Summary: Amor Divino Julia Alvarez

Álvarez uses the body as a metaphor for the soul. But she also uses metonymy: the bed represents the church, the kiss represents the Eucharist, and the lover’s touch represents grace. Every physical element is made to stand for a spiritual reality, thereby sanctifying the physical.

“Amor Divino” has been praised by feminist theologians and literary critics alike for its bold re-imagining of prayer. Some traditional Catholic readers have found the poem blasphemous, accusing Álvarez of reducing God to a sexual partner. However, most scholars argue that this reading misses the point. amor divino julia alvarez summary

Dr. Elena Martínez, a scholar of Latina religious poetry, writes: “Álvarez is not sexualizing God; she is divinizing sexuality. She argues that if God is the author of nature, then the natural human longing for touch is a reflection of the divine longing for connection with creation.” Álvarez uses the body as a metaphor for the soul

Others have compared “Amor Divino” to the work of the 16th-century Spanish mystic St. John of the Cross, who wrote The Spiritual Canticle using erotic imagery to describe the soul’s union with God. Álvarez acknowledges this tradition but updates it for a modern, feminist, post-colonial context. Where St. John wrote from a monastery, Álvarez writes from a woman’s bedroom. Alvarez contrasts the harsh, cold reality of the

Alvarez contrasts the harsh, cold reality of the United States with the warm, idealized memory of the island.

Álvarez avoids cold, abstract images. She writes of “sheets,” “skin,” “sweat,” “salt,” and “lips.” These concrete, sensual details ground the spiritual experience in the here and now. Heaven is not elsewhere; heaven is the warmth of another body.

This is not a poem of youthful rebellion. The speaker is an older woman. She has spent decades living under religious judgment. Now, with the wisdom of age, she feels free to speak her truth. Aging has given her the courage to say what the young nun or the guilt-ridden mother could not: that desire is not dirty, and that God is not a killjoy.