Poetry
The first example of the titular Adam's Curse offered in the poem is that of poetry and, broadly interpreted, artistry. The poem's speaker explains that the curse of Adam—the punishment for man's fall as described in the biblical Book of Genesis—is the necessary labor that must be performed in order to glean something beautiful. In other words, nothing that is beautiful can exist, in a post-Edenic world, without a great deal of work. For the speaker, who writes poetry, a beautiful poem is the best example of this curse. Ironically, the more effort a poet puts into writing, the more effortless, and more beautiful, the final product. Worse yet, this causes others (especially those with professional-class jobs such as teaching or banking) to view poets as lazy, seeing that their work appears easy—even though this evident ease is a product of hard, tiring work. Indeed, despite its formal and thematic complexity, this poem itself appears simple and straightforward, offering the reader an example of these principles.
Physical Beauty and Gender
Whereas the speaker first thinks about poetry as an instance of Adam's Curse, one of his companions, a beautiful woman, instead thinks about women's physical appearances as a manifestation of this curse. Women put labor and effort into appearing beautiful, she contends. However, this work, much like that of the poet, is somewhat thankless and undervalued. The woman articulates this thanklessness by commenting on the fact that this beautifying, gendered labor is not taught in school, and is therefore not acknowledged as skilled, effortful, or existent at all. Furthermore, the woman suggests, women's beauty is actually most appreciated when it appears natural and effortless. In this way, it is again paralleled with poetry, which is considered loveliest when the labor behind it is not evident.
Love
The final victim of Adam's curse, as described in the poem, is romantic love. The speaker takes note of one way in which the beauty of romantic love has been supported through effortful labor. In the past, he asserts, lovers looked to old books for examples of how to love. By studying precedents, these past lovers were able to achieve something beautiful, albeit with hard work. Now, however, this romantic scholarship is considered worthless by many. The speaker seeks to create a worthwhile love, and so wants to love in "the old high way," supplemented with studying older narratives of love. At the same time, he and his companions all feel exhausted and disillusioned by the constant effort of creating beauty. The poem ends, therefore, with a resigned admission that this kind of elevated, studied love may not be possible or reasonable to expect.
