“Sunday Morning” by Wallace Stevens Analysis by Kailey Johnson, McDowell Pickle, and Bobby Monaco

"Sunday Morning" by Wallace Stevens On a Sunday morning while most people are at church, a woman is sitting at home. Once she notices the beauty around her, she does not feel guilty about skipping church. As she starts to daydream, she begins to question Christianity. She likes the idea of heaven, but she feels like she can find that comfort in the natural world as well. In this poem, the woman is in constant skepticism of different ideas of heaven and paradise.

Metaphysical Poem This poem was written during the time period of American Transcendentalism. Metaphysical poems usually consist of strange imagery, frequent paradoxes, and often question religion, therefore "Sunday Morning" is a metaphysical poem

Theme and Purpose Theme- Be content with current life and fear what is to come after. The purpose of this poem is to get society to understand the flaws and unrealistic nature of an eternal life, and to accept and cherish the one they are given.

Annotation Proof

Thesis and Topic Sentences Thesis: In “Sunday Morning” by Wallace Stevens satisfaction of natural life is portrayed through the human fear of death, mortal questioning of the afterlife, and reality of an eternal paradise. Topic Sentence 1: The poet begins the poem by depicts the slow and terrifying with dark imagery, reinforcing the coldness of death. Topic Sentence 2: Once establishing fear of the act of dying, the author questions religion and concludes nothing follows death. Topic sentence 3: After citing his beliefs, Wallace notes the foolishness in praying to an empty heaven in hopes of eternal paradise.

Secondary source Bachelorandmaster.com sees the poem as a criticism on Christianity. They not that Stevens applauds the woman for having a rational fear of the afterlife but then claim that the poet attacks religion. They cite that Stevens sees the church as foolish for praying to what he believes is an empty sky, that their “chants” are irrational as there is nothing to receive them.

Work Cited "Sunday Morning: Wallace Stevens - Summary and Critical Analysis." Sunday Morning: Wallace Stevens - Summary and Critical Analysis. 15 Sept. 2012. Web. 21 Jan. 2015. <http://www.bachelorandmaster.com/britishandamericanpoetry/sunday-morning.html>.