Analysis+by+Ashley

//In Defense of Our Overgrown Garden // by Matthea Harvey Analysis by Ashley Tapping

//In Defense of Our Overgrown Garden //, by Matthea Harvey, represents the profound creativity and wisdom gained when someone breaks out into the unordinary, through the unkempt garden. However it also shows the price that comes with breaking from a society’s expectations and straying from common views. This poem, through a relaxed style coupled with vibrant imagery, shows the beauty that can be found in simplicity, perhaps a beauty of unrestrained nature that has been forgotten.

When it comes to word style, //In Defense of Our Overgrown Garden // is far from ordinary. The structure of this poem is very lacking, as it contains no rhyme, rhythm pattern, or even punctuation. This makes the poem initially difficult to understand and adds to the illusion of disorder in the garden. The confusion only grows as you run into completely separate phrases that somehow linked together by common words. A good example of these linked phrases is in the lines saying, "...the castles you flew over made crenellated shadows on/The water in the rainbarrel has overflowed..." Here, the poem would be much easier to understand if those phrases were broken into separate sentences, but the author makes a point of using the image of water to connect ideas. This poem is overall completely strung together through linking phrases, similar to how untrimmed plants in the described garden would mingle and branch out freely. The style of //In Defense of Our Overgrown Garden // had an overall enchanting effect of bringing the reader into the mindset of the carefree gardener.

Perhaps the most enjoyable aspect of this poem is the vivid imagery involved in describing the garden. Matthea Harvey goes into great detail to describe the garden, and the eye for detail turns this ruinous garden into something beautiful in the reader's eyes. An example of this detail is shown when the poem says, "...those ever so slightly green leaves /That seem no mix of seeds and soil, but of pastels and light..." Although the leaves described are barely green and can perhaps even be interpreted as sickly, the image of soft pastels evokes a calming emotion that encourages the reader to see the beauty in simple or humble things. Another theme in this poem is the love of nature as it is, unchanged and unmanipulated by human kind. This love of nature is shown when the speaker untangles the birds from the strawberry nets, and later watched them all "fly by all morning at the window". Instead of being furious at the birds for getting to the strawberries, the gardener feels at ease and seems to understand a balance of nature that other people have forgotten.

While //In Defense of Our Overgrown Garden // uses lots of imagery, the occurrence of metaphors and similes is comparatively sparse. The focus of the poem does not seem to be making Romanticized comparisons, but it casually uses the occasional literary device to get an image across. One example of metaphor in the poem is in the first line saying, "Last night the apple trees shook and gave each lettuce a heart". This especially grabbed my attention because it seemed to emphasize the gardener's unique viewpoint. Similar to the situation with the birds and strawberry nets, the gardener does not make a huge fuss over any accidents that occur in the garden. Instead, the accident is turned into something enjoyable; in this case the enjoyment is in the thought of lettuce with new, red, beating hearts. Perhaps the most interesting metaphor is the social reference of Mrs. Jones. If you have ever heard the phrase, "Keeping up with the Jones," you probably know that it means living up to the expectations of your neighbors, or society. When Mrs. Jones throws her cane at the gardener, it could then possibly be interpreted as the gardener being looked down upon by society. The speaker seems to be initially unbothered by this, as the poem continues to ramble on about the garden.

In this poem, it is never exactly specified who the speaker is, and many details are left for interpretation, such as the age and gender of the speaker and who they are addressing to in their poem. Overall, however, there is an obvious loving bond between the speaker and the receiver of the poem, notably where the poem says, "...I'm sorry there won't be any salad and I love you". Most people would probably interpret this as a relationship between spouses, since the poem casually discusses everyday things in the household to a loved one. This is likely the case, and the poem also suggests that the spouses are separated, since the poem has a theme of them writing letters to each other. Overall, the poem seems to be a piece of conversation between two separated lovers, both of them having a strange, artistic way of seeing the world. Despite the joy in simplicity portrayed at the beginning, //In Defense of Our Overgrown Garden // turns into a somewhat sad and yearning poem at the end where the speaker says, "...If there is no fog on the day you come home I will build a bonfire/ So the smoke will make the cedars look the way you like them..." The theme by the end seems to suggest a price that comes along with creativity.  So, one question remains: What could possibly be the downside of seeing the world in such a beautiful way? For one thing, there is a fine line between inspiration and insanity in the eyes of others. For example, some of the most profound thinkers in history have been rejected by their neighbors because their unique views of the world were interpreted as madness. As shown in the poem, the speaker seems fairly happy until the end of the letter where the distant lover is addressed. Being separated, they seem to be going through hard times, one of them tending to the garden and patiently waiting for the return of their companion. Here the speaker is lonely, and especially out of place in this neighborhood where everyone seems to obsess over neatness and perfection. The garden represents more than what it appears, and is the entire essence of the speakers personality that must be defended. Perhaps there is a lesson to be learned in this poem, that maybe perfection is never found in nature but the spontaneity of nature is what makes it beautiful. This is the striking point that Matthea Harvey makes through the mind of a gardener who struggles to find a place in a judgmental, close-minded neighborhood bound by the expectations of order from society.

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