Eden Rock is a poem written in the 20th century by English poet Charles Causley. The poem is from his anthology collection, A Field of Vision (1988).
The poem itself is both a message and a vision of life after death. It describes a family where the parents are split from their child, the Speaker, by a river. The Speaker fondly watches them lay out a picnic spread and bask in the joy of the sunlight. Some time later, the parents beckon the Speaker to join them on the other side of the river.
The message of the poem is one of the acceptance of death. The parents are presumed to be dead, with the Speaker himself or herself close to death. Themes of the strong bonds of family and love are also evident from the way the Speaker fondly talks about their parents. Use of the ABAB pattern rhyme scheme and half-rhymes also reiterate the fact that this is a vision or a memory as the flow is not rigid and concrete enough to support reality.
