From Prentice Hall Literature
Edward Taylor (1642-1729)
Puritanism was a religious reform movement that began in England in the sixteenth century. The Puritans sought to reform the Church of England and to reshape English Society according to their beliefs. These efforts led to both civil strife and government persecution of the Puritans. In response, many Puritans, including Edward Taylor, fled to American colonies.
Before his emigration to America, Edward Taylor worked as a teacher in England. Upon arriving in Boston in 1668, Taylor entered Harvard College as a sophomore graduating in 1671. After graduation, he accepted the position of minister and physician in the small frontier farming community of Westfield, Massachusetts, and then walked more than one hundred miles, much of it through snow, to his new home.
Harsh Life in a New World
Life in the village of Westfield was filled with hardships. Fierce battles between Native Americans and the colonists left the community in constant fear. In addition, Taylor experienced many personal tragedies. Five of his eight children died in infancy; then his wife died while she was still a young woman. He remarried and had five or six more children.
Edward Taylor is now regarded as the best of the North American colonial poets. Yet, because Taylor thought of his poetry as a form of worship, he allowed only two stanzas to be published during his lifetime. Most of Taylor’s poetry, including “Huswifery,” uses extravagant comparisons, intellectual wit, and subtle argument to explore religious faith and affection.
The Puritan Plain Style
The Puritans’ writing style reflected the plain style of their lives—spare, simple and straightforward. The Puritan Plain Style is characterized by short words, direct statements, and references to ordinary, everyday objects. Puritans believed that poetry should serve God by clearly expressing only useful or religious ideas. Poetry appealing to the senses or emotions was viewed as dangerous.
Complete the questions below on the handout given to you.
Critical Reading
1. Respond: Huswifery means “housekeeping.” Given the title, were you surprised by the content of this poem? Explain.
2. Recall: To what household objects and activities is the speaker compared in the first two stanzas? Analyze: How do the images in the first two stanzas contribute to the idea of being “clothed in holy robes for glory,” stated in the third stanza?
3. Interpret: What images in the poem may have contradicted the Puritan requirement that clothing be dark and undecorated?
Deduce: What do these images suggest about the speaker’s feelings about God?
4. Interpret: What details in the final two lines convey Taylor’s belief that religious grace comes as a gift from God?
Analyze: What seems to be the poem’s overall purpose?
5. Synthesize: What household task or process might Taylor describe if he were writing this poem today?
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