Eve to Her Daughters Literary Elements

In a first-person voice, the biblical character Eve addresses her modern female descendants in the poem.

The poem is composed of ten stanzas written in free verse.

Metaphors
-"the game was fleet-footed" (Line 14): Though this line is describing the animals that Adam hunted, it also could be a metaphor for the rapidly changing circumstances of life outside of Eden. In order to survive, one must be quick to act.

Alliteration
-"hungry so often, having to work for our bread, / hearing the children whining" (Lines 3-4): The /h/ repeats.
-"He even complained of my cooking" (Line 16): The /c/ repeats.
-"mechanical-minded" (Line 30): The /m/ repeats.

It is ironic that Eve employs Adam's very own logic to prove him wrong. Adam has turned himself into God, who cannot be demonstrated and thus does not exist by Adam's standards.

Historical Poetry, Dramatic Monologue, Allegory

This poem takes place on earth over the course of thousands of years of history.

Informal, ironic, logical

The protagonist in the poem is Eve. The antagonist is Adam.

The major conflict of the poem is that Eve has remained passive and submissive in the face of her husband's prideful and destructive behavior for too long. It is for this reason that Eve addresses her daughters, urging them to step up and take over.

The climax occurs when Eve negates Adam's existence at the end of the poem by saying "He has turned himself into God, / who is faultless, and doesn’t exist."

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While talking about the way that Adam complained about her cooking, Eve says that "it was hard to compete with Heaven." This ironic aside uses understatement to say that it is really impossible for humans to live up to divine standards. Eve accepts this, and is content with her simple human life. But Adam cannot accept this fact, and the result is that he figures himself as God.

The poem alludes to the period of Enlightenment (also known as the Age of Reason).

"Game" is a metonym for animals that humans will hunt.

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