A Different Kind of Sunday Morning

I'd never heard of Wallace Stevens before, but I really enjoyed reading his poetry tonight. His poem, "Sunday Morning," was especially beautiful--though probably too deep for me to understand. However, I do have a few observations about the poem that show how it fits in with our discussions on secularism and religion. This poem demonstrates well how secular individuals can have religious-like feelings without any social or doctrinal aspects of religion.

In the poem, Stevens seems to be worshipping Nature instead of a God, but he's not really worshipping--he's just enjoying a feeling of peace. He displays this attitude in the following passage: "Shall she not find in the comforts of the sun, / In pungent fruit and bright, green wings, or else / Things to be cherished like the thought of heaven? / Divinity must live within herself" (53). The sun, fruit, and other earthly things replace the thought of heaven as a source of comfort. Paradise becomes much like the Earth, simply a more perfect version: it has trees and fruit (55). Interestingly, Stevens seems to appreciate constancy more than change. He notes that no "haunt of prophesy" or any other religious invention will last as long as "April's green" (part of Nature), and he contrasts paradise to the Earth because it is "unchanging" (54, 55). The Earth is full of change--from the birds who leave their warm fields (54), to the maidens getting up off their feet (55), to the "men that perish" and go here and there (56). One interpretation of this aversion to change that Stevens has, evidenced by the stagnancy of his paradise, could be that he is against organized religions because of their propensity to change their doctrines all the time. He might want people to go back to their original religious feelings (peace and comfort) without trying to explain them with theology. The feelings themselves would remain relatively unchanging; they would probably oscillate back and forth, but nothing new would be added to the mix like tends to happen in theological study.

Likewise, Stevens' paradise is marked by "solitude," "isolation," and spontaneity (56). None of these are very common at all in organized religions, which are especially characterized by strong community. In Stevens' worldview, the "religion," if there is one, is just a special feeling that each individual has and enjoys alone without trying to explain it to others or convert others to that same feeling. He sees this situation as bringing freedom that organized religion suppresses. The woman in the beginning of the poem who decides to sit outside relaxing on a Sunday morning instead of going to church suffers for her seizure of this freedom; while trying to daydream, her mind is haunted by Palestine--a remnant of the religion she is trying to leave (53). Stevens wants people to be free from those haunting feelings and able to find peace in whatever thoughts they want.