, Maud promises her lover to meet in her father's rose-garden at night. But due to being engaged in a gayful and grand feast arranged in honour of a young lord, she finds herself unable to meet her lover on the promised and appointed time. In fact Maud is asked to attend the lord in this party. The whole night is passed in merry - making, drinking and dancing. So, she cannot come to meet her lover who eagerly awaits her arrival in the rose - garden. Maud's lover calls her to come into the rose garden of the palace because the night which is as black as the bat has passed away and there is the approach of the dawn. In other words, the night which is as black as the bat has flown away at the approach of the dawn. The night brings full liberty for the bats because at night they set about in search of their preys and throughout the night they remain busy hunting their prey, but merely the glimpse of the dawn forces them to fly away to their shelters. All the guests who assembled in the royal hall, have departed. The rose garden where Maud's lover awaits her in richly surcharged with the fragrance of creepers and rose-flowers. He stands all alone at the palace gate to receive her because he thinks that she would certainly come to meet him.
In spite of making promise to her lover, Maud has not come to meet him in rose garden of her father. She has been busy in the grand feast which was organised in her palace in the honour of young lord. There is going on delightful feast, drinking and dancing inside the palace throughout the night. Maud's lover has been waiting for her eagerly all alone at the gate of palace. He has spent the whole night in her wait. The dawn has approached. With the approach of the dawn, the starry night is gradually disappearing. The brightness of the stars is becoming dim. He still hopes of her arrival. He is ready to receive her. The sweet and pleasant breeze of morning is blowing. The atmosphere of the rose garden is pervaded with sweet fragrance. The planet of love, Venus is losing its brightness for the rising sun's reflection is making it invisible. Venus is the first star visible in the evening and the last to be clearly seen at dawn. The sky studded with stars is looking pale with the advent of morning. The pale stars have been likened to daffodils. The lover is asking Maud to come even at this hour for Venus has not disappeared completely. It symbolises the faint hope of love left in the lover's heart.
Maud's lover has been waiting her eagerly in her father's rosary garden. He calls her to come into the rose - garden of the palace because the black night has passed and all the guests who assembled in the royal hall have departed. The flowers of rose have also been waiting her impatiently. The roses of the rosary have also firm faith in Maud's promise. They have heard the music of different kinds of instruments coming from the hall of the palace. The sound of musical instruments was loud enough to overflow the garden with sweet notes. The lover imagines that the flowers of jasmine danced in tunes of the music until the music and dance came to an end by the setting of the moon and waking of birds. With the approach of the dawn, the music inside the hall stopped and the rose-garden filled with the chirping of the birds.
Maud's lover has been waiting her throughout the night at the gate of the palace. He has kept up his patience. The dawn has approached, but he has not lost his hope. He still believes that Maud would come to meet him in the rose - garden and she would keep her promise. In the state of his loneliness, he has developed an intimacy with the flowers of the garden. He shares his feelings with them. He thinks that the flowers have also waited her eagerly with him. They have also firm belief in her promise. Pouring out his passion to the various flowers in the garden, he told the lily flower that Maud could feel happy only in his company because she loved him intensely Next the lover told the lily of the garden that she would certainly come out because when the dance was over and all the guests were gone, she would feel sick of her loneliness and in such a moment she could feel happy only in his company. Now half of the dancers (guests) or young lords have departed with the setting of the moon and the rest half have gone with dawning of the day and the music has come to a halt. With their departure, the sand has suppressed the loud noise of the wheels of their chariots, but the wheels would make the rumbling sound on the stony path.
Maud's lover has not been invited to the revelry going on in the mansion. He has been waiting for her all the night in the garden. But Maud, due to remaining busy in grand feast and attending the young lord cannot come to meet her lover. The lover's hope has not been shattered. He still hopes that Maud would fulfil her promise. He finds that the dawn has approached. When the pressure of feelings becomes intolerable, he begins to talk to flowers. He vents out his passion for Maud to rose-flower. He tells the rose that the brief night is gone in idle talk, dancing and merry - making. Maud's lover, in his imagination, addresses the young lord who has been attended by Maud in the party at her brother's command and asks him why he sighs for Maud and pines to win her love in his favour. The lover is assumed that the young lord can never succeed to overcome her feelings. The lover thinks that by making efforts to impress her, the young lord would only satisfy his passions, but she can never incline to him. The lover has firm faith on her sincere love and true promise. He thinks that she is fully dedicated to him and she is exclusively his. None can claim his right over her. Thus, he promised to the rose and emphatically said that she would be his forever and forever.
