To what extent does religious poetry appeal to readers who hold religious beliefs?
Moses Sumbukeni
To what extent do you agree that religions poetry appeals only to readers who have religious beliefs?
Poetry in general appeals to anyone who is interested in knowing what the poet is talking about for different purposes which could be educational, religious, political or historical. It is like a way of expressing ideas based on various issues of concern which could be child slavery, religion, education, personal feelings and thoughts like Sylvia Plath and so on. Poetry has three meaning; the first meaning is one that the reader gets from the poem, the second meaning is contextual meaning or the meaning relating to the way of life in the period it was written and received in. finally, the last meaning is based on personal values. Religion is a big institution that affects everyone and everything in generally from the government, society, parents and so on. Blake’s poems illustrate this and some of the poems from Robert frost although both poets show a contrast in their ideas.
Blake’s poems talks about everything, from social altitudes to child slavery, marriage, religion, nature and the industrial state. In other words, it appeals to a wide audience and talking wide audience. Blake’s poem “the chimney sweep” from the collection of songs of experience illustrates the social attitudes towards children and the church, parents and the church is involved in it. In the poem, Blake mentions that the church has been turned into an institution that promotes child enslavement and cruelty by allowing the culture of selling children to chimney masters to take place. “My father sold me, I was very young” is the quotation from the poem and by analysis suggests that parents were making money by selling their young children, young enough to barely to say a word. It also suggests that children had no power to say no to being sold at their young ages. The terms “very young” sounds innocent and sweet. In Blake’s days, it was common for parents to sell their children because socially it was accepted and parents thought they were doing the “right thing.” The other reason is that most people were financially poor and by selling their children, they could have some money in their pockets. “The parents have gone to pray to God” from songs of experience confirms that the fact the church allows child slavery. The term “gone” suggests an absence of parents from their children’s life and probably a lack of care and conscious about what their children are going through in the chimneys but a concern to be right with God. The term “pray” also suggests devotion to religion but Blake has deliberately used this term and the terms “God” and “pray” to mock the church because he thinks church is pretending to be doing God’s work but in actual sense, it is doing the opposite of God’s work. Robert frost’s poem is different from that of Blake’s because there is no mention of the church but religion is used to give the idea that we should look up to nature in order to be right with God. The fact that the church is not mentioned is significant in itself because it suggests that he may not view or trust the church as a place where an individual can connect with God. Frost states “give us pleasure in the orchard white” from his poem “a prayer in spring.” The quotation is a request of enjoyment from the beauty of nature around us and the term “us” may refer to the society or the people with religious beliefs. I agree with Blake we should look up to God for spiritualism and that the church was not a good role model to society at his time but it’s not right to mock the church if you think it’s not functioning as it should. I totally disagree with the concept of frost that we look up to nature to be right with God because the bible does not say so.
