Info
- widely regarded as greatest modern poet in English language (Horton 694)
- "Adam's Curse" - work, labor
- Where Nothing Is, There is God
Analysis - "Adam's Curse"
In "Adam's Curse," Yeats and Maud Gonne engage in a conversation about the difficulty of writing poetry. Yeats claims that although many people scorn it as an idle waste of time, crafting beautiful poetry is harder than enduring physical labor. He compares it with stitching, scrubbing kitchens, and breaking stones to show the extent of its difficulty. Maud Gonne then comments that women must work at being beautiful, implying that they, in a sense, know how difficult it is to create beauty. Yeats replies that since sin came into the world, all worthy, beautiful endeavors require labor and commitment. Both Yeats and Gonne seem preoccupied with their own opinions since each replies to the other about a slightly different subject, resulting in a somewhat disconnected flow of ideas. Each topic is loosely connected by the "beautiful" theme, yet the transition between each is natural.
Application
"There have been lovers who thought love should beSo much compounded of high courtesyThat they would sigh and quote with learned looksPrecedents out of beautiful old books;" (qtd. in Horton 696)
So many people today have twisted ideas about love. To the world, "love" is another word for lust or sex, whereas, to God, it involves doing good to others. The four lines of "Adam's Curse" above remind me not to become caught up in the world's expectations of me. Today's society pushes me towards actions that God wouldn't approve of; the phrase "Everyone is doing it" is one of today's "precedents out of beautiful old books." Instead of giving in, I need to remember to be myself and to care only about God's opinion, since it is the only opinion that really matters in this universe.
Citation
Horton, Ronald A. British Literature for Christian Schools. Greenville, SC: Bob Jones University Press, 1992.
Don't forget your quotation marks around the short story. I always appreciate your postings - they flow well and the organization is solid. I’m sorry we didn't get to talk about all the aspects of the poem in class - poetry, beauty, and love. Interesting comparison between the two phrases in the application. The idea of prevalent sex comes from the idea of a "beautiful old book"? Your post also made me question why no one really talks about the labor aspect of love today.
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