Read our detailed study guide on the short story Kew Gardens by Virginia Woolf. Our study guide covers Kew Gardens summary, themes, characters, and literary analysis.
Kew Gardens Summary
The narrator begins the story with a detailed description of a botanic garden scene in London. The story narrates four groups of people passing by an oval flower bed. The garden is full of about “a hundred stalks” of bright multi-colored flowers on a beautiful breezy day in July. The sun rays meet the open petals of the flowers in an “oval shaped flower bed”. The stems of flowers emerge from the earth and across it, and a snail steadily moves along the way towards the flowers.
The narrator contrasts the human movement and chatting across the garden with the snail’s gradual motion. Likewise, the wandering of men and women are compared to the “zig-zag flights” of butterflies in the garden. First, the narrator sketches a husband and wife passing by the garden with children following them. The man, Simon thinks of a memory fifteen years ago when he had asked a girl, Lily, to marry him.
He thinks of the scene when a dragonfly buzzed around them. He wished the fly to settle on a leaf and with this reflex, Lily would accept his proposal. Contrastively, neither the fly stopped buzzing around nor Lily accepted him. Then Simon faces his wife with the silver buckles of Lily and the buzzing of the fly in his mind. He addresses his wife and inquires whether she imagines the past.
His wife, Eleanor replies that how can one not think of the past in a beautiful garden crowded with couples. However, she has a unique set of memories. When she was a young girl of six years, she was painting water lilies in the garden beside a lake. An elderly woman came and kissed her on the back of her neck. It became “the mother of all [her] kisses” for Eleanor. With this, she gathers her children, Caroline and Hubert, and leaves the place.
After the departure of the family, the narrator’s focus shifts to the snail again. It slowly crawls on the earth. When a leaf falls in its way or a blade of grass stands high, it emerges its antennae to examine the obstacle and learns how to tackle it.
In the garden, two men loiter by the snail. The young man, William, has an expression of somewhat an “unnatural calm”. While the other one is an aged man with an unsteady pace. He speaks “incessantly” as if he has a secret conversation with his soul. Also, he smiles and murmurs saying that he is talking to the “spirits of the dead” in heaven.
The elderly man refers to the war that the spirits are disturbed because of the war. He also claims that he can help the widows listen to the voices of dead husbands by putting a device on their bed heads. At the instant, the old man catches a glimpse of a woman clad in “purple black”. He runs towards her crying “Widows! Women in black”. However, William pulls him by the arm and draws his attention to the beauty of a flower.
The aged one tilts towards the flower and begins to feel its voice, and whispers with the flower. Furthermore, he goes on to claim that he has seen “tropical roses”. He had also journeyed with the prettiest one of the European women to visit mermaids of Uruguay centuries ago. The young man moves along with him in “stoical” control.
As the scene grows forward, the narrator catches the glimpse of aged women belonging to the “lower middle class”. One of the women is “stout” and the other is “nimble”. They are fascinated by the behavior of the elderly man, especially because they consider him an upper-class gentleman. They ponder whether he is particularly eccentric or has an insane psyche.
The women try to point out the man’s unusual talk and then cast a “sly” look at each other. Then they get involved in their ordinary conversation from which the narrator picks some random words e.g. “sugar, flour, kippers, greens”, “I says, she says” etc. Within a while, the bulky woman loses her interest in the conversation, and hypnotically looks at the beauty of the flower. Then she abruptly suggests to the other lady to sit somewhere and take their tea. Undoubtedly, the narrator imparts the English color through the discussion of tea in the garden.
The two women are removed from the focus of the narrator and the snail has magnified again. Now, the snail invades the scene highlighting its importance as a recurring motif of the story. It finally overcomes the hurdle of the leaf in its way by crawling below it to the other side. When it succeeds in its goal, the other two pairs of feet show up in the garden.
A young couple approaches the bed of bright flowers. The man goes unnamed and the woman’s name is Trissie. Both of them push Trissie’s parasol into the earth by the flower bed. Also, they share an awkward conversation that does not appear to have a truly romantic mood. For example, the man tells her about the entry expense to the garden on Friday that is sixpence. To his assertion, the lady questions whether the entry is worth the money. In this way, the couple continues their commonplace and unromantic conversation.
