No Coward Soul Is Mine Essay Questions

How does the speaker portray God in the poem?

In the poem, the speaker offers a portrait of God as a force present in all aspects of existence. She extensively lists all of the different things that God shapes, controls, and animates. At the same time, she also repeatedly notes that God is eternal and, therefore, above all of these things. His existence is one that "pervades" every element of being but also contains all parts of it. This framing of divine power is important to the poem as a whole because it shows that the speaker has faith in something that is both real and omnipresent, and far removed from all earthly concerns.

To what does the speaker compare other beliefs?

She compares other beliefs to weeds and the foam on the surface of a stream. The first comparison makes these beliefs seem weak and insubstantial. The second depicts them as unimportant, frivolous, and irrelevant to the force of the stream's flow. This second comparison also highlights the power of the speaker's faith (the stream) in contrast to the uselessness of the foam. This image further supports the idea these other "creeds" are a distraction from the path the speaker views as true and correct.