Wallace Stevens and Emile Durkheim Essay -- God Religion Religious Ess

Wallace St crimsons and Emile DurkheimTo more fully understand Stevens meter The vagary of arrangement at Key West, one feces look at the ideas of the poem in context of social-philosophical thought. Emile Durkheims theories on holiness closely parallel those of Stevens. two men believe that there is no supreme greater being, or God, that gives things order and meaning. But both(prenominal) men also believe that reality need to read order and meaning into the world to understand it, even if the meaning humans imply is false because there is no God. Since this manifestation of both mens ideas is so similar, Durkheims outline of ideas on religion can form a model by which Stevens poem can be analyzed. Furthermore, although there is no demeanor to prove that Stevens poem is based on Durkheims ideas, there are enough similarities that the two sets of ideas can be compared. twain Stevens and Durkheim believe that humans read order into the world to aid in understanding. In gene ral, Durkheim believed that humans create religion as a way to give events meaning and explain why things hand. In Origin of the predilection of the Totemic Principle, Durkheim elaborates on these ideas.Men know well that they are acted upon, scarce they do not know by whom. So they must cook up by themselves the idea of these powers with which they feel themselves in connection, and from that, we are able to turn back a glimpse of the way by which they are led to give them under forms that are really foreign to their nature and to transfigure them by thought. (172)The idea that society, which is created by commonwealth, can in turn act upon people is a difficult concept for humans to grasp. Instead, it is easier for humans to realize that actions happen by forces external to themselves and... ...kheims theories about religious thought and Wallace Stevens poem The Idea of Order at Key West seem unrelated, they actually focalize on similar points and come to a similar conclu sion. In the end, both men realize humans create meaning and order to plant abstract ideas into forms humans can comprehend. Therefore, by understanding what Durkheims ideas about religion are, one better understands the principle that Stevens is trying to convey in his poem. plant Cited Durkheim, Emile. On Morality and Society. Ed. Robert Bellah. The University of Chicago Press, 1973.Stevens, Wallace. Sunday Morning. The Columbia Anthology of American Poetry. editor in chief Jay Parini. Columbia University Press, 1995. 330-331.Stevens, Wallace. The Idea of Order at Key West. The Columbia Anthology of American Poetry. Editor Jay Parini. Columbia University Press, 1995. 334-335.