Also, their communication is abrupt and has stretched pauses. Likewise, the ordinary things around them appear quite significant to them as they pay special attention to their surroundings. For instance, their focus on the parasol, the coin that the boy will pick out of his pocket for tea, the admission payment, and the flowers seem more than futile things to them. Their behavior and useless words present their lack of interest in such a romantic knot.
The narrator describes their conversational utterances as having “short wings for their heavy body of meaning”. After this awkward conversation, the boy reminds Trissie that it is time for tea. Trissie asks about the tea point in the garden. The man directs her along the way, and Trissie looks around wondering about the cranes and orchids. She also imagines exploring what lies at the end of each path leading from the garden.
The narrator ends the tale with a zoomed out portrayal of the garden. The couples move in and out with their clumsy conversations and disinterested moods. These movements of people are dissolved with the twist of butterflies and the scent of flowers. The conversations dissolve into a blurred atmosphere of colors and bright light that emerges out of the unrecognized voices of contentment, desire, and children’s voices.
These sweet notes of children denote freshness and joy. Then the story zooms out beyond the freshness of gardens to compare them to the murmurs of busy city life. To explain, the city life denotes a materialistic war with “wrought steel turning ceaselessly one within another”. It clashes with the natural colors of garden life.
Background of the Story
The short story “Kew Gardens” is composed by a well-known English writer, Virginia Woolf. Woolf first published the work privately in 1919 in Hogarth Press. It was a publishing platform established by Leonard and Virginia Woolf. However, in 1921, “Kew Gardens” embraced wide recognition in the collection “Monday or Tuesday”. Later, it was published in the posthumous work collection entitled A Haunted House and Other Short Stories in 1944. This edition was edited by Woolf’s husband.
The work is widely known to have a sensation like the post-impressionist painting due to its visual interpretation. These images blend to make a multi-layered phenomenon of nature. The first edition of the work accompanied Woolf’s sister, Vanessa Bell’s two wooden illustrations. In the third edition in 1927, the illustrations were printed on each page of the story.
The short story is one of the most anthologized works of Woolf, written in her early writing era. The story gives an insight into the writing style of Woolf. For instance, she focuses on life in miniature by making small creatures like snails and Butterflies the point of her skillful creation.
The “Kew Gardens” presents human nature in miniature using Woolf’s artistic mastery. In the story, the author draws the attention of the readers towards the life and random activities of the creatures in the Royal Botanic Garden in London on a bright summer day.
The story gives a detailed description of the garden from tiny creatures to ordinary human beings that are usually ignored. For example, it depicts a snail’s efforts to climb a flower bed, the life of butterflies, the crazy talks of a madman, and the awkward situation of two lovers. Through the simple and artistic tale, the natural world and the people roaming in it are described alternately. These scenes unite in a singular interwoven tale signifying an English garden of the early 20th-century.
Woolf, in “Kew Gardens”, describes the complexity and liveliness of an ordinary scene in a busy life. The story compels the readers to think about the hidden beauty of common things in life. As the tale is set in a public place with characters from different modes of life, it relates to the entire humanity. According to some critics, Woolf uses Stream of Consciousness to delineate the natural environment aesthetically.
Themes in Kew Gardens
Human and Nature
In “Kew Gardens”, Woolf gives a significant place to the natural environment and the people involved in it. For instance, there is an exact detail about the butterflies, the flower bed, the grass, and the snail. Woolf weaves the story in such vivid impressionism that the characters seem to roam in a painting of the garden. Also, the movement between the couples and the insects provides a striking resemblance that depicts the microscopic relationship between them.
The contrast of the garden and city-life shows that the characters come to the flower bed to find solace from the restlessness of city life. They are completely swayed by the beauty of nature and forget about their futile talks in the air of freshness. Moreover, nature motivates people towards strange moods and behavior.
