Steven's Sunday Morning

Upon my first read through of this poem, I immediately liked it. I love the word choice, and the images as well as the descriptive colors. In the beginning, the woman sounds relaxed as she is just lolling around. I found that idea quite fulfilling, especially because life is stressful at times. But as I read on, I realized that the poem was more than simply a woman enjoying a relaxing Sunday morning. The woman seems to be contemplating the spiritual world, when Stevens uses words like "Paradise," "Ancient Sacrifice," and "Divinity:" the poem begins to feel holy. As she is taking in the beauty of the natural world she is searching for spiritual completion.

The existence of the beauty of the natural world is interesting, because it seems as if the speaker of the poem is making her choose between devotedness to her religion and the natural world. The irony of this is the God did create the natural world, and she is also his creation: which therefore means that the speaker's idea for her to have one or the other is a total contradiction.

One of my favorite images is that of the bird. There are many birds mentioned in the poem and for good reason. Birds represent freedom - they can be wherever they want to be. The cockatoo that is mentioned is a domestic bird, that is bright and exotic, which could represent luxury. The woman is struggling between the luxury of leisure and the notion of devoting herself to her faith.