"Millennium" and "Elect of Elohim"

Ina Coolbrith’s “Millennium,” is an overall sense of darkness because of the word choice she tends to use, then, near the end of the poem, she uses a turn with “Be still.” The poem is an opportunity to express Ina’s views of the Millennium. The audience would need to be one who is familiar with the idea of the Millennium, so they are able to recognize the idea, and can compare and contrast their ideas with Ina’s.

The title of the poem, “Elect of Elohim” by Orson F. Whitney is interesting, as someone might not understand what it means until they start reading the poem. The structure of the poem has dialogue, which invites the reader to take part in the poem more. At first, “the voice” has no name attached to it, which allows a sense of mystery, but then, later, the reader discovers Michael, Christ, and Lucifer are involved in the conversation. At the beginning, silence is mentioned several times within the same stanza, which adds to how the atmosphere surrounding the poem may be seen. The poem is written for an audience more familiar with the story—some key instances is how Whitney uses his word choice; for example, Kolob. Not very many people can recognize that word. He also subtly hits at other references from the Bible, such as “A prince in shepherd guise.” He continues to do so, throughout the poem—hinting towards both Old and New Testament references.