The Value of Solitude

“The Garden By Moonlight” is a work which has much in common with pastoral poetry; it concerns itself mainly with describing a tranquil, idyllic setting apart from the chaos of the civilized world. Each line for the first half of the poem describes a scene in which natural beauty and temperance is prized above everything else. The speaker references the scented air, the soft play of light, and the botanical details that flesh out the scene. Each is a study in allowing oneself to be present in the moment. For the majority of the poem, the speaker is alone; there are references to a few other life forms, a black cat and fireflies, but each is contented in their own solitude.

Although the speaker is alone and unoccupied, there is never any sense of deprivation in the poem. There is not even a...