As an "Ode" or lyric poem, Addison's poem ("The spacious firmament on high") doesn't try to tell a story or make an argument in the way that Absalom and Achitophel or The Vanity of Human Wishes do, but it does advance certain claims about the divine. Comment on this post with your observations about those claims. Where do you locate Addison's views on God in this poem? Which of the lines/images/turns of phrase best express them? Do you perceive any problems with the views poem advances?
Deadline: Wednesday (9/30), start of class.
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5 comments:
Addison makes an obvious statement that there is indeed a Creator. However, the nature and personality of this creator (kind, loving, sacrificial--aka the Christian view of God) is not revealed in this poem. Addison seems to reveal this God as one of power.
"Th'unwearied sun, from day to day, Does his Creator's power display, And publishes to every land, The works of an almighty hand"(5-8).
God is described as powerful and almighty, indicating that Addison was quite in awe of this God that he believed in. I do begin to wonder what Addison believed that God's relationship with man looked like. Is he a sort of Deist, who simply believed that God created the earth but doesn't have anything to do with the condition of man? Does Addison's conception of God go any further than just the Creator of the universe?? How would Addison respond to the Christian conception of God?
Addison's poem reveals his belief that God is clearly a powerful entity that serves as the driving and creative force behind the universe's material existence. With "th' unwearied [nature of the] sun," God's power is regarded as inexhaustible and "almighty" (2808, lines 5 and 8). Addison also suggests an auspicious nature to God, as the stars and planets are said to "all rejoice, and utter forth a glorious voice, for ever singing, as they shine" (2809). These final lines clearly impart a sense of joy in the nature of God's creations.
Addison makes no mention of God's roles past his identity as the joy-inspiring Creator of the cosmic universe and does not lend any other evidence to God's existence. Does this mean that God created the universe, and then abandoned man with nothing but the whims of man's free will?
In Addison's lyric poem, there is never any doubt whether or not God exists. That seems to be a given. He, much like Newton, turns to nature to prove the presence of a divine Creator. Lines 14-16, about the planets, especially sounds like Newton's theories on why there must be a God.
Just like Whitney commented, Addison is not making any statements about God beyond creation. We are not given enough information to make guesses into what his beliefs on God and the human condition may be. However, if we take a look at some of the word choice in the poem, we could argue that Addison is so caught up in the "shining" (lines 3 & 23), "wondrous" (line 10), "glorious" (line 22) and awe-inspiring aspects of the almighty creator that it is not important whether or not he believes in a God who has personal relationships with his subjects. What is important is the sincere emotion that is evoked from thinking about the creator and how those feelings seemingly trump all others at that moment.
I agree with everything that has been said so far and especially the lines that have already been cited. I want to add the last two lines of the poem, especially the last one (23-24): "For ever singing, as they shine,/'The hand that made us is divine.' "
This is about creation, God as my peers have stated but this ending note seems to argue that maybe those who are singing don't know what else to think. There is such positive connotation in the word choice and this ode which is meant to be sung is praising the creator (a God or greater being) as being great for the act of creation. It reminds me of a hymn sung in church that serves as a reminder of God and what he has done to improve our lives today.
I simply found it interesting for Addison to include it with his essay but I enjoyed the varied form in this text.
The poem is obscure through the first two stanzas. But the line "In Reason's Ear they all rejoice" defines and sets the mood for the poem. The poem is not about God.
"The Spacious Firmament on high," are not in fact about heaven... but rather about the heavens... about the sky and space (the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise...)
"Soon as the Evening Shades prevail,
The Moon takes up the wondrous Tale,
And nightly to the list'ning Earth
Repeats the Story of her Birth
:
Whilst all the Stars that round her burn,
And all the Planets, in their turn,
Confirm the Tidings as they rowl,
And spread the Truth from Pole to Pole."
What truth? God didn't make it. The turnings of the world are by reason. Addison is using religious images to portray the idea of reason in the world's operation being natural. The moon takes upon the power of God. It tells the story of Earth's birth. It takes away the volition of a deity and places it upon the natural.
"The Hand that made us is Divine." Yes. But the hand is not referring to God, but rather to science and nature.
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