Campion, Thomas – There is a garden in her face
Two good friends are sitting in a bar. One of them is really sad because he has been rejected by the girl he loves and does not know what to do now. His friend says that he can only wait for the girl to make her move and explains that real love is something that exists in a relationship of two human beings only as a mutual feeling. A man may feel strong affection for a woman but unless she returns his feelings, it is ignorant of him to believe that she might enjoy his physical advances.
Thomas Campion’s poem There is a garden in her face deals with this idea in a very general way. We do not find any personal pronouns in the first or second persons. Overall, we just find the pronoun „her“ three times. The poetic speaker seems to disappear behind the author, and the addressee could be one with the recipient. Thus, the communication situation is that an “invisible“ poetic speaker addresses an unknown addressee and by that a very broad group of people. Even the lady described could be any beautiful woman. The poem has a very uniform structure of three stanzas with six lines each.
In all of them, the poem describes the beauty of a woman before the restriction is imposed that men may not taste her beauty until she lets him do so. The title, which is repeated in the first line, is very surprising. It was conventional to compare parts of the female body with plants or fruits, but here a whole „garden“ grows in the lady’s „face“. This hyperbolic statement might astonish the reader at first, but in a second thought the contemporary recipient most likely would have remembered the common positive associations with plants, trees, and fruits found in a garden which were conventionally used to describe the beauty of a woman’s face in a metaphorical way. Even nowadays some of these romantic metaphors are commonly known. So that the fact that there is a whole “garden in her face“ brings up the image of an exceptionally beautiful lady.
The poetic speaker elaborates on that in the second line by naming the flowers that can be found in her countenance. The “roses“ could be an implicit metaphor for her red cheeks in opposition to the “white lilies“ which may stand for the whiteness of the rest of her face.
The hyperbolic description of the beauty of the lady’s face is raised to another level in lines three and four when a clear allusion to the Garden Eden and the biblical paradise is made. The “heavenly paradise“ is an explicit metaphor for her face. The use of the verb “flow“ is unusual in line four, however, it supports the regularity of the rhyme scheme and could, in addition to that, refer to the Bible as well, as the “land which flows with milk and honey“ is the “promised land“ for the oppressed people in Egypt in the Old Testament. The poetic speaker does not hesitate to use strong formulations and extremely positive adjectives in the poem, creating the image of a locus amoenus: here the paradise is “heavenly“, God-given, and within it not some, but ”all pleasant fruits do flow“. The beauty and perfection of the picture could not be developed more positively.
In line five the poetic speaker seems to continue to praise the unidentified lady when he compares her lips to “cherries“, but then, all of a sudden, he disillusions the addressee by saying that “none may buy“ these “cherries“. Because of this restriction, the recipient is abruptly taken back down to earth, to the real life, away from the perfect dreamworld of Garden Eden he might have been thinking about reading the first four lines. Everything that has been described before, however desirable it might have seemed, is said to be out of reach for everyone, even for rich people who are used to being able to “buy“ whatever they like.
The sixth line is repeated as the last line of each stanza, which lays great importance on it. The shocked reader finds out that the hopeless situation will not necessarily last forever and is sort of relieved: the poetic speaker explains under which conditions it is possible to get a hold of the “cherries“; he states that they need to “cry themselves ‚Cherry-ripe’“. Just like “flow“ in line four, the use of the verb “cry“ is unusual here as one would rather expect call or consider oneself “ripe“. What might be hinted at is the fact that it is a very emotional act when a lady’s lips “cry themselves ‚Cherry-ripe’“. The lips are a synecdoche and stand for the whole human being. In fact, they are the part of a woman’s body which signals her willingness to a wooing man to get involved with him. The word “’Cherry-ripe’“ is the key term of the poem. It is the only one written with a capital letter alongside the ones at the beginning of the lines. Also the word “cherry“, which is the word most often used (six times), forms part of it. The second part of the term (“ripe“), refers back to the fruits in the garden and their harvesting. It is commonly known that one does not pick any fruit that is not ripe, however to compare the wooing for a lady with the harvesting of fruits is rather far-fetched. The poetic speaker thus points out the opinion that in real life, the women have to decide when they are willing to get into contact with men, who, on the other hand cannot do anything except for waiting, not even if they have lots of money. Thus, they find themselves in the same situation as if they were waiting for fruits to become ripe. In this conceit – the editor (or the author himself) even uses unquote single quotation marks to indicate that ‚Cherry-ripe‘ is a new creation of Thomas Campion – the central idea of this poem is presented. The equal indentation of the last two lines of each stanza support the fact that a new idea with regard to the content is presented.
