What is creation? A philosophical analysis on "Sunday Morning" (1915) by Stevens Wallace

"For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything.”


Hebrews 3:4

Over the course of the years, the provenance of humans and everything that surrounds them have been the subject of reflection and search for the truth about it. When we think about the concept of “creation”, there are two opposite conceptions about this. On the one hand, take into account the physical aspect of creation that relates to the ability the human race has to create or build objects from scratch. From architecture, engineering and other disciplines, humans have tried to exercise this capacity. But going further, creation as a physical act also takes into consideration facts such as the biological process of birth or “creation” of a new being or the physical creation of the planets and everything inside of them. Those facts are studied by science, for instance, Physics tries to explain how the universe was created, taking into account only concrete aspects such as particles and chemical elements to get to a possible theory of how things were created. Another example of this may be biology that studies, among other things, the form in which a being can be developed until its birth, that is to say, biological elements that interact in the creation of life. This can be considered as a physical approach to the topic of creation that excludes every abstract element leaving only aspects that can be approached from a "partial" or scientific point of view.

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On the other hand, there is a metaphysical conception of “creation.” First, it is necessary to define metaphysics as a way of thinking beyond the physical plane. This discipline takes into account abstract elements such as spirit, mind and conception. Religion and other distinct spiritual beliefs are among the greatest defenders of creation as a metaphysical fact. They take into special consideration non tangible objects as energies over particles and, especially in religion, divinity as a major actor in the creation process. The role of divinity within “creation” is not only related to the process of the creation of everything a person can observe around him or her but also to the form in which ideas are created in the human mind. With this, a divinity is considered the one who creates and therefore is religiously adored for it and consequently “divinity” can be taken as an object of veneration.

In the poem “Sunday Morning” of Wallace Stevens (1915) emerges a dichotomy between physics and metaphysics being represented the first by nature and the second by a god of a religion. The protagonist of the poem refuses to venerate a god of a religion and on the contrary, she proposes herself to give the "divinity" to the surrounding nature that is palpable and concrete. In the first two lines of the stanza II, she questions the divinity within a god since it is abstract and “only comes in silent shadows and in dreams” Later, she questions why she cannot venerate those thing around her such as 

“comforts of the sun,
In pungent fruit and bright, green wings, or else
In any balm or beauty of the earth.” 

With this, it is possible to argue that she feels relieved to only think on the physical things she can observe therefore, she does not want to think about a metaphysical plane, in this form, abandoning any religious aspect that can lead her to it. Regarding this, the fact that this reflection occurs on a sunday morning has to do with the fact that sundays are typically taken as a religious day that is dedicated to commemorate all the sacrifices and, among other things, the creation of everything by a non tangible entity called god and she refuses to keep worship to that day, on the contrary, using it to do activities of leisure as a late breakfast and reflecting.

Similarly, within the poem her mind is reflected as a calm water-lights and religion is represented as the “calm [that] darkens among water-lights” It can be argue that this conception of darkness in religion can be one of the main reasons she refuses to give veneration and divinity to an intangible god.

With all this, it is safe to argue that through “Sunday Morning” (1915). It is reflected the internal struggle between physical and metaphysical plane in the mind of the protagonist. Since for her, it is more peaceful to be focused on the concrete things that surround her– that may or may not be created naturally– than honors and venerate the creation and sacrifices of a god she cannot perceive physically.

References:

Stevens, W. (1915). Sunday Morning. Retrieved from https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/13261/sunday-morning January the 19th, 2018