r fiance perishes she says that she will continue to walk “up and down” the path, as if she will remain without love for the duration of her life. The gown is also a pattern. It confines the woman, blending her into the rest of society, as patterns do. The speaker says that with her “powdered hair and jeweled fan,” she too is a “rare pattern.” When the speaker is alone, she separates herself from the rest of society by showing her emotions. However, when she is in public she blends in with the rest.As the speaker walks “down the garden-paths,” she notices how beautiful nature is. But, then she realizes that she cannot enjoy the world around her because she is confined to her stiff gown. Even though she would “like to see it lying in a heap upon the ground,” she knows she cannot indulge such fantasies. Fantasies are the only way for her to truly express herself, like when she feels such great passion and desire for her lover. “Patterns” make up the structure of the speaker’s life. After finding out about her fiance she feels she has been pushed by Victorian society to such an extreme as to ask herself the question, “What are patterns for?” ...
