Taylor, Edward

1642

Sketchley, England

June 24, 1729

Westfield, Massachusetts

Puritan minister and poet

" . . . Is this thy play,/To spin a web out of thyself/To catch a fly?/For why?"

From Edward Taylor's poem "Upon a Spider Catching a Fly."

Edward Taylor was a Puritan minister in Westfield, Massachusetts, who wrote poetry to express his religious inspiration and beliefs. (Puritans were a Christian group who observed strict moral and spiritual codes.) The only verses by Taylor that appeared in print during his lifetime, however, were two stanzas from "Upon Wedlock & Death of Children" (1682 or 1683), which Puritan minister Cotton Mather (see entry) included in his book Right Thoughts in Sad Hours (1689). His work was virtually unknown until scholars discovered and published his poetry in the twentieth century. Yet today he is considered a major American poet, and his more than two hundred Poetical Meditations (1682–25) have been called the most important poetic achievements of colonial America. Although he accepted the stern beliefs of his fellow Puritans, he often focused on God's grace (good will) and the experience of religious ecstasy (joy) and that spirit is reflected in his verse.

Seeks religious freedom

Edward Taylor was born in Sketchley, England, around 1642. Little is known about his early life, but scholars assume his parents were dissenters (Protestants who rebelled against the practices of the Church of England, the official religion of the country). Nevertheless, Taylor apparently did not experience persecution as a result of his family's beliefs while he was growing up. Although he supposedly went to Cambridge University, there is no record of his attendance. In addition, his religion prevented him from taking the oath of loyalty to the Church of England that was required of all Cambridge students. Taylor must have received an education, however, for he later wrote that he was a teacher in rural England during the mid-1660s.

In 1668 Taylor decided to join other Puritans in seeking religious freedom in the American colonies. Leaving his home and family, he set sail for the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Upon his arrival he contacted Puritan leader Increase Mather (see box in Cotton Mather entry) and John Hull, master of the Massachusetts mint (government agency that prints money). Through these connections Taylor was able to study for the ministry at Harvard College. When he graduated with a bachelor of arts degree in 1671 he accepted a position as the only minister in Westfield, Massachusetts, a town on the frontier about a hundred miles away from Harvard. In 1674 Taylor married Elizabeth Fitch, and after her death he wed Ruth Wyllys in 1692. With his two wives he had fourteen children, most of whom he outlived.

Portrays benevolent God

Taylor remained in Westfield for the rest of his life—fifty-eight years. During the late 1670s he began writing poetry, and he continued to compose verses until shortly before his death. Like other Puritan poets, he used plain, everyday images such as a spider catching a fly or a "sweeping flood" to convey the power of God. He also described the universe as a "Bowling Alley" in which the Creator (God) is a sportsman who rolls the sun into its place. Other images depicted God as a designer hanging the "Tapistry" of the world's landscape and lighting the sky with "twinckling Lanthorns [twinkling lanterns]." Twentieth-century scholars, who discovered Taylor's manuscripts in the 1930s, have organized his work in three distinct groups according to chronology and themes.

Taylor completed his first collection of poems, a total of thirty-five, which he gave the title God's Determinationstouching his Elect, in the early 1680s. With this group, his main theme is that a forgiving God presides over the battle between Christ (the embodiment of goodness) and Satan (the Devil, or the ultimate evil force) for control of the elect (Christians who are chosen by God for salvation, or forgiveness of all sins). By portraying a loving and merciful God, Taylor differed dramatically from his fellow Puritans, who constantly warned their congregations that an angry God would doom them to eternal suffering—in the fiery furnace of the underworld—if they did not repent (feel regret) for their sins. For instance, the most popular clergyman-poet of the day, Michael Wigglesworth, wrote The Day of Doom. In this collection of verses he attempted to frighten his readers into seeking forgiveness from God.

