1. Looking back on her prelapsarian life, Eve would remember both the way she tended to the garden and her love for Adam. I think this song captures that bittersweet remembrance of something that is gone—especially something that was so sweet and easy. That said, I think Williams also captures a feeling of change, maybe for the better, in the lines “come to my world and witness / the way things have changed / cause I finally did it baby / I got out of La Grange.” Most of all, though, this song describes “trying to enjoy all the fruits” of labor, which Eve would understand very well, as she was devoted to her work in Eden, her faith in God, and her love for Adam. It also captures the feeling of loss Eve must feel after the Fall.
2. When Eve first wakes, the reflection she sees of herself in the water returns her gaze “with answering looks / of sympathy and love (4.465-65). As soon as she is born she is aware of her own beauty and independence. Living in such a patriarchal Eden, she might sometimes forget about her power, but also her gentle self love, which this song captures very well. I think Eve would also like this song because it reminds her that “she could do anything she wants to / she could do whatever she wants to do.” She doesn’t have to listen to Adam. Especially after leaving Eden, I think she would want to continue to remind herself that she “would do anything” for herself, for Adam, and for God, too.
3. For all of Eve’s independence, in Paradise Lost she and Adam are very much in love. I think she would love this song because its sound and lyrics capture the ease of romance and life in Eden. At the same time, Fade Into You describes the feeling of wanting to but not quite being able to reach what’s inside another person, as in the very first lyrics, “I wanna hold the hand inside you /I wanna take the breath that’s true / I look to you and I see nothing / I look to you to see the truth.” In Eden, and then looking back on it, I think Eve’s love for Adam would involve wanting to connect with him fully. However, the difference in the way they view the world and the patriarchal structure of Eden—which values Adam’s knowledge over Eve’s intuition—might make Eve feel like she’s seeing “nothing” when she looks to Adam, because he doesn’t quite understand her, but also like she needs to look to him to “see the truth.”
4. Even though no character in Paradise Lost actually verbally abuses Eve, and she is typically able to speak her mind quite freely, I think she would still connect to this song because it captures the way she is undervalued and doubted in Eden. Also, while Raphael speaks to Adam, she is effectively silenced and asked to prepare food. Especially after leaving Eden, I think Eve might connect to the sense of wondering “will I still be waiting for somebody else to understand?” After the Fall, I think she would also wonder what might happen to her as the “years go by” and she is “stripped of her beauty.” Will anyone ever understand or value her way of seeing the world? Amos also describes how Eve might feel toward Adam after the Fall, despite their misunderstandings, in the lyrics, “I love the way we communicate / your eyes focus on my funny lip shape / let’s hear what you think of me now / but baby don’t look up / the sky is falling.”
5. I think Eve would like this song because it could be about herself or about Adam. Her first experience in the world is witnessing her own beauty in the “mirror” of the water and this song would remind her of that. If she is feeling down, especially after the Fall, it might be nice to remind herself “I find it hard to believe you don’t know / the beauty you are / but if you don’t / let me be your eyes / a hand to your darkness / so you won’t be afraid.” In this way, this song could be about self love. In the postlapsarian world, she and Adam might also feel “twisted and unkind” or “afraid,” and this could be her reminder to Adam of their continuing shared virtue and her devotion to him.
6. I think Eve would connect to this song because it is about being a woman, particularly how being a woman can mean being nothing but “an image” that is not understood. In Eden, and then after the Fall, Eve’s beauty might make her relate to the lyrics “I’m only an image of what you see /you don’t know me.” I think this sense of not being known is both a source of sadness and empowerment. Behind the image, women often have their own secret world. Woman is a Word is also a much different track than the previous tracks because it is for dancing—Eve would be able to have a little fun.
7. After the Fall, Eve might carry a deep sense of regret for eating the apple, but also a kind of newfound empowerment—or at least a sense of having to move forward with the choices she’s made. Looking back on Eden, she would also realize that she is now mortal. I think this track very much captures the feeling that you’ve majorly screwed everything up, but also having to move forward, and just living in all the emotions caused by your mistakes. De Souza sings “this is probably how I get myself killed” over and over, and also “I have never felt so dumb / and I have never gone so numb.” De Souza also sings about “all we have to work with,” which is exactly what Eve and Adam have after the Fall.
8. I think Eve would like this song because it very much captures the meaning of Paradise Lost. By the end of Milton’s epic, Eden is gone, and so are all of the lovely things that it held. The lyrics “it must have been love / but it’s over now / it must have been good / but I lost it somehow” capture the feeling of knowing Eden was a paradise that is lost. It also perhaps describes never being able to return to the kind of love Eve shared with Adam in Eden. Eve might also relate to the lyrics “it was all that I wanted / now I’m living without” because while she wanted the knowledge that the apple would give her, she has lost something else. The lyrics “it’s where the water flows / it’s where the wind blows” might also remind her of the loveliness of Eden.
9. Despite the deep love she shares with Adam, I think Eve might always feel a little disconnected from him, and this song lyrically captures that very well. In Eden, she sometimes feels like she is inferior to Adam, and even expresses to him how her “beauty is excelled by manly grace / and wisdom, which alone is truly fair” (4.490-491). Apple expresses the same feeling in the lines “I’ll never glow the way that you glow / your presence dominates the judgements made on you.” Despite this feeling, I think Eve comes to realize the power lent to her by her beauty and the secret world hidden beneath it. Apple captures this in the lines “you’ll never touch these things that I hold / the skin of my emotions lies beneath my own.” Also, while Adam promises Eve that Eden is safe, Adam ultimately does not protect her from Satan’s temptation. After Eve’s dream, Adam reassures Eve, just like Apple sings, “you say don’t fear your dreams / it’s easier than it seems / you say you’ll never let me fall from hopes so high.” However, “never is a promise” and Adam “can’t afford to lie.” Looking back on Eden, I think Eve would especially relate to the lyrics “I don’t know what to believe in / you don’t know who I am.”