It Was Like That
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It Was Like That
In the poem, "Part of Eve's Discussion," Marie Howe is telling of a moment in time before something is going to happen. This is a way of conveying to the reader that this could be what Eve thought before she ate the forbidden fruit. The tone is a great sadness, but an understanding of that which is past is past. This is established by how the moment, this feeling, seems like it is going to last forever. The poem has only one period, which conveys that at this moment, when Eve is going to eat the fruit, before she does, she feels that the moment has lasted a lifetime, and after that moment, she has that knowledge and that feeling forever, and has to live with that feeling, that guilt.
Howe captures a moment in time like no one else can. She expresses her feelings of what she thought Eve might have felt, and accurately depicts that scene. "Very much like the moment, driving on bad ice, when it occurs to you your car could spin, just before it slowly begins to spin." This line is important because it shows a connection between this scene and the scene of Eve. When driving on bad ice, if you spin, it is a possibility that you will die, and after eating the fruit, Eve knows that she will have to die now...