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   pmiranda2857 Teacher
   High School - 10th Grade

   eNotes Editor

   The poem contains a dialogue or a conversation between the woman, who is on a journey to try and understand the value of her earthly life as opposed to her spiritual life, and the poet who is helping her decide.

   Religion is a part of this poem because the woman is relaxing on a Sunday morning, lingering over coffee and fruit, instead of going to church.  She considers the Christian tradition that requires mass attendance on Sunday and there is a suggestion that it is actually Easter Sunday, the holiest day on the Christian calendar. 

   Initially she feels content with her decision to enjoy the beauty of this Sunday by relaxing in the Sun, but then she realizes that her existence is only temporary, and unlike spiritual things which are eternal, her life will fade. 

   She then expands her thinking to include Greek mythology, mentioning Jove and how disconnected he was from an earthly life, he had no connections to nature like she does.

   In the end, the poet and the woman decide to abandon the traditional Christian form of worship because she feels that it does not hold any promise except the coldness of the grave.

   She embraces a life of earthly pleasures, a pagan lifestyle that makes her feel free to seize the day.  

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   Posted by pmiranda2857 on Saturday September 6, 2008 at 1:08 PM