Assignment #4: Book III and Sunday Morning
In my opinion, I felt as though the poem "Sunday Morning" by Wallace Stevens had more of a connection to Book III of Paradise Lost than "Evening Without Angels". Book III of Paradise Lost is where the reader first really learns about Heaven and God. We learn of this place that the Father has prepared for Man after death. Additionally, we learn that it if we are to have faith is His Son's sacrifice, we shall live eternally in paradise. In "Sunday Morning", the woman dreams and feels the horrors of Jesus's sacrifice. After her dream, the woman comes to realize that a devotion to Earth's pleasures will redeem her with the divine bliss of eternal life in Heaven. The poet teaches us that,=2 0"Death is the mother of beauty," because death gives our life a meaning. If we choose to follow God's way it shall lead us to a better life in Heaven after death, but as we learn in Book III, those who do not follow God's grace shall be condemned to Hell.
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Stevens is a strong atheist; close reading is hard because you have to put aside your own beliefs, experiences etc. to see where the text is asking you to go. You needn't follow, but you need to recognize it.
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