Blog #7

E.E. Cumming’s l(a, William Carlos William’s This Is Just to Say, and Louise Erdrich’s Love Medicine all share the common themes of temptation and loneliness. In the two poems This Is Just to Say and l(a there are biblical references relating to the Garden of Eden. l(a is based on the temptation of a leaf to set it self free from its branch and fall to the ground. It is on the ground where it finds loneliness. In This Is Just to Say, the speaker is tempted to eat the plums that he knows he is not supposed to have. The temptation is even greater since he knows he is not supposed to be eating them. In Love Medicine the grandma is lonely and longing for her husbands love and attention. It seems in these works that temptation creates loneliness.

This Is Just to Say is solely based on temptation. The speaker of this poem knows that he or she is not supposed to eat the plums. What makes the temptation of this speaker so great is that he or she wants something he or she knows they are not allowed to have. Most likely, if he or she was allowed to eat the plums he or she would not have want them as badly. The speaker knew the plums were being saved for breakfast, however his or her temptation was too great to hold back. This poem is parallel to the Garden of Eden where God provides Eve with all that she needs to satisfy her wants. However, temptation overcomes Eve causing her to break away from God by picking the apple from the tree that he specifically told her not to pick. This symbolizes the first original sin. Eve knew she was not allowed to take the apple, making her want it more.

l(a is also based on temptation as well as loneliness. When the pairs of letters inside the parenthesis are put together it says “a leaf falls”, outside the parenthesis spells “loneliness.” The way the lines of the poem are formed symbolizes the drifting of the leaf as it fell from the tree branch. Just as Eve had everything she ever needed while she was loyal to God, so did the leaf while it was attached to its branch. It was provided with the proper sunlight, nutrients and everything else it needed in order to survive. Just as everyone and everything is tempted to do something during their lives, the leaf was tempted to fall from its branch. Once it fell from its branch it became lonely, just as Eve became lonely once she separated herself from God. They realized they were no longer provided with anything of necessity.

Love Medicine is based on the relationship of Lipsha’s grandparents. While growing into his old age, Lipsha’s grandfather is becoming seen isle, which in turn results in his love affair with another woman. This causes Lipsha’s grandmother to become very lonely and tempts her to do anything in order to get her husband back. Since the grandmother knows that Lipsha has the power to heal, she tempts him to come up with a cure to help rekindle her relationship with her husband. Lipsha comes up with a love medicine which consists of both his grandparents each eating the heart of a geese. Since Lipsha is not able to get geese hearts he decides on turkey hearts. When he tries to get the hearts blessed by a priest, the priest laughs at him and turns him away. Therefore, he decides to bless them himself. Once he and his grandmother convince his grandfather to eat the heart, he chokes on it and dies. The moral of this short story is what is meant to be will be. In this case Lipsha’s grandparent’s relationship was not meant to be. Only true love has the power to heal itself.

In conclusion these three works prove that you do not realize what you have until you lose it. Once you fall for temptation and break away from your norm you are giving up everything that you were ever given. Falling for temptation just as the speaker in This Is Just to Say, the leaf from l(a, and the grandfather in Love Medicine caused them to find loneliness in their lives. Temptation is the root of all evil.