Analyzing The Poem 'A Certain Kind Of Eden'

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)

Russia even believes that their wrong doing was not even a mistake.

“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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Russia was not at fault for all of their actions. It was the evil new technology that was being created in the same time period. That evil technology being nuclear weaponry. The garden described by Ryan is the world. “A certain kind of Eden holds us thrall.”(13) Ryan has multiple definitions for Eden. It can describe Earth or another particular topic. Here is describes nuclear weaponry.” Nuclear weaponry held human kind as slaves. People had to acknowledge a certain country’s power if it had a more advanced nuclear arsenal. This slavery can be looked at in another aspect. Scientists and governments had to “work around the clock” to produce better nuclear weaponry than those of their opponents. “Even the one vine that tendrils out alone in time turns on its own impulse, twisting back down its upward course a strong and then a stronger rope...”(14-17) These lines of poetry can be interpreted easily. Ryan is saying that even those countries who did not want to participate in the creation of nuclear weaponry had to. They had to create an arsenal so that they could protect their country.
The poem A Certain Kind of Eden by Kay Ryan uses metaphors to describe Russia who disrupts the political balance of the world. Her title A Certain Kind of Eden even shows Ryan’s opinion of the world. She believes that the world is like a new type of garden of Eden. A few people may believe it is perfect, but really many temptations and evils lurk inside. One person, or in this poem country, creates this unbalance of the world. This unbalance exists and will continue to exists unless someone who has been tempted realizes this and repents. “the greenest saddest strongest kind of hope.