sunshine on the garden commentary

‘ T H E S U N L I G H T I N T H E G A R D E N ’ , A C O M M E N T A R Y.
Guiding Questions for the commentary:
How does the use of setting contribute to your understanding of the poem?
Comment on the poet’s style (For example, language,imagery, diction, form,the use of a quote from
Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra)
In the the poem ‘The Sunshine in the Garden’ written by Louis MacNeice, the poet is a prisoner of war and is close to his death. The line ‘We cannot cage the minute’ and words like ‘freedom’ used throughout , make it evident that the poet is a prisoner and longs to be free. The poet lays emphasis on the impermanence of time and how the moment is passing. The title of the poem ‘The Sunlight in the Garden’ probably refers to a garden which can be seen from the the poet’s cell. Throughout the poem . the poet constantly looks back at his past and is thankful for it.
The second and third stanza’s of the poem are more optimistic than the rest of the poem. There are many spiritual references in the poem too like the title itself for example. The poet thanks god, for having been there with him through the bad times he’s been through which he refers to as ‘thunder’ and ‘rain’. The poet also quotes from Shakespeare's famous tragedy ‘Antony and Cleopatra’, saying ‘’
We are dying, Egypt, dying’’ which is one of the many references throughout the poem about death.
The sty
The poet makes several references which show his longing for freedom like ‘The sky was good for flying’ and ‘Sonnets and birds descend’. The poet has written the poem in the first person plural by using ‘we’ which probably implies that there are a lot of prisoners with him. The poet and the other prisoners are prisoners of war which is made clear by the line ‘ And not expecting pardon’ and the line ‘ Hardened in heart anew’ shows that the prisoners are prepared for their death. The structure of the poem is fairly straightforward and all the stanzas start with conjunctions. There are several symbols used by the poet for imagery which include, ‘nets of gold’. ‘church bells’, ‘sonnets of birds’, and ‘thunder and rain.
The mood of the poem is extremely sad and demands the readers empathy throughout especially as the setting of the poem is in a prison. The main idea brought out by the poet is that of lack of hope, war and the poet’s gratefulness to god.