JessicaOConnor

"Eve Names the Animals" by Susan Donnelly Jessica O'Connor

To me, lion was sun on a wing over the garden. //Dove// a burrowing, blind creature.

I swear that man never knew animals. Words he lined up according to size,

while elephants slipped flat-eyed through water.

and trout hurtled from the underbrush, tusked and ready for battle.

The name he gave me stuck me to him. He did it to comfort me, for not being first.

Mornings, while he slept, I got away. Pickerel hopped on the branches above me. Only spider accompanied me, nosing everywhere, running up to lick my hand.

Poor finch. I suppose I was woe to him- the way he'd come looking for me, not wanting either of us to be ever alone

But to myself I was palomino raven fox. ..

I strung words by their stems and wore them as garlands on my long walks.

The next day I'd find them withered.

I liked change.

**Way 1: First Impressions** My first impression of the poem is that Eve is not happy, but rather resentful, with Adam because the tone of the poem is rather cynical, almost malicious, especially in the line "I //swear// that man / never knew animals (4-5). Susan Donnelly does not portray Eve as the blind, submissive woman that the Bible portrays her as, but rather a woman that wants to be set free to live her own life without the demands of a man, demonstrating this in lines 15 and 16 when she states "Mornings, while he slept, I got away."

**Way 2: Engaging with the Text** I did not find any readings on this poem on You Tube or any of the poetry websites I looked at. The only sound I was able to detect and connect with is in line 7 "while elephants slipped flat-eyed" demonstrating how quietly the elephants are moving through the water. They are barely seen or heard because, despite their enormity, they move very quietly.

Throughout the process of unpacking this poem, however, I have been able to understand, through the imagery and understanding Eve's character on multiple levels, what life was like in Eden. Eve chose to spend most of her times on long walks, interacting with the animals, and playing with different word options to name them and other objects in the garden. By the end of the poem, the reader understands that Eve likes variety and does not care that the words are forgotten by the next day because she enjoys renaming them.

**Way 3: Form and Its Relationship to Content** Line breaks are used in way to allow the reader to feel one thing, while the meaning of the line is completey different. When Eve states "The name he gave me stuck" (12) the reader feels like Eve is satisfied with her name until the next line is read "me to him" (13) and then the reader feels the resentment of Eve for Adam and her feelings of being trapped to a man who appears dominating.

There is no rhyme pattern, allowing this poem to be, according to our text, a free verse, "which is verse without regular metrical form or a uniform overall rhyme scheme" (Brown, 93). This allows the poem to freely flow from beginning to end and provides the reader clear images of what is being said.

**Way 4: Unpacking Figurative Language: Metaphors** Metaphors, symbolism, and imagery are used for figurative language in the poem. Eve states that a "lion was sun on a wing," (1) comparing a strong lion to the radiant shine of sunlight on a wing. Sunlight oversees all the earth, the same as a lion oversees all the animal kingdom. Eve understands this comparison, thus comparing a renaming the lion "sun on a wing over the garden."

Also, she states that she strings "words by their stems," (30-31) wearing them like picked flowers from a meadow when one goes strolling through it, but that they become "withered" (Donnelly, 34) when she finds them tossed aside the next day. In these lines, Eve is comparing the words she uses to picked flowers, suggesting that the words she chooses are pretty at first, but are soon forgotten and not cared for, like picked flowers, and end up withering and dying; however, Eve is not bothered by this because she likes having the freedom to change her words or flowers the next day. Symbolism is detected because the word "like" is used comparing the words to flowers.
 * Way 4: Unpacking Figurative Language: Symbolism**

Symbolism is also used in the eigth stanza when Eve compares herself to a palomino, raven, and fox. This is a valuable statement and comparaison because it allows the reader to understand the prominent characteristics of Eve, thus leading the reader to understand Eve's actions and motives. A palomino is a horse of pale color and symbolizes strength and beauty

