Adam Un(y)bound
The Lord God commanded Adam, “You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die.” (Genesis 2:16-17) There is an early 15 th century English Catholic (or just “English Christian”) text (which is probably, in fact, known to some of you blessed church nerds and musicians) called Adam lay ybounden. The Poem was written somewhere between the late 1300’s and the early 1400’s and, while it is written in English…. it’s not exactly… our English…. However, like most poetry and verse, it usually sounds better when we read it as written…. but before I subject you to that… The most interesting thing about this work is not the language itself, but the implications that the verses are making - an intriguing glimpse into medieval theology which takes a familiar story and moves it in an… interesting direction. Here is the text as it was written: ...