“Sunlight on the Garden” by Louis MacNeice’

Louis MacNeice’s “Sunlight on the Garden” can be interpreted in many different ways. Some view it as a war poem, others as a poem about love. I personally read it as a poem about accepting death. The narrator struggles with the notion initially, but by the end is able to come to terms with it. MacNeice begins with a beautiful image:

The sunlight on the garden

Hardens and grows cold,

We cannot cage the minute

Within its nets of gold (1-4)

Though the sunlight in the garden is beautiful, seen as “nets of gold” by the poet, the narrator knows that he can never fully preserve this moment. He “cannot cage the minute.” We can appreciate the good moments, we can take photographs, but we can never freeze time. In this way, the author begins his labored acknowledgment that life must go on toward its end. This is further emphasized by the next line, “When all is told/We cannot beg for pardon” (5-6). At the end of our lives, we must face our fate; there is no avoiding it.

MacNeice then continues:

Our freedom as free lances

Advances toward its end;

The earth compels, upon it

Sonnets and birds descend… (7-10)

Louis MacNeice

The narrator struggles with the concept of death because he views it as a removal of his “freedom.” However, he acknowledges that death is a natural thing when he says, “The earth compels…”  (9). On earth, for the living, life proceeds as usual, with things like “sonnets and birds.” The narrator envies this in a way, because he will no longer be in their presence. He forms a bleak and blatant conclusion to this thought with the lines, “And soon, my friend,/We shall have no time for dances” (11-12). Here the narrator of the poem conveys the belief that death means an end to all enjoyment. In an even more dramatic fashion, he alludes to a line from a Shakespeare play when he writes, “The earth compels,/We are dying, Egypt, dying” (17-18). The reference is to Antony’s famous line, “I am dying, Egypt, dying” (IV.xv.41) in Antony and Cleopatra. Clearly the narrator feels at this point that dying is a big deal, something that is frightening and imminent.

However, the next stanza lightens considerably, as the narrator realizes that although death is certain, it doesn’t necessarily have to be a negative thing. Though he opens pessimistically, with, “And not expecting pardon,/Hardened in heart anew…” (19-20), at last his attitude changes, and he goes on to finish the poem optimistically. MacNeice writes:

But glad to have sat under

Thunder and rain with you,

And grateful too

For sunlight on the garden (21-24)

Even though the narrator knows that he is going to die, he is happy, or “glad,” with the life he has led, and reflects that he has enjoyed his life experiences. And as he sees death in this new light, he feels gratitude toward the literal light around him, the “sunlight on the garden.” As he appreciates the life that is blooming before him with the help of the sun, he is ready to go toward his death.