Separation of Body and Soul in Wilbur's
             "Love Calls Us to the Things of This World"
             A common religious belief is that to attain spiritual enlightenment, one must cast away that which is worldly, and elevate ones soul to a higher plane. The actions that man partakes in while on the earth will hinder ones ability to see that which is spiritual. However upon reading "Love Calls Us to the Things of This World," Wilbur makes the point that man searches for the spiritual world, through his actions done in the real world. The poem, through structure and ornate wording, shows a difference between the spiritual and the physical world, and the paradox of man searching for the spiritual through the physical world.
             It is shown that in the "morning air" the various laundry items seem to take on the form of "angels", even though they are naught but ordinary fabrics. "Some are in bed-sheets, some are in blouses,Some are in smocks: but truly there they are." This miraculous transformation of that which is physical into that which is spiritual further accentuates Wilbur's belief that the journey to the spiritual plane must be made through the physical world. Furthermore, take note that this scenario would not have been able to be created, without the aid of the shadowy "false dawn", another attribute of the physical world. We are assured that "truly there they are," filling whatever they are wearing "with the deep joy of their impersonal breathing," impersonal because the soul, in its natural state (as we are taught), lives a calm, pensive existence, not in the exuberant life of the body. The angels that the soul sees upon waking are an obvious contrast to the physical world, existing only on the level which the soul can see, though the soul resides within the body.
             Line 17 marks the transition point of the poem. "The soul shrinks" re...