"Adam's Curse" is a poem written by
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats (, 13 June 186528 January 1939), popularly known as W. B. Yeats, was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer, and literary critic who was one of the foremost figures of 20th century in literature, 20th-century literature. He was ...
. In the poem, Yeats describes the difficulty of creating something beautiful. The title alludes to the
Book of Genesis
The Book of Genesis (from Greek language, Greek ; ; ) is the first book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. Its Hebrew name is the same as its incipit, first word, (In the beginning (phrase), 'In the beginning'). Genesis purpor ...
, evoking the
fall of man
The fall of man, the fall of Adam, or simply the Fall, is a term used in Christianity to describe the transition of the first man and woman from a state of innocent obedience to God in Christianity, God to a state of guilty disobedience.
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and the separation of work and pleasure. Yeats originally included the poem in the volume ''
In the Seven Woods'', published in 1903.
Biographical context
"Adam's Curse" was written just before the marriage of
Maud Gonne
Maud Gonne MacBride (, born Edith Maud Gonne); 21 December 1866 – 27 April 1953) was an Irish republican revolutionary, suffragette and actress. She was of Anglo-Irish descent and was won over to Irish nationalism by the plight of people evict ...
and
John MacBride
John MacBride (sometimes written John McBride; ; 7 May 1868 – 5 May 1916) was an Irish republican and military leader. He was executed by the British government for his participation in the 1916 Easter Rising in Dublin.
Early life
Jo ...
. Yeats drew on a meeting with Maud Gonne and her sister Kathleen Pilcher.
[Ramazani, Jahan, Richard Ellmann, and Robert O'Clair. ''The Norton Anthology of Modern and Contemporary Poetry''. 3rd edn. Vol. 1. London: Norton, 2003. pp. 100.]
Structure
The poem is composed of three stanzas of
heroic couplets
A heroic couplet is a traditional form for English poetry, commonly used in epic and narrative poetry, and consisting of a rhyming pair of lines in iambic pentameter. Use of the heroic couplet was pioneered by Geoffrey Chaucer in the ''Legend of ...
(19 couplets total). Some of the rhymes are full (years/ears) and some are only partial (clergymen/thereupon). Ostensibly collaborating with one another, the first, second, and third stanzas are linked by an informal
slant-rhyme scheme (e.g., "summer's end , clergymen , thereupon"; "trade enough , name of love"; "yet we'd grown , hollow moon").
A quasi-sonnet appears with the first stanza, which is perhaps an allusion/homage to the “precedents out of beautiful old books” and the formalism of the eras preceding Yeats. Of its 14 lines, the first 13 are unbroken, while the last is made up of three
iambs. These, in turn, are fulfilled through
enjambment
In poetry, enjambment (; from the French ''enjamber'') is incomplete syntax at the end of a line; the meaning 'runs over' or 'steps over' from one poetic line to the next, without punctuation. Lines without enjambment are end-stopped. The origin ...
, and bleed into the first line of the second stanza (i.e. "The martyrs call the world. , And thereupon").
The second stanza shares its first line with the last of the first stanza and maintains a similar form of non-repeating couplets. Its final line lies roughly coupled with the first line of the third stanza (i.e. the slant rhyme between "enough" and "love").
The third and final stanza differs from its predecessors in its length. Constructed from 11 lines (five heroic couplets), the third is significantly shorter than the others.
Summary
Yeats serves as arbiter for his profession, condemning the view that beauty in art (and, subsequently, everywhere else) comes naturally. Rather, he supports the idea that beauty can only come about through great mental ardor. Pitting himself with the "martyrs", the poet speaks through a victim's perspective and provides evidence to support his claim. Yeats' poem, though at times mock-serious, makes a subtle plea for greater understanding of the creative process and those that make it their "trade".
See also
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1903 in poetry
References
External links
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Full text of poem, with preface by Robert Pinsky
{{DEFAULTSORT:Adam's Curse (Poem)
1903 poems
Poetry by W. B. Yeats