The title of Wallace Stevens' poem "Sunday Morning" could not be a better title. Sundays to Christian religions are considered holy days, days to go to church and worship God. To write about a woman rebelling against the ritual of going to church and describing the sensualities of the natural world, and posing the question why is heaven better than what we have on Earth, is brilliant. In the poem, the woman compares and explores two ideas on life: one that is eternal, and one that is not. The poem witnesses the woman's search for spiritual fulfillment. After assessing her beliefs, she later realizes that preparing her life for a heaven that promises eternal life is pointless. Death is what makes life so beautiful, and Earth is where real paradise is and always will be. Throughout the poem Stevens uses eloquent imagery to describe the paradise always present in the natural world. The "late coffee and oranges in a sunny chair", "the pungent oranges and bright, green wings" both show the paradise that we can posses everyday on Earth. For the woman, these images also "dissipate the holy hush of ancient sacrifice." "She dreams a little, and she feels the dark encroachment of that old catastrophe." His imagery is used to show that although she is genuinely enjoying these beautiful things, there is still underlying spiritual anxiety. The statements the woman makes about the death of Jesus are negative, yet they are still in her mind and are interrupting her dreams. The poem in the beginning seems to have a tone of the woman being content with her decision of her heaven being on Earth. She does refer to the crucifixion of Christ as "that old catastrophe" and that the tomb of Jesus is not anything spiritual, or special, "It is h... ... middle of paper ... ... soul then replies that there is no "golden underground" or any heavenly things to dream of that are not right here on Earth. And just as "April's green endures" so will everything else in nature. The woman in the poem is no different than so many people. The fear that we will not always have the comforts from our Earthly pleasures is common. However, the woman's doubts seem to diminish when she says "But in contentment I still feel the need of some imperishable bliss" and her soul replies "Death is the mother of beauty." In most every religion, the promise of some sort of afterlife is why most people believe. That is what causes so many things in life to go unrecognized. We do not live in a world were everyone stays forever young, there is always a beautiful sunset, and "ripe fruit never falls." Every living thing dies. That is what makes it all so special.
While the poem starts with Death picking her up in his carriage, the final resting ground is not the grave site. It is said “We paused before a House that seemed / A swelling of the Ground” (17-18) which tells us they stop at the grave for the narrator’s death but they only pause there inferring it is not the last place they will visit on their journey. In the final stanza of the poem she says “Since then –‘tis Centuries –and yet / Feels shorter than the Day / I first surmised the Horses’ Heads / Were toward Eternity –” (21-24). This can be interpreted as an image that shows the horses who are guiding the Narrator and Death on their carriage ride, have their heads pointing straight towards eternity, which proves that once she is buried it is not the end as she is existing in some form of an afterlife. She also says, although it was centuries ago, it “Feels shorter than the Day” (22), proving that time plays no role in eternity and that her burial feels shorter than it actually was, once again supporting the idea of her existence in an afterlife. Once reading the final stanza and seeing her existence in eternity, the quote “The Carriage held but just Ourselves –/ And Immortality” (3-4) from the first stanza begins to make more sense for the readers. If you are in a carriage with death, you are thought to be on your final ride and so the only way to
Ironically, the author divides the poem into different times of the day, we see that as the time changes, so does Mary’s beliefs. This form of poetry confronts any interpretation that suggest that light is holy and darkness is evil. Specifically, at 6 am. In the first stanza when the sun comes up, she explicitly states this no longer a simile for God. In the same moment readers witness the death of her soul and the shattering of her beliefs. On the other hand, Atwood creates a contrasting effect at 12 midnight, in which in this time of darkness she exemplifies hope and optimism despite the fact death sat upon her shoulders.
"Fay struck out with her hands, hitting at Major Bullock and Mr. Pitts and Sis, fighting with her mother, too, for a moment. She showed her claws at Laurel, and broke from the preachers last-minute arms and threw herself forward across the coffin on to the pillow, driving her lips without aim against the face under hers. She was dragged back into the library, screaming, by Miss Tennyson Bullock, out of sight behind the blanket of greenery. Judge McKelva's smoking chair lay behind them, overturned" (86).
To begin with, her poem Spring shows readers her true thoughts on the season. During this poem she analyzed that a beautiful month like April, can still remind her of death. In line 9-15 it states, “It is apparent that there is no death. But what does that signify? Not only underground are the brains of men- Eaten by maggots.
