Kew Gardens

In her essay “A Sketch of the Past,” Woolf defines the difference between moments of “being” and moments of “non-being” (Woolf, Virginia. “A Sketch of the Past.” Moments of Being. Harcourt, 1985). Woolf argues that life largely consists of “non-being”: unmemorable moments when a person acts automatically, and their consciousness of the wider world is limited. However, this state of “non-being” is occasionally punctuated by a moment of “being.” In this state, an individual experiences a transcendent intensity of awareness of the moment, the world, and their connection to it. In “Kew Gardens,” Woolf illustrates this idea through her portrayal of the gardens and the characters’ experiences.

The narrative viewpoint of the story exemplifies the experience of a moment of being. In describing the scene, the narrator frequently depicts the human figures and the landscape merging into one. This unity of humanity and nature is also reflected in the smooth shift between the perspectives of the characters and the inhabitants of the flowerbed. Woolf highlights how the movements characters and the wildlife echo one another as “these men and women straggled past the flower-bed with a curiously irregular movement not unlike that of the white and blue butterfly” (84). The narrator’s granular perspective of the flowerbed, particularly in the snail’s point of view as he studies a leaf’s shape and texture with intense deliberation, simulates the hyper-awareness experienced in moments of being.

Several of the characters in the story experience both moments of being and moments of non-being. For example, the ponderous woman is shown to transition from one state to another in mid-conversation with her friend. The mundane nature of their discussion is satirized by Woolf, exemplifying the state of non-being—“I says, she says, I says, I says, I says—” (91). However, the narrative tone dramatically shifts as the ponderous woman stops to consider a flowerbed “as a sleeper waking from a heavy sleep” (93). Noting the minute details of the flowers, the woman is distracted from the empty gossip, suddenly immersed in the surrounding beauty. Her transformation underlines that moments of being are not necessarily triggered by notable events. Woolf demonstrates that the sudden intensity of experience is often unexpected. The author also emphasizes that these moments are fleeting and ephemeral as the ponderous woman quickly moves on from the flowerbed to buy tea.

Simon and Eleanor demonstrate the vivid memories created by moments of being. For both characters, the sensory effects of the gardens trigger a memory from years earlier recalled in rich detail. In his memory of unsuccessfully proposing to another woman, Simon marvels at “how clearly I see the dragonfly and her shoe with the square silver buckle at the toe” (85). Similarly, in remembering a kiss from an old woman, Eleanor can still picture the bright red of the waterlilies she was painting at the time.

Woolf’s story implies that modern people struggle to live in and appreciate the present. They are in a state of half-consciousness, preoccupied with concerns expressed by her characters, such as gossip, social status, and technological change. Due to the rarity of moments of being, the author emphasizes their value. She suggests that these intense moments of interconnectedness should be cherished.