Ideas About Religion in Poetry

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Ideas About Religion in Poetry

Exploring the poems in cluster one I have discovered several

references to God and human nature. Through the language displayed and

emotions expressed I will now discuss various ideas about religion.

The poem "Blessing" expresses the value of water as "the rush of

fortune" and "silver crashes". It suggests the greatness of God since

he provides water - "the voice of a kindly god". Water is seen to be a

gift from God and the poets line, "roar of tongues", reminds us of

this as it compares to the bible, "tongues of fire". People collecting

the water are described as the congregation, a term used for a

collection of people as they worship God. Once again the poet,

Dharker, expresses the wonder of God as he describes water as a

"blessing" to the children. The variety of materials discussed in

collecting water suggests many cultures across the world, "pots,

brass, copper, aluminium, plastic buckets" and even "frantic hands".

Various types of people are reflected in the metals. This emphasises

its need across the world and its necessity for survival. Therefore,

it can be seen we are all equal in the need for water to survive and

it is God that provides for us and gives us all life.

In contrast, the poem "Nothing's Changed" expresses the inequality of

people, "whites only inn". It is clear that the poet, Afrika, does not

believe all people follow God's teaching that we are all equal. His

anger is expressed throughout the poem, "anger of my eyes". References

to the treatment of black people, "soft labouring of my lungs," and

the contrasting indulgence of whites, "haute cuisine," suggest the

unfairness between people.

As Afrika returns to where he once lived he is clearly still angry, as

he exclaims, "Nothing's changed". Therefore, he still believes there

is a barrier between the blacks and whites. Inequality of people is

against the Christian religion.

The poem "Night of the Scorpion" displays the benefits of religious

belief as the women's life is saved.

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