She wonders in on earth it looks so pretty than in heaven in must look even better. She goes on to talk about the sun and how it gives life to everything and it is if heaven was here there would be, “no winter no night”. Describing as she looks up how long this earth has been here, “thy strength, and statre more thy years admire”. By saying this she admire how long this earth has been here and how great it is. She describe nature as being works of God and to me she describe the perfect world or even heaven as being with out night or winters. Implying that night and winters are not as beautiful as spring
The self- examination part of her religion part comes into play because this poem was very long and confusing; much like how I believed her life was. She had rheumatic fever and through out her life she suffered from periods of fatigue and faced death eight times by giving birth to eight children. I think that she wrote the poem to represent her life she felt that her life was very long and drawn out. She also saw that there were a l...
This poem helps us to recognize and appreciate beauty through its dream sequence and symbolism. The poem opens with the Dreamer describing this
I believe this poem shows her love for God and her love for religion. In the first six lines I believe she gives God the credit for her leaving Africa and going to America. In the fifth line,
Why are we allowed to be more humane to our pets than our parents? Physician-assisted suicide is a voluntary termination of one’s own life by administration of a lethal substance with direct or indirect assistance of a physician. Euthanasia is another term for this practice it provides a competent patient with a prescription for the patient to use with the primary intention of ending his or her own life. Compassion and Choices or Death with Dignity are names of supporters that promote euthanasia, also referred to as physician-assisted suicide, and believe that it is just as humane for terminally ill animals as it is for people. I too agree that it should be legally and morally open for choice to anyone suffering from a terminal diagnoses that includes impending pain physically, psychologically, and financially.
...o curb the appetite that humans have to know the secrets of life and death. This, then, is the central theme of all her poems: Though she believes strongly in idea of an afterlife, even she understands that nothing is certain, but that a bit of logic and a large amount of faith will guide her through the chaotic journey towards her final resting place—wherever or whatever it may be.
For the most part of the poem she states how she believes that it is Gods calling, [Then ta’en away unto eternity] but in other parts of the poem she eludes to the fact that she feels more like her granddaughter was stolen from her [or sigh thy days so soon were terminate]. One of the main beliefs in these times was that when someone died it was their time; God needed them and had a better plan. Both poets found peace in the idea that God had the children now and it was part of the plan, but are also deeply saddened and used poetry as a coping mechanism.
One thing that we often hear is that “death is just a part of life.” So often in our day and age do we hear people utter these words. However, death is far more significant and impactful than some would allege. True death is not merely a time when we cease to exist; it is an entombment, a mindset in which we are dead to this world. Throughout our lives, it is true that we can all be dead in one way or another, but it does not have to be that way. When we have our eyes opened to what death actually is, it is far easier to grasp what the true meaning of life is, and to embrace it. Often, we will come across individuals who are enveloped in death and others who are immersed in true life. The shadow of death and entombment lies upon some, encompassing
In these lines the woman hears these voices. Stevens uses these voices to nicely let his reads no there is no god. If the woman was to visit the tomb of Christ she would not be greeted by sprits because they don’t exist. The woman comes to her reality that tomb of Christ is nothing more than a place for the entire dead nothing special. Stevens uses the last two lines to break it to his readers that they are alone in life there is no supernatural authority figure making sure were good to one another. The last line tells them they can’t run away from this reality .instead they should embrace it. Stevens wants his readers to be good to themselves and to enjoy their lives they should enjoy these freedom. Stevens used Sunday morning to introduce his godless reality to his readers and because he did it in such a plausible way he may have swayed some of his readers
There are multiple views on death and the afterlife and each view is different depending on the religion or belief that someone practices. Some religions believe in a heaven but not a hell, some believe in both and others do not believe in either. The religions that are practiced today were created by our ancient ancestors who had the ability to think beyond themselves. Practicing a religion and having an idea of death and an afterlife back in ancient times laid a foundation on how religion is seen and practiced today. Mesopotamians, Egyptians and Hindu’s created the concept of death and life after death through what they believed and practiced in ancient times.
The resulting poems, "On the Beach at Night" and "Sunday Morning," express similar beliefs about the cyclical nature of life. Their similar structures, of a doubting character and persuasively responding narrator, allow the poets to profess their beliefs about the character of mortal life. And although Stevens focuses on refuting his contemporary religious practices and Whitman centers on acknowledging his personal theology, the poems equally address the search for immortality in the human world.