God’s Will by Robert Louis Munger
I KNOW, I know where violets blow
Upon a sweet hillside,
And very bashfully they grow
And in the grasses hide—
It is the fairest field, I trow, 5
In the whole world wide.

One spring I saw two lassies go,
Brown cheek and laughing eye;
They swung their aprons to and fro,
They filled them very high 10
With violets—then whispered low
So strange, I wondered why.

I know where violet tendrils creep
And crumbled tombstones lie,
The green churchyard is silence-deep; 15
The village folk go by,
And lassies laugh and women weep,
And God knows why.

#9 Explain the meaning of the title:
The speaker of the poem uses religion and God to explain why there has been a death and to console the reader for the loss of a person. Therefore the title “God’s Will” serves the poem well for it is comforting to the reader to know that the death was the will of god. The word “will” as it is used in this title refers to the force of God. While it is unexplainable as to why this death has occurred, because it was God’s doing, the death is less severe. The will of God is what God decided would happen and therefore it is what was meant to be. When referring to the young women the speaker observes, he says, “lassies laugh and women weep, and God knows why” (18). The women in this poem are seen laughing and then in the next moment crying. The speaker later finds out that their happiness was destroyed by the news of the death. The title conveys the message to the reader that when one is confronted with the ambiguities of life and the hardships one might face, they can find comfort in knowing that “God knows why.” The title serves to explain to the reader that whatever happens in life is part of God’s plan. It is due to the omnipotence of God’s will that his people are forced to be along for the journey no matter what life throws at them.