The Garden Isolation Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Line)

Quote #1

And their uncessant labors see
Crowned from some single herb or tree (3-4)

Just like the speaker, the herbs and trees wither and die when they are removed from nature and brought into society.

Quote #2

Fair Quiet, have I found thee here,
And Innocence, thy sister dear!
Mistaken long, I sought you then
In busy companies of men ( 9-12)

The speaker seems to believe that he can only find peace ("Fair Quiet") and innocence if cut off from the sins of society ("In busy companies").

Quote #3

Society is all but rude
To this delicious solitude (15-16)

Interestingly enough, this isn't a thought Marvell came up with on his own. Cicero ("solitude is the best society") was way ahead of him. Even more interesting and totally ironic is the fact that seventeenth-century British society loved this phrase and used it all the time.

Quote #4

Such was that happy garden-state
When man there walked without a mate (57-58)

That may be the opinion of the speaker, but the Bible pretty blatantly says otherwise. It slides by, though, because this is yet another example of Marvell taking a traditional story and twisting it around to meet his needs. He gets away with being unorthodox because he's going about it in a witty way (although it's still probably for the best that he was dead when this was published).

Quote #5

Two Paradises t'were in one
To live in Paradise alone (63-64)

Two tickets to paradise? No thanks, Eddie Money. He'll just have the one.