A raven is associated with different symbols. In Christianity, it is a symbol of sin and solitude; however, according to an online article by Jill Stefko, ravens are also lined with protection, wisdom, and a change in consciousness. These are all characteristics of Eve. Based on the Bible story from Genesis, not only is Eve a woman of sin, eating the apple from the forbidden tree, but she also wants her solitude in this poem, always finding moments to steal away from Adam and wander through the garden by herself. Even though the poem does not offer a clear interpretation of her protection of the animals, there is clearly an appreciation for them by Eve. Her actions of naming the animals and critically analyzing Adam and the finch demonstrates her wisdom and her change of consciousness is represented by her actions of chaning her garland of words on her long walks, as well as understanding Adam's action of Eve's name, stating "He did to comfort me / for not being first" (13-14) and the finch always looking for her. She is aware of the actions of the other animals and Adam; therefore, the word "raven" fits Eve perfectly and is a wise choice of word on Donnelly's part.

In an online article, Ina Woolcott states, "Fox shows us how to slip out of unpleasant situations quietly and unnoticed" (). Eve is symbolized with a fox because of this characteristic that she possess, as well as that fox is also associated as a power animal that is cunning and good at camoflage. Eve demonstrates these characteristics in the poem as she quietly slips away from Adam in the mornings (15-16) and is almost camoflaged in the garden, since Finch is always looking for her (23). Donnelly may have also selected this particular animal to demonstrate that the female is the "power animal" rather than the male. She may be making a statement that women are not as inferior as the Bible states, but are smarter and more cunning than men.

Imagery is used throughout the poem, including lines 7 and 8 when the reader can see the elephants silently slipping through the water in lines 9-11, allowing the reader to see and feel the peacefulness of the garden, but then switching emotions when the trout are "hurtled from the underbrush, tusked and ready for battle." At the end, the reader can visualize the sad finch vocally trying to find Eve and the spider. The imagery allows the reader to see not only the goodness and beauty of the garden and what goes on, but also challenges the reader to see the challenges that were already in the garden, such as the troublesome relationship between Adam and Eve. By visualizing Eve's constant isolation from Adam, it makes the reader question the Christian education that is taught in Sunday School, as well as a woman's role in a relationship. Through the imagery, the poem challenges the idea of women being mindless and inferior to men, but rather intelligent, superior creatures.
 * Way 4: Unpacking Figurative Language: Imagery**

Simply stated, the setting is the Garden of Eden. Not only does the title of the poem lead the reader in this direction, but the lines of "over the garden" (2), "through water" (8), "hurtled from the underbrush" (10), "hopped on the branches above me" (17), and the mention of the animals as Eve's companions allows us to understand the setting as the Garden of Eden, particularly because of the mention of the nameless Adam naming the animals. It takes place during the creation of the world, which is interpretted from Adam and Eve naming the animals and objects around them, thus allowing the reader to understand that the poem is taking place at the beginning of time.
 * Way 5: Analyzing the Setting**

The poem is written in first person limited omniscient point of view and is clearly seen through Eve's thoughts. As stated in the class text, first person point of view is "told by a narrator who is actually a participant in the events of the particular story. . .characterized by a narrator who refers to himself or herself as 'I'" (Brown, 63). The reader knows it is Eve and not Adam speaking because she refers to him severaly times in the poem with the pronoun "he" and "that man" (4) and is also clearly defined by the lines "The name he gave me stuck / me to him. He did it to comfort me, / for not being first" (12-14). Anybody with knowledge of Christian history knows that Adam was created first and then God created Eve, allowing Adam to name her; therefore, with one's previous knowledge and the information provided by the narrator in the poem, the reader can confidently state that the narrator is Eve.
 * Way 6: Identifying and Analyzing Point of View**

The reader understands what Eve is thinking and feeling by her dialogue, but she does not provide information about the other animals or Adam's thoughts, only their actions, making the poem limited omniscient. The reader can infer that the spiders were curious and the elephants at peace because of the information stated in the poem by Eve, but the reader does not hear from these animals or from Adam, so the reader has limited, possibly not fully truthful, information from Eve's thoughts and opinions. If the poem was told through Adam's thoughts and feelings, the poem would have taken on a different tone and the reader's perception of Eve would have been different and based on how Adam would have described Eve and her actions. For instance, he may not have described Eve as a "palomino, raven, [or] fox" (27-29), but might have used different animals to help the reader understand her characteristics.

