Love Calls Us to the Things of This World Essay Questions

How would the poem be different if it were written from the perspective of the angels observing the sleeping man? Would such a perspective even be possible?

On the one hand, it's possible to imagine a version of the poem written from the heavenly perspective. The angels could describe the sleeping man's form, and perhaps even articulate what it's like to view and speak to his soul. What is harder to imagine, however, is whether the angels could understand the domestic chore of washing clothes as an occasion for spiritual connection. That is, one doesn't know whether the angels understand themselves as messengers, whether they know they are teaching the man something by their very presence, or whether their "impersonality," as described in this version of the poem, means they don't perceive what it's really like to live as a human being. Of course, the angels might have other interesting thoughts about human life—for example, what it means to be awake or asleep, two categories that don't appear to apply to angel beings who simply float on air for eternity.

Why does the poem focus on laundry as a chore?

Laundry is a physical act, and it was so especially before the advent of washing machines, when clothes had to be cleaned by hand. Clothing and its stains tell a story of ordinary human life: every bit of food, dirt, or other material on clothing tells of that item's use in daily activity. To wash clothing is to ready it for use again, in the full understanding that it will once again be dirtied. Thus washing never ends, but is a hopeful act all the same—the person doing the washing hopes that, at least for a time, the clothes might appear as pure and bright as possible. In this sense, laundry is an allegory for the connection between the heavenly and the mundane that the poem seeks to illustrate.