Analyzing The Poem 'A Certain Kind Of Eden'

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The poem A Certain Kind of Eden by Kay Ryan describes a country that creates a disbalance in the “garden”. The garden is used by Ryan to describe the Earth, and another subject. Russia is that country that makes the garden become a place of strife and unbalance. The poem also describes various temptations in the garden, that not even the strongest vine can resist. The character described in A Certain Kind of Eden has lost something that was considered “perfect”. “It seems like you could, but you can’t go back and pull the roots and runners and replant.”(1-3) The character can not put the situation as it was by fixing their mistake. The author may be referencing Russia and the United States during the height of the Cold War period.(early 1960’s-1970’s) Russia went “too far” by installing nuclear missiles in Cuba. “It’s all too deep for that.”(4) Russia had just put forward a new level of intensity in this “Cold War” that could not be lowered. Russia had only partaken in this event because they wanted to assert their authority. “You’ve overprized intention, have mistaken any bent you’re given for control.”(5-7) …show more content…

“You thought you chose the bean and chose the soil.”(7-8) They thought their action of putting nuclear missiles within striking distance of the U.S. was not an inappropriate action. “You even thought you abandoned one or two gardens.”(9-10) This is referencing the first garden of Eden in the Bible. Adam and Eve had to abandon the garden as a consequence of their bad actions. Russia had two other situations in which the end result was punishment or a Russian bereavement. “But those things keep growing where we put them-if we put them at all.”(11-12) This describes the overall direction in which the Cold War was heading. The previous situations from before had not been forgotten,

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