Bird or Beast? by Christina Georgina Rossetti
The speaker asks whether any bird or beast followed Adam and Eve out of Eden, suggesting a dove and a lamb as possibilities. If these creatures preached, the speaker says, they were sent by God.
By Christina Georgina Rossetti · Genre: Religious Poetry, Biblical Poetry · 162 words
First lines
Did any bird come flying / After Adam and Eve, / When the door was shut against them / And they sat down to grieve?
I think not Eve's peacock / Splendid to see, / And I think not Adam's eagle; / But a dove may be.
Did any beast come pushing / Through the thorny hedge / Into the thorny, thistly world / Out from Eden's edge?
I think not a lion, / Though his strength is such; / But an innocent loving lamb / May have done as much.
Genres
- Religious Poetry — Five rhymed stanzas imagine a dove and a lamb possibly accompanying the grieving Adam and Eve and preaching as creatures sent by God.
- Biblical Poetry — Adam and Eve's exclusion from Eden provides the setting for questions about which animals might have followed them.
Tags
Eden · expulsion from paradise · doves · lambs · divine messengers
What this Textopian page supports
Bird or Beast? is listed on Textopian as a poem by Christina Georgina Rossetti, dated Date unknown.
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- Work type: Poem
- Author: Christina Georgina Rossetti
- Date: Date unknown
- Language: English
- Genres: Religious Poetry, Biblical Poetry
- Length: 162 words
- Structure: 1 section, 5 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Easy (6th Grade)
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