Fruit in "Garden of Eden"

The fruit in “Garden of Eden” draws on the traditional and Biblical associations of fruit to symbolize youth and the passage of time. Since fruit contains seeds, it is often a symbol of abundance and hope for the future. Since the poem’s title references the creation story in the Christian Bible’s Book of Genesis, the fruit might also be read as a symbol of innocence and loss of innocence. In the Bible, Adam and Eve live in a state of natural luxury and divine blessing until they eat the forbidden fruit of knowledge, and they are forced to leave paradise. In “Garden of Eden,” the narrator reflects on their youth and the way the future looked to them then; the fruit draws on both the positive connotations of growth and the Biblical allusion of potential loss to express the narrator...