Free Faith In Poetry Literature Review Example

A Comparison of Warren’s “A Thought on the Inestimable Blessing of Reason” and Wheatley’s “On Being Brought from Africa to America”
The two poems, “A Thought on the Inestimable Blessing of Reason” by Mercy Otis Warren, and “On Being Brought from Africa to America” by Phyllis Wheatley, are rich in meaning. The poems can be interpreted from a variety of points of view, including political, social, and religious. When the poems are analyzed from a religious point of view, the concept of faith need be discussed. In fact, the two poems, when taken together, contribute quite significantly to faith.
Because of the vast possibility of interpretations of these two poems, faith may not at first reveal itself. It is true that both points do concentrate on religious themes including devotion and servitude. The message Wheatley suggests is that the journey from Africa was, in fact, a blessing. Widely considered to be tragic and a brutal denial of human rights, Wheatley provides a silver lining: the lord presented the difficult situation so that God could be found. In other words, faith in God and his will can help us to cope with any trial and tribulation that comes our way. Faith is, in fact, the ultimate theme of this poem.
Similarly, Warren’s poem lends huge importance to faith. She speaks about the human faculty of ‘reason’ commenting that this faculty is a gift from the divine and because we are endowed with it, we are blessed and should see that it flourishes by following God’s will. Faith that we are endowed with God’s blessing and have the ability to conceive of the divine is reason enough to follow. Faith underpins the entire message of this poem as well.
Whether art is created as a celebration of faith or it is what promotes faith, these two poems are saturated in religious connotations, especially faith. Whether these two poets tackle the concept of faith uniquely is a matter of interpretation, but they have certainly created two memorable poems for future generations.