[Sunday Morning]

This poem begins in a peaceful scene with a woman sitting in her nightgown admiring the beauty of the world. The world is full of color and life. The woman starts to question divinity and religion, “What is divinity if it can come// Only in silent shadows and in dreams?” (1969) The woman seems to be coming from the perspective where religion and divinity are not often challenged or questioned but she is now asking what exactly “divinity” is. The general public do not have direct communication or access to the divine but they are asked to follow the words of the divine blindly. The woman begins to reason that, “Divinity must live within herself://Passions of rain or moods in falling snow” (1969) with this she seems to realize that the ups and downs of life are precisely what make it so beautiful. The woman has found peace and divinity within herself, leading her to question the nature of heaven, “And shall the earth,//Seem all of paradise that we shall know?” (1970) The woman finds happiness and beauty  in the world surrounding her and it seems to her that earth provides all the comfort and pleasures that heaven offers. The woman pushes further to question to depiction of hell as a fiery place that people go to for punishment. The woman transforms death into “the mother of beauty”. She goes on to explain that death is inevitable, everything is impermanent, “Does ripe fruit never fall?” (1971) However the woman is transforming death from something intimidating and fearful into something beautiful encouraging acceptance of its inevitability. In the end of the poem the woman depicts a world with so many creatures and components that one group could never possibly define meaning for the entire thing.

This poem is quite clearly about the narrator’s struggle with religion. It seems that society has silenced her with its expectations of devotion to religion, yet the beauty of the world surrounding her inspired her to broaden her perspective. The woman in the poem finds her own truth and faith, setting herself apart from the “norm” of society. The poem relates to our studies because it shows that faith can be anything anyone wants it to be. There is nothing wrong with educating people on what you feel and believe, however, no one should be forced to follow faith without being allowed to question what they have found to be true through their individual experience with the world. No one culture or belief system can possibly be the “right” or “best” system for all people, it simply isn’t possible. There is beauty in all culture and all belief systems that have faith in humanity.

[The Snow Man]

This poem is short and to the point. The poem is about perspective and how it shapes one’s reality. In order to be a snowman, “One must have a mind of winter” (1972) or else they would be freezing cold. The poem points to the fact that cold does not have to be equivalent to misery. Depending on how one views the cold, it can be filled with beauty and comfort. One does not have to find misery in wind. The poem goes back to the snow man insinuating that in order to bear the cold, one must rid themselves of emotions and negative perceptions and simply feel the cold. The poem points to the fact that we have control over our perception of every situation and when we are miserable it is most of the time because we are choosing to be that way. Humans need to take control of their perspective on the world surrounding them in order to be more content.

This poem relates to our class discussion by showing that every negative has a positive and if something seems hopeless there is always a positive side to see. Many people feel hopeless in our world today and obviously a change in perspective won’t solve all world problems, but it may ease the sting of hopelessness to examine the positive aspects of situations that seem bleak.