Eve Names The Animals
The poem Eve Names the Animals, by Susan Donnelly is based upon the
relationship
of Adam and Eve. I think that there are a few possible themes to
this poem. One
possibility is that this poem is about the arbitrary naming of
animals in the
beginning of time. Another possibility is that this poem
addresses Adam and
Eve’s differing views that surround change. Eve
questions the names of
animals. She sees that animals are named somewhat
arbitrarily and sees a need
for change in the names of creatures. The poem
begins by describing a dove, but
assigns the title lion to the creature.
Next, a lion is described and assigned
the title of Dove. Eve goes on to say
that she believes that man, in this case
Adam, never really knew animals.
She claims that instead of focusing on the
sound of the word or how one feels
saying it, Adam he lined up words according
to size and somewhat arbitrarily
assigned names. In lines 12 to 14, Eve
expresses that Adam assigned a name to
her. And this name stuck her to him. This
seems forceful and almost
dominating. Because it does not seem like Eve had any
choice about it or
chance to change it. I thought the title that Adam assigned
to her must have
been woman or wife. I believe that he did this in order to
establish a link
between them. However the poem said that he did it to comfort
Eve because
she was not the first. It seems like Adam thought being linked to
Eve
would make her accept a secondary position in the world because Adam
was
created before Eve. Line 15 which says, "Mornings while he slept I got
away"
is particularly striking. This line expresses that Eve wanted to escape
Adam;
she wanted to have distance from him and not always be, "stuck to him."
In
this stanza Eve goes on to say that Pickerels, a type fish, hopped on
branches
above her and spiders accompanied Eve on a walks, nosing everywhere,
running up
to lick her hands. These names of these animals are intentionally
changed to
prove her point, that names are not always accurate and more
importantly are
should not always be constant. The descriptions given are
really about a bird
and a dog. In the next stanza Eve says, "poor finch. I
suppose I was woe to
him—the way he’d come looking for me, not wanting either
of us to ever be
alone." A Finch must be symbol for Adam and Eve must have
disappointed him.
Maybe her need to be alone disappointed Adam. He did
not like the fact that she
left him sleeping in the morning and got away. It
seems like the name Adam gave
her was ineffective at alwayslinking her to
him. This must have disappointed
Adam, although he still wanted her
companionship. Lines 26 to 29 say that Eve
was a palomino, a raven, and a fox
all at the same time. This seems to symbolize
that she has many personalities
and really leads us to a main conclusion. Eve
likes change and variation and
has personality that reflects this. Eve strung
words together as garland. She
wore these words, or a metaphor for trying them
out. The next day I’d find
them withered means that the meaning behind theses
words no longer fit. But
this was okay because eve liked change. This poem
reflects Eve’s openness to
change and separation, while expressing Adam’s
animosity towards it. Eve is
more flexible in naming and bases it upon the sound
of words and how it feels
to say them On the other hand Adam uses length of a
word to dictate the
assignment of a creature to a
title.