"We are women, we are strong, stand together, fight what's wrong!" (www) is but one of the slogans that could be heard chanted throughout campuses all over North-America during the 1970's, as women were tired of being treated as second class citizens. This large-scale feminist movement was often coupled with a rejection of religious value, since many women considered that religion restricted them to conform to an ancient patriarchal mould dating back to Genesis. In fact, the old view of Eve as a tragic hero that is helpless in her misery was becoming marginalised and a new defiant Eve emerged. This defiance of God and of the typical role of women is expressed in a poem by Dorothy Livesay entitled "Eve", which portrays women as survivors who are finally taking control of their lives by rebelling against the authority of God. The poem expresses this view of Eve by exposing the ways in which women have been able to survive injustice, the fact that they are gaining precious knowledge through their adversities, and by revealing the necessity not to repress sexual temptations, which society advocates.
             The poem "Eve" attempts to demonstrate the tenacity of women who are still standing strong after having suffered for so long. The shape of the poem itself is evocative of this message. With the words arranged in such a way as to resemble the branches of a tree, the poem belongs to a movement called "New Criticism", where the form of the poem is as important as the content. Indeed, a tree is a symbol of life, perhaps to imply that there is still hope in the hearts of women today. Most importantly, a tree is usually considered to be deeply rooted and resistant. The strength of the tree is meant to symbolize women's strong will and there ability to withstand abuse. In fact, the passage "it roots...miraculously still standing" (ll. 1-6) could either be
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