Rapture Study Questions & Topics for Discussion

Rapture Topics for Further Study

Write a poem using the word "it" fifteen times in twenty lines. To what does your "it" refer? Is it difficult or easy to describe the same thing fifteen different ways? How does the large number of uses in a short poem influence what "it" references?

Do some research on the debate over the Christian belief in the "rapture." What does it entail and what are the basic arguments for and against it? What other religions, if any, have a doctrine similar to this one?

Of all the classical music composers, why might Biele have mentioned Bach in particular in this poem? Why a "cantata" specifically and what is the "psh-psh" of one?

Discuss the significance of the poem's title. Would calling it "Joy" or "Happiness" work just as well? Why or why not?