Spirituality

While the title of this poem, “Chorale,” can refer more generally to a chorus or choir, the word's origins are distinctly religious, and the scholarly Young, who attended several prestigious institutions of higher education, would certainly have given due consideration to this fact. Indeed, his opening references to “belief” and “faith” would seem to leave little doubt that the poem has a religious aspect. Beyond these opening lines, however, the only phrase with direct association with religion is “of the elect,” which has connotations concerning the salvation of the soul. The reader might then consider the poem's spiritual aspects in a more general sense. The narrator certainly makes subtle references to fate, or predestination, which is often thought of in spiritual terms. Many religions hold that God has preordained all that will occur within his creation, and the narrator may be alluding to the presence of such a...