Patterns

by

Amy Lowell's most famous and most-taught poem, "Patterns" was first published in The Little Review in August 1915, and then collected in Men, Women and Ghosts (1916). A dramatic monologue in free verse, the poem follows a woman walking through a formal garden in an elaborate 18th-century gown. Constrained by the rigid "patterns" of her dress, her garden paths, and the social conventions of her class, she learns that her lover has been killed in battle. The poem builds to its devastating final line — "Christ! What are patterns for?" — a cry against the structures that confine human passion and freedom. It remains one of the finest anti-war poems of the early twentieth century.
Flashcards

I walk down the garden-paths,
And all the daffodils
Are blowing, and the bright blue squills.
I walk down the patterned garden-paths
In my stiff, brocaded gown.
With my powdered hair and jeweled fan,
I too am a rare
Pattern. As I wander down
The garden-paths.

My dress is richly figured,
And the train
Makes a pink and silver stain
On the gravel, and the thrift
Of the borders.
Just a plate of current fashion,
Tripping by in high-heeled, ribboned shoes.
Not a softness anywhere about me,
Only whalebone and brocade.
And I sink on a seat in the shade
Of a lime tree. For my passion
Wars against the stiff brocade.
The daffodils and squills
Flutter in the breeze
As they please.
And I weep;
For the lime-tree is in blossom
And one small flower has dropped upon my bosom.

And the plashing of waterdrops
In the marble fountain
Comes down the garden-paths.
The dripping never stops.
Underneath my stiffened gown
Is the softness of a woman bathing in a marble basin,
A basin in the midst of hedges grown
So thick, she cannot see her lover hiding,
But she guesses he is near,
And the sliding of the water
Seems the stroking of a dear
Hand upon her.
What is Summer in a fine brocaded gown!
I should like to see it lying in a heap upon the ground.
All the pink and silver crumpled up on the ground.

I would be the pink and silver as I ran along the paths,
And he would stumble after,
Bewildered by my laughter.
I should see the sun flashing from his sword-hilt and the buckles on his shoes.
I would choose
To lead him in a maze along the patterned paths,
A bright and laughing maze for my heavy-booted lover,
Till he caught me in the shade,
And the buttons of his waistcoat bruised my body as he clasped me,
Aching, melting, unafraid.
With the shadows of the leaves and the sundrops,
And the plopping of the waterdrops,
All about us in the open afternoon—
I am very like to swoon
With the weight of this brocade,
For the sun sifts through the shade.

Underneath the fallen blossom
In my bosom,
Is a letter I have hid.
It was brought to me this morning by a rider from the Duke.
“Madam, we regret to inform you that Lord Hartwell
Died in action Thursday se'nnight.”
As I read it in the white, morning sunlight,
The letters squirmed like snakes.
“Any answer, Madam,” said my footman.
“No,” I told him.
“See that the messenger takes some refreshment.
No, no answer.”
And I walked into the garden,
Up and down the patterned paths,
In my stiff, correct brocade.
The blue and yellow flowers stood up proudly in the sun,
Each one.
I stood upright too,
Held rigid to the pattern
By the stiffness of my gown.
Up and down I walked,
Up and down.

In a month he would have been my husband.
In a month, here, underneath this lime,
We would have broke the pattern;
He for me, and I for him,
He as Colonel, I as Lady,
On this shady seat.
He had a whim
That sunlight carried blessing.
And I answered, “It shall be as you have said.”
Now he is dead.

In Summer and in Winter I shall walk
Up and down
The patterned garden-paths
In my stiff, brocaded gown.
The squills and daffodils
Will give place to pillared roses, and to asters, and to snow.
I shall go
Up and down,
In my gown.
Gorgeously arrayed,
Boned and stayed.
And the softness of my body will be guarded from embrace
By each button, hook, and lace.
For the man who should loose me is dead,
Fighting with the Duke in Flanders,
In a pattern called a war.
Christ! What are patterns for?