In the second stanza, the poetic speaker goes on describing the lady’s face. The metaphor “cherries“ is picked up again to introduce her teeth – “a double row of orient pearls“, which the “cherries“ “enclose“. The lady is furthermore praised in the next two lines, and the poetic speaker really goes into detail explaining the strong effect the red lips and white teeth have on him with a simile: “They look like rosebuds filled with snow“ when her “lovely laughter shows“. In this case, it seems a little exaggerated that the mouth is described in so many lines because one could expect some other parts of the body to be introduced. The effect of this new simile and the firm concentration on her lips and teeth, gives the reader the impression that this particular part of her face must be really beautiful and, more importantly, lays a big deal of importance on her mouth. This supports the main idea of the poem because with her mouth, the lady could speak to her admirer either allowing him to come close or turning him away. The power of decision lies in her hands. The important zone of the eyes is not introduced here yet, as might have seemed logical since eye mimics are also always used by human beings in communication processes.
After this meticulous description, the poetic speaker repeats a similar restriction as above in line nine, introduced by the discourse marker “Yet“. The idea is underlined that neither “peer nor prince can buy“ these lips. Here “can“ is even stronger in meaning than “may“ in the second last line of the first stanza. Nevertheless, hope is brought up for all wooing men again as the last line of the first stanza also concludes the second stanza: “Till ‚Cherry-ripe‘ themselves do cry“ does not say that the adoring man can do much in order to reach his goal faster, but it is made clear that some time in the future, the lady is going to consider herself “ripe“.
In the last stanza, the poetic speaker expresses his opinion that it is unacceptable and senseless to badger a lady. In addition to the first two stanzas, where it is said that the man cannot do anything except for waiting, it is explained in this last stanza that he is also not supposed to put pressure on the beloved, who is presented as powerful and independent. This is a very modern thought still true today. As the poetic speaker does not directly address anyone, this idea is not expressed with imperatives but in an indirect way.
In line thirteen, “Her eyes“ come into play for the first time. In a simile, they are compared to “angels“ as the poetic speaker goes on eulogizing the lady. The personification of the eyes takes place on a high level as they are not said to be like human beings but like “heavenly“ creatures. The women is praised as a divine being as it is done in Elizabethan sonnets as well. The personification of the eyes is furthermore supported by describing their active behavior. Their first activity is to “watch“ the admirers “still“ (line thirteen). The atmosphere of tension created by the combination of the words “watch them still“, is raised to a level of threat and danger in the following lines. “Her brows“ are the eyes‘ “bended bows“ and her “frowns“ are “piercing“; her eyes are “Threatening to kill“. The poetic speaker uses hunting vocabulary to stress that the lady is capable of defending herself. In lines sixteen and seventeen, it is said what it is she is “threatening to kill“: “All attempts with eye or hand“ to come close to the “sacred cherries“, that is to herself. The threat coming from the lady is used to indirectly advise the addressee that he is not supposed “to come nigh“ the woman.
Again the description of the lady is raised to a religious level as she is called “sacred”. By talking about “attempt with eye or hand”, the poetic speaker excludes all possibilities men have trying to flirt with a woman. Even when a man just wants to talk to his lady, he cannot do that without looking at her, and it is also impossible for him to write love poetry without his hands. Thus, the poem, and this line in particular, can be understood as criticism on the common love poetry written by a great number of sonneteers at the time Campion’s poem was published.
