Edward Taylor 1645-1729
The following selections were written by Edward Taylor, the most important American poet of the Puritan period. He preached in a frontier town of western Massachusetts and wrote poetry privately to express his great love for God. Because his poems were so personal, he did not want them published, and they remained in manuscript for more than 200 years. Finally they were found in a dusty corner of the Yale University Library.
In the following poem, Taylor imagines himself in heaven looking down on his fellow New England Puritans, who are on their way to heaven in a horse-drawn coach—Christ’s coach—which, of course, means figuratively that they are going to heaven through believing in Christ. These New England saints are singing at the top of their lungs, happy that they are in Christ’s coach, but you will note that the harmony is not perfect. Man is a sinful creature and sometimes, says Taylor, the singers get out of tune. Also, he notes, there isn’t room in the coach for everyone, and some have to walk.
The Joy of Church Fellowship Rightly Attended
In heaven soaring up, I dropt an ear
On earth, and oh! sweet melody!
And listening, found it was the saints who were
Encoached for heaven that sang for joy.
For in Christ’s coach they sweetly sing,
As they to glory ride therein.
Oh! joyous hearts! Enfired with holy flame!
Is speech thus tasseled with praise?
Will not your inward fire of joy contain
That it in open flames doth blaze?
For in Christ’s coach saints sweetly sing,
As they to glory ride therein.
And if a string do slip, by chance, they soon
Do screw it up again: whereby
They set it in a more melodious tune
And a diviner harmony.
For in Christ’s coach they sweetly sing,
As they to glory ride therein.
In all their acts, public and private, nay,
And secret too, they praise impart.
But in their acts divine and worship, they
With hymns do offer up their heart.
Thus in Christ’s coach they sweetly sing,
As they to glory ride therein.
Some few not in, and some whose time and place
Block up this coach’s way, do go
As travelers afoot: and so do trace
The road that gives them right thereto;
While in this coach these sweetly sing,
As they to glory ride therein.
Next, Taylor’s great love of God is expressed in a beautiful figure of speech in which the poet wants God to use him as a housewife uses wool to make yarn and yarn to make cloth. In the first stanza, he asks God to make him into a spinning wheel, of which the flyers, distaff, spool, and reel all are parts. In the second stanza, Taylor wants to be a loom on which God can weave holy robes. A fulling mill is a place where cloth is dyed. Finally, the poet wants God to clothe him in the holy robes made on this imaginary loom. This poem is a highly original way to ask God to give one faith, love, and understanding. You should consider it a prayer.
Housewifery
Make me, O Lord, Thy spinning-wheel complete;
Thy holy Word my distaff make for me;
Make mine affections Thy swift flyers neat;
And make my soul Thy holy spool to be;
My conversation make to be Thy reel,
And reel the yarn thereon, spun of Thy wheel.
Make me Thy loom then; knit therein this twine;
And make Thy Holy Spirit, Lord, wind quills;
Then weave the web Thyself. The yarn is fine.
Thine ordinances make my fulling mills.
Then dye the same in heavenly colors choice,
All pinked with varnished flowers of paradise.
Then clothe therewith mine understanding, will,
Affections, judgment, conscience, memory,
My words and actions, that their shine may fill
My ways with glory and Thee glorify.
Then mine apparel shall display before Ye
That I am clothed in holy robes for glory.