Individual Worlds
As the characters in “Kew Gardens” come in groups one after the other, they have their isolated imaginary worlds of their own. In this way, Woolf depicts the distances between individuals in the modern world. They have a separate circle in which they regulate and internalize their past anxieties. Even though people engage in conversations, these talks are futile and random. Even the small snail has its isolated life with repeated toils for the gain of its purpose.
For example, in the beginning, a man and wife pass by the garden. Although they have a close relationship, they weave sweet memories with other people and beautiful nature from their past. Similarly, the elderly man is completely detached from the physical world. He seems to have supernatural existence with a strong sense of the unknown world. However, he is quite weak in his communication with the young companion.
Likewise, the two aged women come to the garden seemingly mocking at the otherworldliness of the elderly man. However, they, in turn, get fed up with each other’s conversation soon. The stout woman begins aimlessly examining the flowers and then suggests going for tea. When the young couple arrives at the garden, they engage in an exaggerated and awkward conversation about ordinary things. Within some time, they head for tea and the girl stares at her surroundings lost in her private world. Despite being romantically so close, the couple is alone and remote from each other’s feelings.
In this way, Woolf highlights the fact that despite such a communal and natural environment, there are two worlds of the people. One is the external setting of the garden; the other is their internal world full of dilemmas. However, there is predictability for the connection between them.
Unforgettable Memories
Woolf expresses some of the characters’ inner thoughts who are haunted by memories of their past youth. Especially, the aged people find it difficult to forget their spent age. For instance, the old man is immersed in his otherworldly imagination of spirits and war thoughts. It seems that he had been a war soldier and had seen the massacre. Therefore, it still haunts him in his old age.
Likewise, the husband, Simon is absorbed in his memory of being rejected by a lady, Lily. Even though he has a stable and fulfilled life with a wife and children, he cannot drop his remarkable moments. It shows that individuals are always caught in their mental prison of regret for their failures and bygone days. In a way, the bloomy garden reminds the characters of their youthful yore.
Femininity
Woolf was a leading feminist who broke gender roles and feminine notions in her writings. However, in “Kew Gardens” the women are not entirely free from the constraints of social life. Though they come to the garden to find solace from the tiresome city life, they remain the objects of desire and focus for men.
For instance, the female gender appears in the story as a mother, a lover, a companion, and a wife. On the other side, their internal life and thoughts are also depicted in which they think freely out of the social gender norms. However, in the external world, they are dependent and restricted. This shows the status of women in contemporary life.
The story also presents women’s lack of happiness and interest in marriage as the lower-class ladies seem disinterested in their lives. Likewise, the stigma and pain of widowhood and the loneliness of motherhood are highlighted by Woolf.
Modern Life
Woolf presents “Kew Gardens” as a natural setting with flowers and insects under a timeless effect. However, the references to modern-day terms describe the setting as a place in a remarkably modern era. For example, the narrator discusses city life and its industrialization, technology, and war that place the story in a modern context.
Nonetheless, it shows that the garden is itself a constructed one in an urban area using high architectural specifications. Although the characters roam in the garden to stay aloof from city life, they can never escape from its effects mentally.
Amazement and Inspiration
The semi-natural setting of the garden imparts the feeling of amazement. The characters that pass by the garden are enchanted by its beauty. They pause to enjoy the youthfulness of the flower bed. Furthermore, some individuals arrive at the place to share their intimate moments and take tea in the garden.
We can say that even in the modern world, people are still charmed by the beauty of nature. Also, the narrator has a keen sense of minute creatures like a snail. For example, the snail’s struggle against obstacles in its way provides a motivational instruction for the readers. The natural environment always refreshingly affects people’s thoughts. As in the story, the characters express a joyful expression at the sight of the garden. They remember their beautiful past moments, secretly enjoying them.
Class Conflict
In the 20th-century, class struggle and social clash remained dominant throughout the era. This theme is subtly expressed in the short story. For example, the old man seems to belong to the upper class. Therefore, his behavior is a dominating one with murmurs of otherworldliness and confident smiles. He ignores the principles of propriety in public life.
