Discovering the essence of Christianity is too varied and diverse a topic for anyone to pin to solely one definition. How one approaches the topic of Christianity is often in accordance to their personal foundations of religious belief. Sometimes these beliefs are deeply seeded during childhood so, as children mature into adults, they seldom doubt that which has been taught to them for so many years. English poet, Florence Margaret Smith, was not one of these individuals. Smith, more popularly known by her nickname "Stevie", was raised in and around the Catholic religion and Christian tradition for many years but still grappled with many issues surrounding the Christian church and the heralded deity they called Lord. Stevie Smith wrote theologically inspired poetry because she was an existentialist who was attempting to understand the Christian environment while Christianity had shifted from the existentialist's point of view.
             To be an ontological existentialist, one must "participate in a situation, especially a cognitive situation, with the whole of one's existence", according to Paul Tillich, German philosopher, theologian, and author of Courage to Be (124). Operating within this definition, Smith would be obligated to interact within the infrastructure of Christianity. She would have to attend church on Sunday mornings, visit with elderly women at socials after the service, and passionately immerse herself in at least one Bible study course offered within the "House of the Lord", for a significant amount of time. However, Tillich does not just state one must become physically involved in any given situation to be marked as an existentialist, but become involved "with the whole of one's existence" in a "cognitive situation". Smith is required at this point to completely surround herself, physically and mentally with the Christian tradition and all it repres...