**Way 7: Analyzing Complexity, Ambiguity, & Difficulty** The second half of the poem is quite ambiguious and lends several meanings to it. When Eve is recounting how the finch looks for her in lines 21-23, she states that he is "not wanting either of us to be ever alone" (24-25). In the previous stanza she is talking about spider accompanying her on a walk, so is she referring to the spider or to Adam in line 24 when she says "us"? The reader is led to believe spider, but Eve could be switching thoughts and time with this new stanza and be referring to Adam.

Another section that contains ambiguity is the ending stanzas when she strings words and finds them withered the next day stating "I liked change" (35). It is unclear whether she is bored with Eden or if she renames plants and animals on a daily basis for fun. Does her words grow old and die because of her inferred resentment towards Adam or her boredom with her life in the garden? These lines are considered complex and ambiguious because of the different directions the reader can go for understanding the meaning of them.

A complexity that I just understood as I am analyzing my poem for my final draft, is that Eve is actually naming the animals and is giving the wrong names to each animal. She calls eagles and hawks "lions" in line 1, a mole, which is a burrowing creature with poor eyesight, also referred to as blind, a "dove" in line 2, fish {"slipped flat-eyed / through water" (6-7)} are called "elephants," boars {"hurtled from the underbrush, tusked / and ready for battle" (10-11)} are considered "trout," birds {"hopped on the branches above me" (17)} are named "pickeral," which is a type of fish, and "spider" is actually a dog "nosing everywhere, / running up to lick my hand" (19-20). When the poem is read through with Eve's animal names, it gives the poem a different flavor from Adam's animal names because when the real names are placed in the poem there is a feeling of serenity and goodness, but Eve's animal names make the poem complex. I have often wondered about the spider following Eve, licking her hand, wondering if Donnelly is trying to make a statement about spiders being friendly, but now I realize it is actually a dog that is following Eve. This leads to two amibuities: one, in line 21 she refers to finch looking for her and now I am not sure what animal she is referring to or if it is Adam himself who is looking for her and two, when she refers to herself as "palomino, raven, fox" (27-29), does she have the correct names for the animals. It appears Donnelly chose the correct animals to symbolize Ev e, but it makes the reader wonder what animals Eve is actually referring to.

This poem would be a good candidate for being included in the canon because of its aesthetic and cultural value. It "is a departure of all literature that has gone before it" (Brown, 2) as I know of no other poem or short story that shows Eve as anthing but a pleasant obediant woman of the Bible. This poem challenges the image of Eve as one knows her and challenges the thought that Eve possibly did not like Adam and silently disagreed with him often. Because of this challenge, it posesses a strong longevity because many religious groups would challenge and fight to have this poem banned because it contradicts the images and lessons one is taught from the Bible, creating social and cultural change.
 * Way 8: Considering Canonicity**

Since Susan Donnelly is a relatively new author, there is not much information about her. She writes poetry and teaches in Bosten, Massachusettes. Anthony Hecht, the author of the introduction to Donnelly's book __Eve Names the Animals__ considers Donnelly a young poet, despite her writing poetry since 1977, because "her poems are not uniformly excellent. She has so fertile and prolific a fund of meteaphoric language that it sometimes gets out of hand, and she allows her rich capacity for invention to mislead her." (Donnelly, xii). Hecht compares Donnelly to Emily Dickenson by stating that she offers a "playful and serious riddle" (Donnelly, xii). By reading this biographical information, the reader can infer that maybe Donnelly is not trying to make a feminist statement of women being superior to men, but rather just poking fun at Eve. After reading this and rereading the poem again, I felt the poem take a lighter, more playful tone, rather than resentful tone like I originally thought.
 * Way 9: Biographical Context**

Based on reading the SparkNotes summary of John Milton's "Paradise Lost," Eve was considered an obedient woman, knowing that she was inferior to Adam (man). Knowing this, at first, it almost seems that Donnelly wrote this poem against traditional images of Eve, stating that she also contained strength and intelligence //superior,// rather than inferior to Adam's intelligence; however, after finding more biographical information about Donnelly, I think she wrote the poem in response to Milton's poem, as well as the Bible, poking fun at this inferiority that is placed on Eve in both of these literary pieces.
 * Way 10: Historical Context**

