Edward taylor what was he up to

Subscribe to our monthly newsletter for announcements, education- related info, and more! How does the predictable, relatively rigid ababcc verse form of the Preparatory Meditations relate to the complicated spiritual struggles explored within the poems? What is the extended metaphor at work in this poem? Do they share similar concerns? How are they different?

What conclusions do they arrive at? Does his poetry seem influenced by her work? How is it different? Metaphysical poetry is characterized by its ornate language and by its profusion of metaphors and paradoxes. Does he seem more comfortable with one style than the other? Little is known about Taylor's early life. The date and exact place of his birth are uncertain. Born and raised in Leicestershire near Coventry, in a Nonconformist home, he left England because, as a devout Puritan, he felt unable to comply with the Act of Uniformity.

He was in his mids when he emigrated to America in and already embarked on a career in the ministry. His letters of introduction to Increase Mather and others, and his admission to Harvard in advanced standing, indicate that he was well educated. He was one of four speakers at his commencement in Taylor accepted a call to be minister at Westfield, where he spent the rest of his life.

In Westfield was threatened by Indian invasion. The village suffered no major attack, but not until , when hostilities ceased, was a church formally organized.

He had led in the preparations for the town's defense and had also become its teacher and physician. He drafted the creed for the new church and alone had responsibility for it in the early years. Taylor compiled a distinguished library. Of its approximately volumes many were copied by hand from books he was too poor to buy. His grandson Ezra Stiles, later president of Yale, described him as a classical scholar, master of three ancient languages, and an able historian, and as "A man of small stature, but firm; of quick Passions, yet serious and grave.

Scarcely known in its own day, Taylor's work was bequeathed to Yale University by a descendant in Not until was a significant selection of poems published, edited by Thomas H. One of Taylor's poems is a moving and complex elegy for his first wife, Elizabeth Fitch, whom he married in ; she bore eight children and died in In he married Ruth Willys; they had six children.

Not usually autobiographical, Taylor's poems fall into four groups. The first, "God's Determinations Touching His Elect, " is a long dramatic allegory written probably before Showing a limited preview of this publication:.

Edward Taylor. What Was He Up To? Jonathan F. Post, Robert Hass Post, Berkeley: University of California Press, , pp. Hass, R. What Was He Up To?. Post Ed. Berkeley: University of California Press. In: Post, J. Berkeley: University of California Press, pp. Hass, Robert. Post,