Edward Taylor used poetry as worship and preparation for corporate worship, and I think this is incredibly beautiful, especially in a time where we do rush into worship and seek to consume for ourselves. This kind of preparation is convicting (especially when "on time" to church really means "less than 10 minutes late" for me, leaving no room for any kind of heart-prep). His heart and obvious adoration of the Lord comes through in his writing. His poetry is very passionate, honest, and tender.
For the most part, I loved the use of extended metaphor in Edward Taylor's writing. I'll admit that "Meditation 150" ended up being pretty weird, but I'll blame some differing Song of Solomon interpretation for that. Some of the fullness of his writing and meaning behind the writing was probably lost due to the language of the time period and my lack of weaving knowledge. My favorite poem was "Prologue", which lays out the core of the rest of Taylor's writing: desire to displaying the glory of God to the best of his ability ("To Prove Thou art, and that Thou art the best).
Taylor refers to himself as a crumb of dust throughout, acknowledging that, without God, he is nothing, showing humility and dependence. I don't know of many people who would refer to themselves as dust so willingly and adamantly. He dedicates his writing to the Lord ("I am this Crumb of Dust which is designed To make my Pen unto Thy Praise alone") and asks that the Lord would bring life to this crumb of dust in the fourth stanza by allowing him to bring glory to God, perhaps somewhat in the fashion of Adam: "then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature."- Gen. 2:7 Stanza five starts out with this same language of "breathing dust". The extended metaphor brings some mental imagery that is almost goofy (dirt that can breathe and write), but as goofy as it is, I found the language really touching and relatable.
I would agree that his humility is impressive, and it's character traits like these that make poets like Bradstreet and Taylor so inspiring to read. His interweaving of both Biblical and contemporary (well, contemporary for him anyway) imagery is also masterfully done, and I liked your catch on the Genesis passage.
ReplyDeleteOne final relationship between Bradstreet and Taylor to note: both fairly extensively use Greek myth in their poetry, something that seems odd with their dominantly Christian themes. Taylor and Bradstreet both have a prologue that serves as an appeal of sorts to God/the gods of art, Bradstreet appears very comfortable in sprinkling Greek imagery throughout her works, and Taylor references the Gordian knot in " Upon Wedlock, and Death of Children." Does this simply showcase the breadth of their scholarly knowledge or does it suggest something more?
Great thoughts. I am very impressed with his humble spirit, as well, and how he uses his writings for worship. I never thought it was that important, either, about doing a heart-prep before the Sunday service. Last Sunday I showed up a bit late, and went to bed late the night before. My heart was not in the right place during the sermon. I hope to live this new perspective out, the rest of my life--I know it would be a huge benefit in my relationship with the Lord.
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