Eve by Christina Georgina Rossetti
Eve laments choosing the Tree of Death and giving its fruit to Adam, wishing he had refused her and remained in Eden. She weeps where Cain's slain brother lies; animals share her grief, while the serpent grins.
By Christina Georgina Rossetti · Genre: Biblical Poetry, Elegiac Poetry, Narrative Poetry · 562 words
First lines
"While I sit at the door, / Sick to gaze within, / Mine eye weepeth sore / For sorrow and sin: / As a tree my sin stands / To darken all lands; / Death is the fruit it bore.
"How have Eden bowers grown / Without Adam to bend them! / How have Eden flowers blown, / Squandering their sweet breath, / Without me to tend them! / The Tree of Life was ours, / Tree twelvefold-fruited, / Most lofty tree that flowers, / Most deeply rooted: / I chose the Tree of Death.
Genres
- Biblical Poetry — Eve's lament connects her choice of fruit in Eden with mortality and Cain's killing of his brother.
- Elegiac Poetry — Eve mourns beside the slain brother, and the animals answer her grief with interrupted feeding, silence, cries and tears.
- Narrative Poetry — Rhymed stanzas move from Eve's speech to a narrator's account of the mourning animals and the serpent's grin.
Tags
biblical retelling · maternal grief · fratricide · sin · mortality · animal sympathy
What this Textopian page supports
Eve is listed on Textopian as a poem by Christina Georgina Rossetti, dated Date unknown.
This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.
- Work type: Poem
- Author: Christina Georgina Rossetti
- Date: Date unknown
- Language: English
- Genres: Biblical Poetry, Elegiac Poetry, Narrative Poetry
- Length: 562 words
- Structure: 1 section, 7 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)
Good citation fit
- Work identity for Eve by Christina Georgina Rossetti
- Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
- Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
- Readability and classroom-planning context
- Passage-specific claims should cite the exact /read/ URL for the relevant chapter or paragraph