Symbol Analysis
About 100 years before Marvell was born, people in England were being burned alive for embellishing what was said in the Bible. During Marvell's lifetime, England went through a brutal civil conflict over religion. For some reason, though, if Marvell wants to "develop" what Genesis has to say about the Garden of Eden in a poem, that is A-OK. That's right Shmoopsters, Marvell's garden resembles the Garden of Eden in a lot of ways but, as you might expect from a guy like Marvell, some fairly significant changes have been made to the scenery.
- Lines 34-38: The Bible describes the Garden of Eden as fertile, but this is taking it to a whole new level. We mean, this fruit is just throwing itself at the speaker and there's nary a bruise in sight.
- Lines 39-40: The "Fall of Man" has no place in this Garden. Marvell's speaker does in fact fall, but it's on grass, not into a burning pit of fire and brimstone.
- Lines 57-64: This stanza plays with the idea of Adam alone in Paradise. According to the Bible this was not the way things were supposed to be, but Marvell has other ideas. He's not hating on women really; the speaker is just longing for a place where people, namely sultry ladies, aren't keeping him from his thoughts. It is, however, pretty unorthodox and, in the wrong circumstances, could have gotten Marvell into a lot of trouble.