Also, Woolf depicts the lower-class elderly ladies as having a rough, intermittent conversation. They are also attracted to the behavior of the old man, especially when they perceive him to be an upper-class, extravagant gentleman. Likewise, the other characters like the young couple have an awkward conversation due to their awareness of being in a public place.
Differential Truths
The theme of differential realities relates to the idea of alienated lives of the involved characters. For example, each character has a separate reality that he weaves in his imagination. Although the individuals occupy the same physical surroundings, they have completely different truths that they value.
Even the little snail has its private world of reality. In that world, it moves steadily to reach the ultimate goal of getting to the flower bed. These toils exist in the same external world, but the internal struggle varies from every living being to the other. In the impressionistic description, Woolf tries to communicate the isolated selves of apparently connected and communicating people.
Gender Roles
The characters of “Kew Gardens” exhibit strict gender roles even when they have their distinct inner worlds. They follow what men and women are made for in contemporary social settings. For example, the husband and wife represent an inherent harmony in their characters despite their distinctive lifestyles and choices. As the man is in regret for not marrying his beloved and the woman thinks of platonic love, they remain in touch and stay together.
Likewise, William and the aged man represent the incapability of men to connect and share their thoughts on matters even as devastating as war. Therefore, they remain quite far away from each other despite their physical presence. On the other hand, lower-class women engage in useless conversation about futile ordinary things. It is to compensate for the ignorance they face in life.
The young couple is also depicted to highlight their roles in society. At this age, the men learn to own their women as the man steers the lady towards the tea place and will also pay for her drink. The men are always thrown into a responsible life where they struggle to connect with other men and women and take charge of their lives.
Characters Analysis
Simon/ The Husband
The married man is the first character that the story introduces as he goes unnamed in the beginning. He is a family man with a wife, Eleanor, and two children, Hubert and Caroline. He walks about 6 inches before them. In this way, he presents a typical husband of contemporary time.
However, Simon’s mental level does not cooperate with his duty towards family. He still thinks about his proposal to a woman, Lily, fifteen years ago in the flower garden. She had rejected him on the spot. However, he still reveres the moment of their meeting. Simon imagines her thinking “I begged her to marry me” on a hot summer day.
Simon’s progress in his thoughts by observing the beauty of the garden provides a significant theme of memories. However, he is not the only figure whose memory is lightened by the garden’s beauty. There is a continuous enchantment of nature over other characters also. In this way, the story creates a striking connection between nature and memories.
Simon’s obsession with memories of the past disconnects him from his family behind him. He creates a world of feelings only for himself. That is why he walks before his family to “go on with his thoughts” of a beautiful world he had left behind. Woolf, through the family man, presents the inner conflicts of a married man who is trapped in his prison of memories. He also asks his wife whether she imagines the past. It is because he sees his reflection of the hauntings of the past in his wife’s memories also.
Eleanor/ The Wife
Eleanor is Simon’s wife who walks after her husband across the garden. The mother also turns towards her children to check on them. Her husband looks at her and tells her about his former proposal to a lady, Lily, fifteen years ago in the same garden. Moreover, he asks Eleanor about her sweet memories. She remembers a summer day in the garden when she was five years old.
There, while painting water lilies, she gets a kiss from a grey-haired lady at the back of her neck. It becomes memorable of all kisses in life for Eleanor. When he inquires of Eleanor whether she minds him discussing his past, she replies in a rhetorical question that everyone remembers their past while passing through “a garden with men and women lying under the trees”.
The wife plays a typical gender role by empathizing with her husband’s memory. She declares that the garden can stimulate remarkable memories. Also, in this way, she triggers connectivity and communication between her husband and herself. Although the characters have their private isolated worlds, they still have a degree of intimacy by sharing their thoughts.
Narrator
The narrator of “Kew Gardens” observes almost every creature present in the garden. He has awareness of beings from the small snail and the butterfly to large human beings. However, only certain things are described in detail. One of the recurring ideas is the steady movement of the snail along its way and the hurdles it encompasses. No one else notices the tiny creature than the narrator himself.