The advice given in the last stanza is more than what is told in the first two stanzas: the man does not only lack the necessary means to convince the lady to get involved with him, he also should not even try to take any active means. The use of the word “angel“ in line thirteen is ironic if one associates it with Eros, who is often drawn with a bow that shoots the arrows of love because in this case, the looks the lady casts at her admirers are anything but expressions of love.
Then, the last stanza is concluded with the same words like the last lines of the other stanzas. The situation that there is hope for the adoring lover does not change here either. However, this hope does not at all mean that the admirers should keep wooing, it only makes it clear that the lady is not against a relationship between man and woman as such, and from that it can be assumed that neither is the author.
In There is a garden in her face elements of metaphysical poetry can be found as there is a surprise opening and one of the main metaphors, comparing a lady’s face with a garden is far-fetched just like the comparison of wooing for a lady and waiting for fruits to ripen. The extremely positive description of the lady, which even has a religious component as seen in the first stanza, is comparable to the praising of the beloved in Petrarchan love poetry. However, the longing lover is not of central interest in this poem. The poetic speaker gives neutral advice and presents general truths instead of being personally involved and trying to convince the rejecting lady. Because of that, and the intention to keep women from being pestered by men, this poem stands out from the many sonnets, which were written at the end of the fifteenth and the beginning of the sixteenth century. The majority of other contemporary poets usually laid the focus on the adoring lover and his attempts to convince the “lady“ to love him and not on the lady’s independent feelings and her behavior.
The fact that in this poem women are presented as individual beings capable of defending themselves, makes it compatible with modern ideas of the relationship of men and women, at least in western societies. It can also be understood as criticism of the love poetry fashionable at the time with its presentation of women as indifferent objects. This critical view on other poets is supported by the fact that Campion refrained from writing a sonnet although it was the most popular form of poetry back then.
The poem is not very dense in meaning as just one central idea, which is clearly described, is developed throughout the poem. There are no ambiguities in it, and the majority of the images used are conventional and not difficult to decode. On the other hand, the poem conveys a high lyrical quality as a lot of poetical devices can be found, and it is structured in a very uniform way.
In order to maintain a constant rhyme scheme, the poet makes use of the techniques of inversion (for example in line eight: “Of orient pearl a double row“) and enjambment (for example in lines fifteen and sixteen: “Threatening with piercing frowns to kill All that attempt with eye or hand“) throughout the whole poem. The frequent use of “do“ in front of verbs also seem to be used to guarantee a constant rhyme scheme rather than to emphasize the meaning of the various verbs. There is a iambic tetrameter that needs elision only in lines three (A heávenly páradise ís that pláce) and fifteen (Threateníng with píercing frówns to kíll) in order to be constant. The regular indentation of lines gives the poem a uniform visual structure, too.
Two anaphora are found in the first stanza: the first and fifth lines and the second and forth lines are opened with the same words respectively (“There“, and “Where“). In addition to that, the syntactical structure of the three sentences is very similar.
In the second stanza, lots of alliterations can be found: “Which when her lovely laughter shows, They look like rosebuds filled with snow”. The soft consonants make these lines sound very harmonious. The sound effects are also played with in line eleven when there is a crossing over of alliterations: “…no peer nor prince…“. The repetition of the words “buy“ (lines five and eleven) and “cry“ (six, twelve, eighteen) at the end of the lines are epiphora and the double use of “cherry“ in one sentence is an epinalepsis.
In the last stanza there are more examples of alliteration (“…brows like bended bows…“) and the plosives in line fifteen support the hyperbolic meaning of threat and even death (“Threatening with piercing frowns to kill”). There also is an example of parallelism as the syntactical structure of the two connected sentences (“Her eyes like angels watch them still; Her brows like bended bows do stand”) is the same.
Many of these poetical devices add to the sound quality of the poem and make it a rhythmical, well-structured, lyrical piece of art. In addition to that, the repetition of the same line at the end of each stanza makes it look like a song with a repeating chorus-line, and it is probable that it was not only read but also sung when it was presented to the Elizabethan public. Because of its main idea being still true today, it could, if it was written in a more modern style, come out of the duke box in the bar where the two friends are sitting, still discussing the relationship between men and women.