Because of standing in the midst of flowers in rose garden for longer and developing a sort of intimacy with them, the lover feels himself overwhelmed with romantic feelings. He feels a kind of thrill in his love with Maud. Natural sights and atmosphere fill in him a sort of vigourness and enthusiasm. He takes flight on the wings of imagination. He has been talking to the flowers of rose, so the spirit of the rose flower enters in his blood. Now he, instead of showing anger at Maud who kept him waiting for longer, wanders in the world of fancy and love. As he has been standing by the garden lake waiting for Maud, he hears the sweet music of falling its small stream. The stream passes through the meadow and enters the wood where both the lover often met and expressed their intense and sincere love for each other. The wood which has been the place of the lovers’ meeting is the most favourite place to the lover. When he thinks of this place, many sweet memories of his love begin to haunt in his mind.
The abnormal lover spends the whole night in a rose garden beside a lake, but his beloved does not come to meet him as she has promised. Due to spending his whole night among flowers and trees of the garden of Maud's father, he feels himself thrilled in love with Maud. In spite of being dejected, he is lost in pleasant natural surroundings. The memories of his love tickle his heart. He recalls the moments of his love making and places of their meeting. He hears the sweet music of falling of lake water into the stream. He is charmed by the beauty of the stream, the meadow and the wood. He is enchanted by the beauty of his beloved. The lover imagines that when his beloved walks in the meadow, the atmosphere is pervaded with sweet fragrance. When she walks, bright footprints are left by her steps. In spring season east wind blows and the blue violets spring up round Maud's foot - prints which appear to the lover jewel - like. These violets are blue as her eyes. In the whole garden the most beloved place for the lover is the solitary empty space in the middle of trees. The lover sits with Maud at this place so he loves it.
The lover feels dejected for his beloved Maud has not come to meet him in spite of her promise. He has waited for her whole night in the rose garden of Maud's father. The lover thinks that with him flowers too feel sorry for her failure in keeping her promise. The lover finds that in the rose garden there are many other flowers and trees, but all of them do not show sympathy in the moments of his sorrow, worry and mental agony. The slender acacia trees show their indifferent attitude for the lover's feelings of sorrow and worry. They do not share his extreme emotions. On one side the lover waits impatiently for the approach of Maud and keeps on waking, but on the other side the acacia trees sleep soundly without caring the lover. They do not make any stir during the whole night. Even they do not shed single white blossom on the ground. The white flowers blooming at the bank of the lake also remain unaffected of lover's sorrow and agony. Throughout the night they remain in bending state. They refuse to raise up their heads. The flowers of pimpernel also hang down like the head of a drowsy person on the meadows. The flowers of rose and lily share the lover's emotions. They care for his worries. They are awake all night anxiously waiting for the arrival of Maud, like the lover himself.
The lover regards Maud as a supremely excellent model of beauty. He calls her the most beautiful of the maidens just as rose is the most beautiful of flowers. She is a Queen rose in the rose bud garden of girls. The lover who has been waiting Maud impatiently at the gate of palace, asks her to come and fulfil her promise. Talking to himself, he says that all the guests at the approach of the dawn have departed from the palace. The sound of musical instrument has stopped. Imagining remarkable beauty of Maud, the lover thinks that Maud should come into the garden dressed in shining silk and decorated with pearls, combining in herself the quality both of the lily and the rose. (Maud combines the beauty both of the rose and the lily.) He thinks that Maud should appear into the garden with shining face covered with beautiful bright locks of hair. Maud is like the Sun for these flowers. Ordinary flowers bloom with the rays of the rising Sun while these roses and lilies bloom only when Maud appears in the garden. In other words, just as the flowers bloom with the rise of the Sun, similarly the lover would blossom if she comes into the garden.
It is dawn and the party is over. All the guests have departed from the palace. The music which has been going on throughout the night has now ceased. The lover and the flowers are now assured of her arrival. They have firm expectation of Maud's arrival. Some of the flowers of the garden with the lover have also been waiting Maud's arrival impatiently. Seeing Maud's approaching in the garden the flowers of rose and lily feel overwhelmed with joy. A kind of flower known as an emblem of Christ's suffering drops a tear at the gate of the garden under strong feeling of love and emotion. It indicates that Maud is coming. The red rose cries that she has come very near. The white rose remembers the restlessness of the whole night and makes a complaint that she is late. The skylark also hears her approach. Lily complains that she is waiting for her arrival.
