Freneau On The Religion Of Nature Analysis

In Freneau’s poem “On the Religion of Nature”, is motivational and insightful. It encourages readers to see a bigger picture. It’s not just about the beauty you can find in nature, it is about the religion and peace you can find in it as well. He gets his message across with literary devices that speak directly but at the same time indirectly to the reader. The language in this poem makes it clear that Freneau was a firm believer in the ideas and nature of enlightenment. Freneau was against religions that bound an individual to a deity and a single belief.
The style of this poem gives it a scripture feel, though it is clear that Freneau wants readers to see it in a different way. Perspective is everything in a poem like this one. In lines one and two he states that a deity is not what gives out blessings and reveals the future, but instead that is natures job. “That power of nature, ever blessed, Bestowed religion with the rest." In lines five and six he justifies lines one and two by saying, “That power of nature, ever blessed, Bestowed religion with the rest.” This idea that you can find things like truth, love, tranquility, and blessings by putting your faith in something that has always been and will …show more content…
His poem is quick to shut down the idea of all born evil, a popular belief of religions at the time but offered the idea that challenges the notion by saying we are born good but evil comes from something else. This is interesting to me and I think it has something to do with the enlightenment period which brought forth the ideas of reason and nurture were what made individuals evil and nature is what keeps or can make them good. This is what I have inferred from lines seven, eight, and partially nine, which says, “Born with ourselves, her early sway inclines the tender mind to take The path of