I found Louise MacNeice’s poetry to be easy to read. In the poem “The Sunlight on the Garden,” MacNeice uses a sestet for the form of the poem. He follows a simple meter with his rhymes. In the first stanza MacNeice introduces symbolism “The sunlight on the garden/ Hardens and grows cold,” (line 1-2). These two lines introduce a dark side to the garden, the opposite of a welcoming warm sunny day. These lines make you rethink the title and what it really means. I feel that “The Sunlight on the Garden,” is a metaphor for false freedoms in life. In the second stanza MacNeice writes “Advances towards its end;/ The earth compels, upon it/ Sonnets and birds descend;/ and soon, my friend,/ we shall have no time for dances” (lines 8-12). In this stanza a sense of freedom is being taken away and their leisurely time in the garden will soon come to an end.