Incident in a Rose Garden Group

Question:

wild13
wild13
Student
High School - 9th Grade

In the poem Incident in the Rose garden, what are the roses meant to represent and how do they tie into the central motif of Death?

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Posted by wild13 on Tuesday May 1, 2007 at 7:32 PM and tagged with incident in a rose garden, roses.

Answers:


  1. janeyb

    eNotes Editor

    The rose garden represents many things, here is an excerpt from the enotes:

    The fact that Death appears in the rose garden underscores the place of death in the order of the natural world. He not only encounters the Gardener there but the Master as well, emphasizing that death’s dominion is nature itself. A rose garden is a place of great beauty, but that beauty is seasonal. When the season changes, the roses wither and die. So, too, with human beings.

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/incident-rose/25502

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    Posted by janeyb on Tuesday May 1, 2007 at 8:08 PM


  2. theunexpected Student
    High School - 9th Grade

    Hello, my friend!! Thank you for your question!!

    There is an allegory in the use of roses, which signify a juxtaposition of two extremes, in the sense that roses are the ultimate flower which everybody could long to get and are the ones to be offered to our beloved. They can unexpectedly prick you because of the thorns, hidden underneath the petals. They look approachable and make you want to touch them but this is a deception-such as Death. They can cause harm. So does Death-he can be found where he is least expected, even approaching people in a provocative way, as in the "incident..." but he is the one to have the final word. ;-)

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    Posted by theunexpected on Tuesday January 15, 2008 at 9:14 AM