As the story progresses, the narrator moves from a microscopic view of insects to human feelings, their conversation, and then to a broader view of the garden and city life. In this harmonious relationship, all the features coexist in unity.
The Elderly Fellow
The third character that the narrator introduces has no name also, though he is described in detail. He walks with a young man, William, through the garden. However, he talks of supernatural elements and his contact with them. Also, he knows about the spirits’ reach to heaven. Furthermore, the man claims that he can help widows talk with the dead ones in heaven by putting an electrical device on their bed heads.
His attention suddenly draws towards a woman in a purple dress. He thinks of her as the widowed wife of a deceased man and runs towards her. However, the young man holds him back. This behavior makes the aged man somewhat a confusing character. For instance, he talks of spirits and the otherworld. He also believes in superstitious activities.
Likewise, the man’s obsession with the dead presents his internal conflict and his concern for death. He seems either a mad man or a senile fellow who behaves overly in public. The man expresses his inner desires that many people keep hidden inside. For example, the older man claims that he had visited the Uruguay forest with the most beautiful lady in Europe centuries ago. His strange expressions present his alienated status and internal struggles against the material world.
William
William is the young fellow with the elderly man. Although he walks along with the man, there is no apparent intimacy between the two. He expresses a huge degree of tolerance for the aged man. The senile man is almost out of control and tries to approach a woman due to his wild thoughts. However, the young man withdraws his attention to a flower.
William’s character expresses a patient control over his behavior towards the elderly man that gives a code of conduct for the young ones. For example, he behaves in an “unnatural calmness” and “stoical patience” to take care of the “incessantly” murmuring gentleman.
The Stout Woman
The “stout and ponderous” woman is one of the two working-class friends who come loitering in the garden. The lower-class woman and her friend witness the futile bantering of the elderly man. They are charmed by his brain condition because he possibly comes from the upper class. In a way, the woman enjoys the “disordered brain” of the “well-to-do” man.
The companions overhear some of the murmurs of the man and try to gather information from them. The stout woman also engages in commonplace conversation with her friend. However, the lady soon loses her attention towards the man and her companion. She begins to look at the flower aimlessly. She sinks in her thoughts and loses the outer reality. Here, the narrator presents another character with an alienated life amongst the loaded environment. Significantly, she enters her inner world by continuously looking at the flower that imparts the hypnotizing quality of the garden.
The Nimble Woman
The “rosy cheeked and nimble” lady is a working-class companion of the stout woman in the garden. They are both delighted by the eccentricity of the older man. However, when they begin to talk, their conversation is broken and intermittent itself. For example, one of them murmurs “I says, she says”, “Sugar, sugar, sugar”, and other such unrecognized conversations. After a while, her companion begins looking at the flower completely ignoring her conversation. This shows that the discussed women are isolated in their lives despite their close friendship.
The Young Lad
After the married man and the aged man, the young man arrives in the garden setting. Woolf contrasts the three phases of life in a meaningful interwoven comparison highlighting the dilemmas of their lives. The man comes with a young lady and is quite nervous about his situation as a lover. For example, he reminds himself again and again “It was real, all real”.
He is an inexperienced young lad and takes even her slight comments with huge attention. Although the man behaves awkwardly, he truly likes the young girl and “steers” her toward the tea side when they decide to take tea. He also looks for the money in his pocket that he will pay for her dating tea. In this way, he practices the new role of a gentleman with a young woman in a garden leading her according to his desires.
Trissie
The young lady, Trissie, is in her “prime of youth” just like the young lad. Their age is contrasted with those of the elderly man and the married man. Although she is nervous and awkward in the dating situation, Trissie is in the “oddest thrill of excitement”. When the young guy talks about admission payment to the garden and other things, Trissie expresses her feelings about “luck”.
She shyly accompanies him along the flowerbed. Nonetheless, when the young man leads her towards the tea, Trissie imagines the mystery down the paths of the gardens. She wants to explore the natural world and does not intend to be dictated by him. However, she follows the gender roles created by society.
