17 pages 34 minutes read

Ted Hughes

Theology

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1961

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Symbols & Motifs

How the Apple Symbolizes the Speaker’s Corruption

It’s not a foregone conclusion that the fruit Eve eats is an apple. In the King James Version, the fruit remains unspecified; it could be an apple, but it could also be a peach, pear, or orange—all fruits that grow on trees. While the speaker addresses the “[c]orruption of the facts” (Line 4) when it comes to who consumes who and what, their story is suspect: It relies on the presumption that Eve ate an apple.

The inclusion of the apple lends irony. It lets the reader know that maybe the speaker’s story isn’t so true either. As Genesis 3:6 reads, Eve “took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.” (“Genesis 3:6.” kingjamesbibleonline.org.)

How the Serpent and God Represent Tension

God’s “querulous” (Line 12). The serpent’s consumption of Eve—and, via Eve, Adam and the apple—puts God in a bad mood. The serpent is relaxed and in a good place. He “[s]leeps his meal off in Paradise” (Line 10). The relationship between God and the serpent represents the strain between good and evil or God and the Devil. As the serpent occupies the Garden of Eden, it looks like he’s won.