The poem "​Sunday morning​" by L ​ ouis MacNeice​ is a complex poem in which ​MacNeice 

puts the use of rhythm and contrast to great use, illustrating his understandings of that 
time's significance. It is made increasingly clear as the poem progresses that the poet 
sees Sunday mornings as a period of transition between the weekend and week; Sunday 
morning retains the freedom of the weekend while also reminding the individual of the 
impending week that will soon descend upon them. 

One of the most prominent features of this poem is the shift in structure between the 
two stanzas, a shift that highlights the opposing themes of freedom and bondage, the 
weekend and the week. In the first stanza, the number of syllables in each line is highly 
fluid; the first line features few syllables which then increases, reaching its apex at the 
center before decreasing as the stanza nears its final line. By creating a stanza with a 
structure such as this, ​MacNeice​ is creating within the reader a subconscious 
awareness of the fluidity of the poem, a quality that exemplifies the freedom of the 
weekend. The second stanza features a completely different structural style. It is much 
shorter, possessing only four lines instead of ten. Also, the first syllabic structure of the 
lines is much more rigid; the first two lines have twelve syllables and the second two 
have thirteen. This completely interrupts the flowing, free structural style that the first 
stanza had, replacing it with one of strictness and bondage, the bondage of the 
personality and spirit. Such a tone mirrors the tone of the week, in which one is not free 
to do what they wish, but instead must do what they are forced to by society, whether 
that be work or study. 

Beyond the contrasting stanza structure, M ​ acNeice​ puts specific word choice to great 
use, and with it creates a contrast that reinforces the themes of freedom and bondage 
within the weekend and the week. While describing the weekend, phrases such as 
"​man's heart expands​" are used, and the days themselves are even described as "​Fate's 
great bazaar.​" All of these phrases and the words within them have an undeniably 
positive connotation. Meanwhile, the week is described using blatantly negative phrases 
such as describing church bells as "​skulls' mouths that will not tire.​" Even the superficial 
subject of the second stanza, a church, is one that can invoke a sense of strictness and 
a lack of freedom.