"Eden Rock," a poem by 20th century English poet Charles Causley, is a meditation both on death and on the nature of family bonds. In the poem, the speaker sees a vision of his parents as they looked in their early twenties, setting up a picnic near a place called "Eden Rock." The speaker describes his mother and father in idiosyncratic detail, down to the way his mother uses a wad of paper as a bottle stopper. The speaker's parents then beckon their son to cross the stream that separates them, insisting that doing so won't be hard. The speaker ends the poem by declaring that he hadn't thought that this is what "it"—most likely, dying—would be like. The poem is taken from Causley's final collection, A Field of Vision (1988), which contains a number of poems on similar subjects.

• Read the full text of “Eden Rock”

• “Eden Rock” Summary

• “Eden Rock” Themes

  • 

    Family Ties

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-12
    • Lines 14-19
  • 

    Death and the Afterlife

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Line 1
    • Lines 2-8
    • Line 12
    • Line 13
    • Lines 13-20

• Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Eden Rock”

  • Lines 1-4

    They are waiting ...
    ... at his feet.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 5-8

    My mother, twenty-three, ...
    ... on the light.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 9-12

    She pours tea ...
    ... cups painted blue.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 13-16

    The sky whitens ...
    ... the water. Leisurely,

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 17-20

    They beckon to ...
    ... be like this.

    

    

    

    

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• “Eden Rock” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

  • Alliteration

    

    

    

    

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    Where alliteration appears in the poem:

    • Line 2: “s,” “s”
    • Line 3: “G,” “T,” “t,” “J”
    • Line 4: “t,” “t”
    • Line 5: “dr”
    • Line 6: “Dr,” “r,” “st,” “r”
    • Line 7: “s,” “r,” “st”
    • Line 8: “H,” “h”
    • Line 9: “Th,” “th”
    • Line 11: “p,” “s,” “s”
    • Line 12: “s,” “p,” “p”
    • Line 14: “M,” “m”
    • Line 15: “s,” “s”
    • Line 16: “s”
    • Line 17: “b,” “b”

  • Allusion

    

    

    

    

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    Where allusion appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “Eden Rock”
    • Line 13: “three suns.”
    • Lines 14-19: “My mother shades her eyes and looks my way / Over the drifted stream. My father spins / A stone along the water. Leisurely, / They beckon to me from the other bank. / I hear them call, 'See where the stream-path is! / Crossing is not as hard as you might think.'”

  • Caesura

    

    

    

    

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    Where caesura appears in the poem:

    • Line 2: “father, twenty-five, in the same”
    • Line 3: “Tweed, his terrier”
    • Line 5: “mother, twenty-three, in a sprigged”
    • Line 6: “waist, ribbon”
    • Line 8: “wheat, takes”
    • Line 9: “Thermos, the milk”
    • Line 10: “bottle, a screw”
    • Line 11: “cork; slowly”
    • Line 12: “plates, the tin”
    • Line 15: “stream. My”
    • Line 16: “water. Leisurely”
    • Line 18: “ call, 'See”

  • Consonance

    

    

    

    

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    Where consonance appears in the poem:

    • Line 2: “t,” “t,” “s,” “s,” “t”
    • Line 3: “T,” “t”
    • Line 4: “t,” “t,” “t,” “t,” “t”
    • Line 5: “t,” “t,” “s,” “r,” “dr,” “ss”
    • Line 6: “Dr,” “t,” “t,” “r,” “r,” “s,” “tr,” “t”
    • Line 7: “s,” “st,” “t,” “ss”
    • Line 8: “H,” “h,” “t,” “t,” “t”
    • Line 9: “Th,” “th”
    • Line 10: “S,” “c,” “s,” “cr”
    • Line 11: “p,” “p,” “r,” “r,” “c,” “r,” “k,” “s,” “s,” “t,” “s,” “t”
    • Line 12: “s,” “p,” “t,” “s,” “t,” “p,” “s,” “p,” “t”
    • Line 14: “M,” “m”
    • Line 15: “s,” “s,” “n”
    • Line 16: “s,” “n”
    • Line 17: “b,” “ck,” “b,” “k”

  • Enjambment

    

    

    

    

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    Where enjambment appears in the poem:

    • Lines 2-3: “suit / Of”
    • Lines 3-4: “Jack / Still”
    • Lines 5-6: “dress / Drawn”
    • Lines 9-10: “straight / From”
    • Lines 10-11: “screw / Of”
    • Lines 11-12: “out / The”
    • Lines 14-15: “way / Over”
    • Lines 15-16: “spins / A”
    • Lines 16-17: “Leisurely, / They”

  • End-Stopped Line

    

    

    

    

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    Where end-stopped line appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “Rock:”
    • Line 4: “feet.”
    • Line 6: “hat,”
    • Line 7: “grass.”
    • Line 8: “light.”
    • Line 12: “blue.”
    • Line 13: “suns.”
    • Line 17: “bank.”
    • Line 18: “is!”
    • Line 19: “think.'”
    • Line 20: “this.”

  • Simile

    

    

    

    

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    Where simile appears in the poem:

    • Line 13: “The sky whitens as if lit by three suns.”

• “Eden Rock” Vocabulary

  Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

  • Irish Tweed
  • Terrier
  • Sprigged
  • Thermos
  • H.P. Sauce
  • Cork
  • (Location in poem: Line 3: “Irish Tweed”)

• Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Eden Rock”

  • Form

  • Meter

  • Rhyme Scheme

• “Eden Rock” Speaker

• “Eden Rock” Setting

• Literary and Historical Context of “Eden Rock”

• More “Eden Rock” Resources

  • External Resources

    • "The Most Unfashionable Poet Alive" — An excellent and insightful essay by the literary critic Dana Gioia about Causley and his work.   

    • A Documentary on "Cornwall's Native Poet" — An interesting documentary about Causley, featuring commentary by poets including Simon Ari.

    • Get to Know Cornwall — The official tourism site for England's southwestern-most county, Cornwall.  

    • Further Poems and Readings — A number of other Causley poems, with readings by the poet himself. 

    • Causley in Song — A musical setting of a poem by Causley about his beloved Cornwall.

  • LitCharts on Other Poems by Charles Causley

    • Timothy Winters

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