"And the perfect afternoon slowly ripened, slowly faded, slowly its petals closed...."See in text(The Garden Party)
Mansfield’s narrator depicts the perfection of the afternoon through the metaphor of a flower that blooms in all its splendor and finally closes its petals. In addition to the flower imagery aptly suiting the garden party, Mansfield’s choice here suggests that perfection is fleeting and that beauty is temporary.
"And after all the weather was ideal...."See in text(The Garden Party)
The story opens with a line of perfect iambic pentameter, which establishes a tone of order and perfection. This would have been a calculated move by Mansfield, a prolific poet as well as short story writer.
