The Conundrum of the Workshops

The Biblical Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil plays a prominent role in the poem. It is right under it that Adam engages in the first human act of creation (Line 2) and it is from behind its leaves that the Devil whispers his debilitating question for the first time (Line 4). Even later in the poem, when Kipling refers to Eden, he repeatedly used the phrase “Eden Tree” (Lines 17, 21, and 29). In Genesis 2, God forbids Adam and Eve to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, but, seduced by the words of the Devil in the shape of a serpent, they do so, and God expels them from the Garden of Eden as punishment. Adam and Eve thus lose their original blissful innocence and must endure a life of hardship. This resembles the way in which the Devil destroys Adam’s innocent joy in the act of creation by forcing doubt into his mind. The loss of otherworldly innocence is comparable to the loss of artistic innocence. Adam, and his descendants, must now for ever wonder if they will regain God’s grace just like he, and they, must always doubt the value and purpose of what they create.