When the flowers see Maud arriving in the garden they are greatly overwhelmed with extraordinary joy because they, like the lover also spend a sleepless night waiting for Maud's arrival. The lover also sees Maud coming into the rosary. To see her glimpse his heart begins to dance with joy. He says that his sweet beloved is coming. He finds that her movement is majestic. He feels that her movement is so airy and silent that it can be compared with the light (gentle) and sweet breeze blowing in summer morning. His heart can hear her motion and footsteps even if he had died and been reduced to dust. If she walked over his grave, his remains would recognise her footsteps and his heart would throb with a new life. The lover hopes that with the touch of his beloved's feet, his grave would cover with green grass and there would also blossom colourful flowers. The lover loves Maud so intensely that he wishes to wait her till he dies. Even after his death he would remember and aspire her. His love would remain alive upto the day of Judgement.
Critical Appreciation of the Poem:
Introduction:
The poem entitled “Come into the Garden”, Maud is one of the finest lyrics in a series of lyrics entitled Maud; a Monodrama. It is the twenty second poem in it. The poem is dramatic and psychological in nature. This poem has justly enjoyed wide popularity and finds a place of honour in all anthologies of English lyrics. In it the lover's passion for his beloved, Maud has been expressed in the form of one long conceit. It is an intense and poignant utterance of a lover. It stands as the crown and climax to the first eight hundred fifty lines of the poem, coming as it does at a crucial moment in the story.
Thought - Content:
Maud promises her lover to meet in her father's rosarium at night. The lover waits for her in the rose - garden whole night but she does not come because her brother arranges a feast in honour of a young lord and she is asked to pay attention to the addresses made to her by the lord. Drink and dance go on all night and the lover keeps on calling and waiting for her outside her palace gate. When the day dawns, stars turn pale and the guests part their company, the lover and the garden flowers are very much keen to meet Maud. The lover calls her to come in the garden because her favourite flowers are waiting for her. He thinks that her very presence in the rosarium would make it a paradise. When Maud glides in the garden dressed in her perfumed and pearly finery, the flowers make their welcome comments on her belated arrival. The lover is so much neurotic that he is willing to wait for her till his death and rise from his dust as flowers to be crushed under her rosy feet.
Autobiographical Element:
It is found that the lyric has far - reaching autobiographical significance. It is a record of the poet's own soul, an outpouring of his own heart. The poet loved two women passionately. He loved Emily Sellwood whom he ultimately married and he also loved Sophy Rawnsley whom he did not marry. These two women stood in Tennyson's mind for two distinct types of womanhood, and these types are symbolised by the rose and the lily. Maud combines in herself the beauties of both these women. The poet also loved a third woman, Rosa Baring and she was always supposed to be rose of the rose bud garden of girls.
Pathetic Fallacy:
In the poem, the various objects of Nature are seen to have human touch. The lover pours out his passion to the rose and the lily, they wake and watch with him and listen with his own eager expectancy to the footsteps of Maud. The flowers are described as walking, weeping, crying, shedding tears, etc. There is a fine example of pathetic fallacy:
“The lilies and roses were all awake,
They sighed for the dawn and thee.”
Lyricism and Imagery:
The poem is musical and lyrical. It is spontaneous and effusive. It has emotional intensity. The poet has created music and melody with the help of various devices. The poet's fancy works at while heat and inspired images come out of his pen. For instance, there is a highly poetic and fanciful image when the foot - prints of Maud appear to the lover jewel - like. As the March wind blows, petals of blue violets are scattered round her foot - prints which then look beautiful like rubies in a turquoise setting:
“From the meadow your walks have left so sweet
That whenever a March - wind sighs
He sets the jewel - print of your feet.”
There are ample testimony to the poet's felicity and perfection of expressions:
“Queen rose of the rose bud garden of girls.”
“Queen lily and rose in one.”
Sensuous Word Pictures:
Tennyson's great pictorial art is present in this lyric. He presents sensuous word pictures in it. Description of Nature and feelings make the poem highly sensuous:
“And long by the garden lake I stood,
For I heard your rivulet fall
From the lake to the meadow and on the wood.
Our wood, that is dearer than all.”
The description of Maud's face is remarkable:
“In gloss of stain and glimmer of pearls,
Queen lily and rose in one;
Shine out, little head sunning over with curls,
To the flowers, and the Sun.”
Form, Style and Language:
The poem has eleven stanzas in all, each stanza consisting of six lines. The first line rhymes with the third and the fifth. The second line rhymes with the fourth and the sixth. The poet uses symbolism. He personifies Nature when roses and lilies feel, speak, laugh and cry. The language of the poem is mostly monosyllabic. He often makes use of letters to produce desired effect.
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