The Garden of Love, William Blake

"I went to the Garden of Love,
And saw what I never had seen:
A Chapel was built in the midst,
Where I used to play on the green.

And the gates of this Chapel were shut,
And "Thou shalt not" writ over the door;
So I turn'd to the Garden of Love
That so many sweet flowers bore;

And I saw it was filled with graves,
And tomb-stones where flowers should be;
And priests in black gowns were walking their rounds,
And binding with briars my joys and desires"

Not to be misinterpreted as nostalgic, Blake's poem is a reflection on the oppression of institutional religion.

Blake looks back to childhood, "where I used to play on the green", and a more a primal phase of humanity, by evoking the Garden of Eden. These were purer, more fertile times, where emotions and thoughts would blossom freely.

My only concern with the poem is its' stance on death. I don't feel death should be associated with the toxicity of institutional oppression.