Matthew Arnold's "The Forsaken Merman"

I find it incredibly intriguing and creative that poets can write about mermaids in the sea and relate it to religion somehow. During the Victorian Age, Christianity was being questioned. In this poem Arnold is stating that religion and imagination cannot exist together. In the beginning the Merman is telling the children to call Margaret once more before they leave. Margaret is a woman who lives on the land. She once would play with them but she won't some see them anymore. Obviously this image of Margaret and the Merman is only in Margaret's imagination. But the children call her and call her and she never comes. She left them because she heard her church's bell ring. It was Easter time and she had to go pray. She says to the Merman, "I lose my soul, Merman, here with thee." The Merman and the children proceed to go to the church and find Margaret. They peek in the windows of the church and see that her "eyes were seal'd to the holy book" and would not look at them even when they called to her. The priest prays loud so no one can hear them. When they leave she goes about her business spinning her wheel. But when she looks out at the sea it makes her sad. The Merman says she is a cruel and faithless mortal and he will forever rule the sea alone. The Merman and the children represent her active imagination and what makes her happy. But she fears losing her soul if she continues to dream up these fantasies. For a writer, blocking one's imagination is a death sentence. They feed of their imagination. But if you believe in something that is not contained in the Bible, you must not be devout. People didn't like the magic in Harry Potter. Though it was all fun and games, people saw the use of magic as evil witchcraft and would not let their children see it. There are some that believe in ghosts or other things in this world that have no explanation. You cannot believe in those things because they are not explained. Seeing proof of the afterlife is saying you don't trust that there is one.