The Enchanted Garden in Early Modern England

The theme of enchantment in the experience of early modern gardens has never been studied in detail,
despite the fact that it is often invoked in the descriptions of contemporary visitors. The bowers, glades and
gardens of Elizabethan and Jacobean literature were, likewise, frequently depicted as the lairs of
enchantresses. Through comparing the responses of visitors to actual gardens with the literary motif of the
enchanted garden, this project will be the first to examine the positive and negative connotations of the
theme. It will significantly expand and augment prevailing concepts of historical landscape design and
demonstrate that gardens were complex cultural constructions capable of eliciting a wide range of
responses.