Love Calls Us to the Things of This World Analysis

At first glance, it would be easy to call this a free verse poem and be on our merry way. There's no rhyme scheme, and when we read it aloud, it's hard to hear any particular meter.But not so fast,...

We bet it's not everyday you read a poem in which a soul—a human soul—is the speaker. Well congratulations, Shmoopers, you've just done just that. In "Love Calls Us to the Things of This World,...

The setting of "Love Calls Us to the Things of This World" should be a pretty familiar one. Imagine your own bedroom, with a clothesline just outside. Imagine early morning, when the light just bri...

If you're all about the assonance and alliteration, well, so was Wilbur. And this poem is chock full of both of those poetic devices. The first line, for example, has the internal rhyme of "eyes" a...

To really get the most out of this title, you'd have to know a bit about an old guy named St. Augustine. Never heard of him? Never fear. Shmoop's got the scoop. St. Augustine was a Christian thinke...

Wilbur is concerned with linking our everyday lives to the greater spiritual world. His poetry is not religious, but it investigates human existence, and all the beautiful, wonderful, sometimes mes...

This poem takes a few close reads to get the full hang of. But once you get some of the major ideas worked out, things start to fall into place. Visibility is a little low in this thick forest, but...

Richard Wilbur served in the army during World War II. So he probably saw his fare share of non-joyful stuff. But hey, he's got this poem to make up for it. (Source.)Good ol' Richard was no strange...

You can bring the kiddos to this poem; there's nothing sexy going on at all.

Saint Augustine's Confessions (Title)