A best-seller

Edward Taylor is now considered a major American poet, but his unpublished verses were not discovered until the twentieth century. The most popular poet during Taylor's lifetime was Michael Wigglesworth, a clergyman whose book The Day of Doom (1662) became a best-seller. By 1751 The Day of Doom had gone through seven editions. The sixth edition of his popular second book, Meat Out of the Eater (1670), was published in 1721. Wigglesworth's works were so often read and reread that no copies of the first edition of either book have survived. His verse sermons did not appeal to later generations, but his contemporaries admired and heeded his dire predictions. Wigglesworth warned that hellfires awaited "whining hypocrites, Idolaters, false worshippers,/Prophaners of Gods Name, Blasphemers lewd, and Swearers shrewd,/Scoffers at Purity, Sabbath-polluters, Saints persecuters,/Presumptuous men and proud"—and a whole array of other sinners bound for eternal damnation.

Composes occasional poems

Taylor's second group of poems consists of occasional verses (poems for special occasions), which were probably written in the 1680s. Departing from great theological (religious theory) issues, he wrote about common human experiences to express his faith. For instance, in "Upon Wedlock, & Death of Children," he showed how love between husband and wife is strengthened through the loss of children. Grief leads to a better understanding of divine will. In "Upon a Spider Catching a Fly" he portrayed the "dance of death" between a spider, a fly, and a wasp. The poem symbolizes the human predicament: the sinner (the "silly fly") risks being caught by Satan ("Hell's spider"), while the person who is saved (the wasp) has the strength to escape Satan's web.

"Upon a Spider Catching a Fly"

In "Upon a Spider Catching a Fly" Edward Taylor portrayed the "dance of death" between a spider, a fly, and a wasp. The poem symbolizes the human predicament: the sinner (the "silly fly") risks being caught by Satan ("Hell's spider"), while the person who is saved (the wasp) has the strength to escape Satan's web.

Thou sorrow, venom [poison] elf.
Is this thy play,
To spin a web out of thyself
To catch a fly?
For why?
I saw a pettish [angry] wasp
Fall foul therein.
Whom yet thy whorl pins [pins on a spinning wheel] did not clasp
Lest he should fling
His sting.
But as afraid, remote
Didst stand here at
And with thy little fingers stroke
And gently tap.
His back.
Thou gently him didst treat
Lest he should pet [grow angry],
And in a froppish [irritable], waspish heat
Should greatly fret
Thy net.
Whereas the silly fly,
Caught by its leg
Thou by the throat tookst hastily
And 'hind the head
Biter dead.
This goes to pot, that not
Nature [natural reason] doth call.
Strive not above what strength hath got
Lest in the brawl
Thou fall.
This fray seems thus to us.
Hell's spider gets
His intrails [internal organs] spun to whip cords thus.
And wove to nets
And sets [snares].
To tangle Adam's race [humans]
In's [his] stratigems
To their destructions, spoil'd, made base
By venom things
Damn'd sins.
But mighty, gracious Lord
Communicate
Thy grace to break the void, afford
Us glory's gate
And state.
We'll nightingale sing like
When perched on high
In glory's cage, thy glory, bright.
And thankfully,
For joy.

Reprinted in Elliott, Emory, and others, eds. American Literature: A Prentice Hall Anthology. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1991, pp. 160–61.

Produces best work

Taylor's greatest contribution to American literature was his third group of poems, which he titled Preparatory Meditations Before My Approach to the Lord's Supper. Numbering nearly two hundred, the verses in this collection are remarkable for being distinctly non-Puritan. Again, the poet depicted a loving God who is willing to forgive sinners. Taylor composed the verses in Meditations to prepare himself to give communion to his congregation, and the poems reveal his spiritual journey through the world. Reflecting on his love for God, he meditated on God's equally strong love for humankind: it is "matchless . . . filling Heaven to the brim!" Taylor continued writing poetry until 1725, only four years before his death. He composed his verses primarily for personal purposes, so colonial Americans did not read his work. Yet Taylor's poetry is valued today not only for its literary merit but also for its glimpses into the gentler, more human side of the Puritan spirit.

For further research

"Edward Taylor" in The Puritans: American Literature Colonial Period (1608-1700).http://www.falcon.jmu.edu/-ramseyil/amicol.htm Available July 13, 1999.

Elliott, Emory, and others, eds. American Literature: A Prentice Hall Anthology. Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1991, pp. 160–61.

Grabo, Norman S. Edward Taylor. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1962.

Silverman, Kenneth, ed. Colonial American Poetry. New York: Hafner, 1968.

Stanford, Donald E. Edward Taylor. Minneapolis, Minn.: University of Minnesota Press, 1965.