Seeking Forbidden Knowledge in Digging for ChinaIn Richard Wilbur's poem, "Digging for China", he writes: "'China is far enough,' someone said. “Dig deep enough.” and you could see the sky as clear as the bottom of a well.'" (Lines 1-3) Wilbur was suggesting to his readers that if one looked at the world in a different way, they might find a place totally different We can see this concept when we explore Wilbur's poem as a whole. It talks about finding a paradise in one's garden. It places a lot of emphasis on prayer, on searching and digging deeper into this other world. He warns his readers that they must not waste the rest of their lives trying to change one thing. When we, the readers, break down Wilbur's poem, we see a continuing recognition of the religion the character in the poem is working on. and night to try to reach China He/she was on all fours trying to dig that hole "It was some kind of prayer, I suppose (Lines 12-13) This person realizes that." she must look elsewhere for the “paradise” she is trying to find, so she turns to God. When they do this, they are covered in brightness. Wilbur uses the word “pals” to express this idea. The true definition is a black velvet blanket that covers a coffin. If the person had not looked to God in prayer, then their “heaven” would be covered in this darkness, rather than the brightness they found. Another word Wilbur used in reference to prayer was “paten.” A paten is a plate on which the Eucharist takes place. The Eucharist is the body of Christ; his life. In the poem, the life the person was looking for was growing before them, but they were still looking into the hole. The person then begins to realize that they are looking in the wrong place. We see this when Wilbur writes, “My eyes were tired of looking into the darkness, my sunburned head hung in a hole.” (Lines 18-19) They realize that this idea of ​​their "paradise" is taking away from their lives and that they need to pull their heads out of the darkness it has caused. Wilbur makes the sun appear because it shows that the person is regaining consciousness.