Swinburne, Algernon Charles. "The Garden of Proserpine".

Summary

- the presumably dead speaker describes the bleak and barren garden of Proserpine around him

- observes we are all to die and retire neither to heaven nor to hell but to the sleepy garden of Proserpine

- describes the queen of Proserpine and her activities

- contrasts the permanent but colourless garden x the always changing but colourful mortal life

- conclusion: retires to "the sleep eternal / In an eternal night"

Analysis

- Proserpine = the queen of the underworld, goddess of death and eternal sleep, kept a garden of ever-blooming flowers

- melodic: regular rhyme, alliteration, repetition

- lyric: no plot, turning point, or solution

- even monotonous: suggests the unchanging permanence of the setting