Drama in Levertov's "Adam's Complaint"
             The drama in Levertov's poem is found in the first stanza; "Some people,
             no matter what you give them, still want the moon". The poem speaks of the inability some people have being satisfied with what they have. Levertov dramatizes this dissatisfaction by including examples of the basic human needs and desires of food, love, shelter and water. Her uses of the word "still" to end the stanzas leave the reader with a sense of the want or discontent of her subject; "still want the moon", "still hungry", "still empty arms", "still they take to the roads", and "still it's not deep enough to drink the moon from". In the last stanza she speaks about water, "And water: dig them the deepest well", water is a necessity we cannot live without, the dramatic implication is that some people have an overabundance of what they need, but want to have more.
             Drama is also found in the title of the poem, "Adam's Complaint". Levertov's use of the name Adam could be referring to the Bible story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. In that story, Adam not being satisfied with all that God had provided succumbed to temptation and took a bite from the forbidden fruit offered to him by Eve. According to that story, man would be tempted by sin for eternity because Adam could not resist temptation.
             I found this poem by Levertov engaging. There is often confusion in today's society about what a person needs and what a person wants. We want more, bigger, better, new and improved things, but we often hear the word need when those desires are expressed. Our needs are simple; food, water, air, and shelter, our desires are great.
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