In the bible, the garden of Eden is Paradise in every imaginable aspect. This is the place where God creates the first human beings. God gives these first humans, Adam and Eve, free reign of the Garden under one sole condition – that they do not eat of the forbidden tree. The devil, in the form of a snake, however, tempts Eve into eating from the tree who, in turn, gets Adam to eat the fruit as well. When God learns of this, he casts the two from Paradise and sends them on their own to toil and suffer for their own food rather than to live in the Garden and benefit from the gifts of God.

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Works With Allusions to Eden:

The Lord of the Flies – William Golding

Paradise Lost – John Milton

“In Xanadu did Kubla KhanA stately pleasure-dome decree :Where Alph, the sacred river, ranThrough caverns measureless to manDown to a sunless sea.” - Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s Kubla Khan.

This poem details a rashly flamboyant and beautiful place that could be considered a Paradise of sorts. “Xanadu” in the poem is inspired by Shangdu, which was the summer palace of Kublai Khan – the Chinese emperor during the Yuan dynasty.Picture from the film “Citizen Kane.”

Xanadu in the film was Kane’s private mansion containing all of his horded wealth. In his death, all of this fabulous fortune means nothing and the treasures inside are burned.