The Altar

Again, while reading this poem and discussing it in class I find it hard to separate the literature from previous knowledge and experience. Like someone else said in class today, growing up in a religious household the phrase 'your body is a temple' was commonly heard so my first interpretation of The Altar goes straight to that interpretation. So even though that is the more subtle interpretation for some, it was the most obvious and blatant to me, while the other ones were more obscure. So I wonder how possible it is to truly separate yourself from the literature, because you would have to alienate your past.