Sunday Morning

Wallace Stevens seems to believe that death is the mother of beauty. His assertion is that the paradise that exists is better than the world we see today, where fruit do not go overripe, and women do not stray through leaves of obliteration (VI, V). And yet, he seems to question the existence of a God or world hereafter, by calling Earth an island of solitude, unsponsored (VIII). Perhaps a compromise is reached by believing in a spirit world and paradise after death without God. In addition, Stevens seems to have a solid connection to nature by referencing mother earth as where people go to join after death (VI). He also discredits the idea of a great paradise after death as being more than the paradise we can see here like April's green (IV). However I am confident that he believes that death will be every bit of paradise as life may have been by saying all of our dreams will be fulfilled through death (V). These insinuations about death and life after seem to contradict each other, making the mystery even more mysterious.

There are many religions that seem to claim knowledge of the life after death, or the spirit world. Many claim that belief in a God and some prophet will get you to heaven. However, what is the true nature of heaven? Does it resemble our existence here on earth like what Stevens seems to imply, with a strong connection to life and rebirth, perhaps in a different plane of existence? The closest example paralleling the idea of life after death resembling that of the life we know today can be seen in the movie What Dreams May Come. This movie suggests that in death we will be reunited with those we knew in life, in a world that somewhat resembles what we knew of life alive. The connection to Earth and life on Earth is very strong, with the same settings. However, paradise takes on a surreal aspect like an impressionistic painting, or something Jackson Polloc would paint as well when the main character lives in a painting made by his still living wife. Perhaps heaven or life after death is really what the mind makes it, which is heavily impacted by our alive life. Therefore Steven's idea of fulfilment of dreams would make sense. For in that sleep of death what dreams may come when we have shuffled off this mortal coil, must give us pause (Shakespeare).