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.
What does the word 'green' signify in the last line of the first stanza? Choose the correct option out of the following.
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → lap of nature
- As a noun, green means an open piece of grassy land, often in the middle of a village, where people meet and children play. In the poem it is the open grassy place where the speaker played freely as a child, close to nature.
Example: The children played cricket on the village green. - The lap of nature means natural surroundings, the open countryside thought of as a mother's lap. The green of the speaker's childhood stands for this free, natural world, which the chapel later covers.
Example: The resort lies in the lap of nature, far from the noise of the city.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 2: prime of life — Incorrect. The prime of life is the best and most active years of adult life. The line recalls a place where the speaker played as a child, not a period of adult strength.
Example: He was in the prime of life when he started his own business.
Option 3: within the restricted area — Incorrect. The green was open and free; restriction comes only with the chapel, whose gates are shut.
Option 4: grasslands — Incorrect. Grasslands are large natural regions covered with grass, such as prairies and savannas. The green in the poem is a small grassy playground and stands for the natural world, not a geographical region.
Example: Zebras graze on the African grasslands.