Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Mina Loy’s "Religious Instruction" is a scathing critique of religious indoctrination, the contradictions inherent in faith as imposed on children, and the broader mechanisms by which society enforces conformity. The poem’s structure is free-flowing yet tightly controlled, moving from an ironic depiction of domestic religious tensions to a deeper exploration of the existential struggle between imposed belief and the innate human drive for autonomy. Loy’s modernist tendencies manifest in her fragmented syntax, enjambments, and unorthodox punctuation, all of which contribute to a tone that is both sardonic and piercingly analytical.

The poem begins with a dry observation of the traditional gendered division in religious upbringing: "This misalliance / follows the custom / for female children / To adhere to maternal practices." The term "misalliance" suggests a dysfunctional arrangement, a forced adherence to incompatible systems. The expectation that daughters adopt the religious practices of their mothers is framed as a passive inheritance, something dictated rather than chosen. Meanwhile, the atheist father sits in his "arm-chair," offering "ironical commentary" on the mother’s faith. This domestic tableau exposes the contradictions within the household: a skeptical patriarch, a pious mother, and a child caught between them, receiving conflicting messages about religion. The phrase "the prattle of the churchgoer" dismisses religious discourse as idle chatter, while the father’s "ironical commentary" suggests not engagement but detached amusement, reinforcing the idea that religion, as practiced in this setting, is not a profound spiritual experience but a habitual, often contradictory routine.

The poem then broadens its focus beyond a single household to expose the larger societal mechanism by which belief is imposed: "But by whichever / religious route / to brute / reality / our forebears speed us." The interplay between "religious route" and "brute reality" underscores the inherent contradiction—religion promises enlightenment but often leads to a harsh, inflexible world where doctrine takes precedence over personal experience. The sudden, jarring rhyme of "route" and "brute" highlights the violent imposition of belief, while "speed us" suggests an inevitability, as if individuals are propelled toward rigid dogma regardless of their will.

The presence of "a pair / of idle adult / accomplices in duplicity" furthers the theme of religious hypocrisy. Religion is not presented as a sincere conviction but as an imposed performance, something adults enforce upon their children while themselves remaining detached. The phrase "assumed acceptance" highlights the forced nature of religious belief—it is not internalized through conviction but instilled through expectation. This leads to a devastating critique: the "grace of God" is "defamed as human megalomania." Here, Loy suggests that what is presented as divine love is often a projection of human arrogance, a system in which individuals claim divine authority to justify control over others. The "Testament," rather than being a sacred text, is "seeded" with "inconceivable chastisement," a phrase that exposes the cruelty embedded within religious doctrine, where divine love is frequently intertwined with punitive judgment.

Loy’s depiction of Christ is particularly striking, subverting his traditional role as a figure of comfort and redemption: "and of Christ / who / come with his light / of toilless lilies / To say 'fear / not it is I' / wanting us to be fearful." The juxtaposition of Christ’s words with the assertion that he "wants us to be fearful" underscores the contradictions in religious messaging—while ostensibly offering peace, Christianity often fosters fear as a means of control. The image of Christ walking on water is similarly transformed: "He who bowed the ocean tossed / with holy feet / which supposedly dead / are suspended over head / neat- / ly crossed in anguish / wounded with red / varnish." The sacredness of the crucifixion is undercut by the mention of "varnish," which implies artificiality, as though the suffering of Christ has been commodified, turned into an object of veneration rather than understood as a historical or spiritual reality. The phrase "supposedly dead" introduces doubt, questioning not the resurrection itself but the way Christ's image has been used to sustain religious structures. Rather than inspiring liberation, this depiction of Christ looms over believers as a haunting, bloodied, and paradoxically lifeless authority.

The emergence of the "something-soul" from "slow-drying bloods of mysticism" is presented as a miserable event, not a triumphant spiritual awakening but a dismal inevitability. The soul is not exalted but burdened, forced into a religious framework it does not fully comprehend. The "instinct (of economy) / in every race / for reconstructing debris" suggests that religion is a human construct developed out of necessity—a way of making sense of the ruins of existence, a means of ordering chaos. Yet this instinct, rather than leading to enlightenment, has "planted an avenging face / in outer darkness." This suggests that religious belief, rather than providing comfort, has manufactured an oppressive sense of divine retribution, an ever-present specter that ensures conformity through fear.

Loy then moves into a more existential register, describing "The lonely peering eye / of humanity / looked into the Néant / and turned away." The "Néant," or "nothingness," represents the void—the abyss of meaninglessness that humanity refuses to confront. The act of turning away signals a refusal to accept an existence without imposed narratives, reinforcing the idea that religious belief is often a mechanism for avoiding existential uncertainty rather than confronting it honestly.

The poem’s final section turns toward a figure named Ova, whose name suggests the embryonic, the potential for new life. Ova represents an individual consciousness that seeks justice, "to arise and walk / its innate straight way / out of the / accidence of circumstance." This is a call for self-determination, a rejection of inherited doctrine in favor of a self-directed moral and intellectual journey. Yet even as Ova seeks "the magnetic horizon of liberty," society seeks to recall her, to ensure that individuals do not escape the structures imposed upon them. The phrase "dodging the breeders’ determination / not to return 'entities sent on consignment' / by their maker Nature" satirizes the idea that human beings are mere products of divine manufacture, sent into the world only to be molded into conformity.

Loy’s conclusion is both biting and tragic: "Lest Paul and Peter / never / notice the creatures / ever had had Fathers / and Mothers." This line exposes the religious erasure of personal lineage and individuality, reducing people to mere souls awaiting judgment rather than beings shaped by human relationships. The religious establishment, rather than guiding individuals toward their highest selves, seeks to ensure that they arrive at Eternity in a state of "moral effacement"—stripped of their agency, obedient and diminished.

The poem closes with a scathing twist: "Oracle of civilization / ‘Thou shalt not live by dreams alone / but by every discomfort / that proceedeth out of / legislation.’" This darkly ironic adaptation of Matthew 4:4, which originally states that man shall not live by bread alone but by the word of God, suggests that religious morality has been supplanted by legal and social control. Rather than providing spiritual fulfillment, society enforces a life of discomfort and restriction, ensuring that individuals conform not out of faith, but out of systemic compulsion.

"Religious Instruction" is a deeply critical meditation on the intersection of faith, authority, and autonomy. Loy dismantles the idea of religion as a purely benevolent force, exposing its role in reinforcing societal control and suppressing individual will. The poem’s fragmented syntax and ironic reversals enhance its critique, transforming what could have been a straightforward rejection of religious orthodoxy into a complex, layered examination of how belief is imposed, inherited, and, ultimately, challenged.

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