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the meaning of "Patterns" by Amy Lowell?
"Patterns" explores how social conventions, rigid expectations, and imposed structures confine human passion and freedom. The speaker, a woman in a formal garden wearing an elaborate brocade gown, discovers that her lover has been killed in war. The poem's central argument is that the "patterns" of society — dress, manners, gender roles, and even warfare itself — suppress authentic human feeling and desire.
What are the main themes in "Patterns"?
The major themes include social constraint versus personal freedom, the suppression of female desire, the futility and devastation of war, the conflict between nature and civilization, and grief. The speaker's stiff brocade gown symbolizes the rigid social expectations imposed on women, while the natural garden around her represents the passion and freedom she longs for but cannot express.
What do the patterns symbolize in Amy Lowell's poem?
The patterns in the poem operate on multiple symbolic levels. The patterned garden paths represent the prescribed routes of social behavior. The speaker's brocade gown, with its whalebone and lace, symbolizes the physical and social constraints placed on women. The military patterns of war represent the institutional forces that destroy individual lives. Together, these patterns form an oppressive system that denies the speaker both love and autonomy.
Who is the speaker in "Patterns"?
The speaker is an unnamed aristocratic woman, likely set in the 18th century based on references to her powdered hair, jeweled fan, brocade gown, and whalebone corset. She walks through the formal garden of a great estate and receives a letter informing her that her fiance, Lord Hartwell, has been killed in battle fighting with the Duke in Flanders. She was to have been married within a month.
What literary devices does Amy Lowell use in "Patterns"?
Lowell employs dramatic monologue, vivid sensory imagery (visual, tactile, auditory), symbolism (the gown, garden paths, water), contrast (rigidity vs. softness, constraint vs. freedom), irony (the orderly garden containing explosive grief), and repetition ("up and down," "patterned paths"). The poem also uses free verse with irregular rhyme and rhythm, which itself rebels against the "patterns" of traditional poetic form.
How does "Patterns" relate to the anti-war movement?
Written during World War I, "Patterns" is one of the earliest and most powerful anti-war poems of the twentieth century. Rather than depicting battlefield horrors, Lowell shows war's devastation through its effect on those left behind. The speaker's lover is killed "fighting with the Duke in Flanders" — and war itself is identified as merely another pattern, an institutional structure that destroys human lives and love with the same impersonal efficiency as social convention.
What is the feminist reading of "Patterns"?
From a feminist perspective, "Patterns" protests the confinement of women within patriarchal social structures. The speaker's elaborate gown — with its whalebone, brocade, buttons, hooks, and lace — is a physical prison that prevents her body from being touched or embraced. She fantasizes about shedding the gown and running freely through the garden, but social convention forbids it. Even her grief must be performed within the "pattern" of ladylike composure, as she calmly dismisses the messenger who delivers the news of her lover's death.
What poetic form does "Patterns" use?
"Patterns" is written in free verse — a deliberate choice that reflects Lowell's Imagist principles and also mirrors the poem's thematic rebellion against rigid structures. While the poem does not follow a fixed meter or rhyme scheme, Lowell uses occasional rhyme ("stain/train," "ground/ground"), assonance, and rhythmic variation to create a musical quality. The form itself enacts the poem's argument: the free verse strains against and ultimately breaks free of poetic "patterns."
When was "Patterns" written and what is its historical context?
"Patterns" was first published in The Little Review in August 1915, and collected in Amy Lowell's book Men, Women and Ghosts in 1916. It was written during the early years of World War I, when the scale of the war's casualties was becoming clear. Though the poem is set in an earlier historical period (likely the 18th century, based on the costume details and the reference to fighting in Flanders), its anti-war message spoke directly to Lowell's contemporary audience.
Why is "Patterns" widely taught in schools?
"Patterns" is a staple of American literature anthologies and curricula because it is accessible, emotionally powerful, and rich in literary devices that lend themselves to classroom analysis. The poem's themes of social constraint, gender roles, grief, and the human cost of war remain relevant to modern readers. Its dramatic monologue form, vivid imagery, and devastating final line make it an ideal text for teaching close reading, symbolism, and the relationship between form and content.

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