Literature and religion have often been neighboring rivals, each offering multiple dimensions of meaning to experience. Each also has been traditionally defined in terms of a governing unity. But post-metaphysical critique has challenged the overarching reference to unity in favor of a recognition and embrace of difference. Taking the history of American poetics, this chapter pursues the implications of the shift from traditional metaphysics of unity through post-metaphysical critiques towards redefining both aesthetic and religious meanings through difference and multiplicity.