"Love Calls Us to the Things of This World" Analysis
Tim Lanterman
English 104-041
04 April 2012
“ Love Calls Us to the Things of This World” by Richard Wilbur is a poem about our reason for living. The reason we get up every morning and go about our day according to Wilbur is love. The title of this poem clearly is making that statement. The title however is not quite enough to portray exactly what it is that we are being called back from. When we are sleeping, our souls become part of a peaceful and pure realm. In contrast the waking world is full of stress and undesirable challenges, a world in which the soul has no desire of being part of. Using highly refined diction and structure, Wilbur portrays the contrast between the two worlds and our soul's reason for accepting the return to reality.
The structure of the poem can be separated in to two parts. The first half describes the soul's perception of the surrounding world as it's body first begins to wake up. This is set during the period between true consciousness and the dream world. In this moment reality becomes pure and timeless. In the third line, the author describes the soul “hanging bodiless and simple.” Using this kind of diction to set the tone as a sort of mock-seriousness and creates a sense of suspension and detachment from the world. Still within the beginning of the poem, the tone seems to sway between humor and spirituality. As an example of the humor used, the author writes “The morning air is all awash with angels.” Still conveying a strong sense of spirituality, this line also serves as a pun towards the angels being described through the hanging laundry just outside of the open window. It also gives the spiritual world a likeness of heaven, full of angels. The humor is in the word choice “awash” because it serves a double meaning. The first meaning is that the air is “full” of the angels, and the other meaning is the fact that people “wash” their laundry to make it clean and fresh again. The first half of the poems diction is well
English 104-041
04 April 2012
“ Love Calls Us to the Things of This World” by Richard Wilbur is a poem about our reason for living. The reason we get up every morning and go about our day according to Wilbur is love. The title of this poem clearly is making that statement. The title however is not quite enough to portray exactly what it is that we are being called back from. When we are sleeping, our souls become part of a peaceful and pure realm. In contrast the waking world is full of stress and undesirable challenges, a world in which the soul has no desire of being part of. Using highly refined diction and structure, Wilbur portrays the contrast between the two worlds and our soul's reason for accepting the return to reality.
The structure of the poem can be separated in to two parts. The first half describes the soul's perception of the surrounding world as it's body first begins to wake up. This is set during the period between true consciousness and the dream world. In this moment reality becomes pure and timeless. In the third line, the author describes the soul “hanging bodiless and simple.” Using this kind of diction to set the tone as a sort of mock-seriousness and creates a sense of suspension and detachment from the world. Still within the beginning of the poem, the tone seems to sway between humor and spirituality. As an example of the humor used, the author writes “The morning air is all awash with angels.” Still conveying a strong sense of spirituality, this line also serves as a pun towards the angels being described through the hanging laundry just outside of the open window. It also gives the spiritual world a likeness of heaven, full of angels. The humor is in the word choice “awash” because it serves a double meaning. The first meaning is that the air is “full” of the angels, and the other meaning is the fact that people “wash” their laundry to make it clean and fresh again. The first half of the poems diction is well