A Feminist would criticize the relationship and roles of Adam and Eve. As stated in our text, the critical questions would be concerned with the "patriarchal power structures" (Brown & Yarbrough, 226) that are created with Adam being created first and given the power to name the animals, as well as Eve, and now Eve's resentfulness and bitterness towards Adam, thinking the names he gave the animals were inappropriate. Eve is trying to assert her power by renaming the animals and sneaking away from Adam in the mornings. By doing this, she is claiming ownership and investment into the animals and showing Adam she is not as submissive and he would think she is.
 * Way 11: Theoretical Application: Feminist Criticism**

Critical questions to include: 1.Eve suggests that Adam's name given her was to comfort her for not being first. How has the order of how humans were created (man, than woman) established the roles of each gender over time?

Answers to this question could include that since men were created first and men in the Bible possess more authority than women, that this has set a standard for the roles of men and women across time.

2. What does Eve renaming the animals signify? What is she trying to accomplish?

Eve is trying to demonstrate that she, too, is intelligent enough to name the animals and objects in the garden and that her names are more appropriate than Adams. Again, she by doing this she is not only asserting her power over everything in the garden, but also her freedom from being dominated by another human being.

In this poem the ego, id, and superego could be analyzed when Eve is comparing herself to a palomino, raven, and fox and her use of the word "I' throughout the poem. The ego looks at the concious part of Eve and how it "reacts to the outside world," (Brown & Yarbrough, 215), such as how she reacts to Adam, the animals, and her feelings about the withered words, where as the id is her "primal instinct," (Brown & Yarbrough, 215). Her id reacts to Adam naming her as comforting her because Adam was created first and she becomes defensive because of this, due to her id acting on instinct.
 * Way 12: Theoretical Application: Pyscholanalytic Criticism**

Eve uses what our text defines as sublimation, where Eve takes the negative feelings she feels towards Adam and redirects those feelings into renaming the animals and stringing words when she goes on her walks.

Critical question to include: 1. Explain Eve's motives in comparing herself to the palomino, raven, and fox.

By understanding the symbolism of these animals as described in "Way #4," the reader can then begin to understand Eve's motives and actions within the poem.

At first glance, the poem appears to take on a harsh and resentful tone by Eve and it seems that she is unhappy with her relatioship with Adam. Through the symbolism of the palomino, raven, and fox, the reader learns about Eve's strength and beauty, as well as her cunning wisdom and sinful ways. By carefully reading the name of the animal and description given, the reader understands that the animal names in the poem are not the "normal" names that were given to them and the poem takes on a complexity until this is realized. There are still some ambiguous details in the poem, such as when Eve states that she likes change and how she named the animals.
 * Way 13: Unifying Interpretation**

Based on the brief biographical and historical information, and critically thinking about the theoretical approaches and possible questions, along with the symbolism and imagery in the poem, I am now able to interpret that Donnelly presented this poem with a comical tone to show a different, more modern side of Eve than is presented in Milton's epic poem "Paradise Lost" and the Bible. Eve envelopes some harsh feelings towards Adam for being created first and feels trapped in a relationship she did not have a say about being in, thus feeling some resentment towards him as well. Despite the reader's inferred feelings that Adam is the dominent partner, Eve lashes out by isolating herself and deals with pyschological aspects of these feelings by creatively renaming the animals and objects in the garden.


 * Works Cited and Consulted**

Brown, James S. and Scott D. Yarbrough__. A Practical Introduction to Literary Studies__: Upper Saddle River: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2005.

Donnelly, Susan__. Eve Names the Animals__: Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1985.

Donnelly, Susan. 

Milton, John. "SparkNotes: Paradise Lost: Book VIII" 

"Raven." 

Stefko, Jill. "Raven, Enigmatic Pagen Symbol." 8 May 2007. 

Woolcott, Ina. "Fox, Power Animal, Symbol of Camoflage, Quick Wit, Cunning, Agility, Magic." [|www.shamanicjourney.com/article/6018/fox-poweranimal-symbol]