Edward Taylor Essay, Research Paper

I. Introduction

A. Biographical info on author

1. born in LeiceSterchire in 1642

2. Came to New England in 1668

3. graduated from Harvard I 1671 where he studied divinity

4. Moved to Westfield to be ordained as a minister in December of 1671

a. served continuously as a minister and physician, but because of King Philip’s War, he was not ordained for 8 years

5. Married Elizabeth Fitch and all 7 of their children died before them.

6. He did not want his poems published but finally were in 1937.

a. The collection is a series of poems in various forms and meters, which compose a sequential exposition of Puritan cosmology.

B. Author’s view on the world

1. Religious?Puritan

a. Everybody sins, and in order to get into heaven you must be chosen.

b. Wanted to rid the church of traditions

1) statues, paintings, instrumental music

c. Disapproved of all celebrations

d. Thought all physical actives were a sin on the Sabbath day (Sunday)

e. Held minister’s in high respect but resented the authority of the bishops

f. Wanted to return to the early practices of Christianity as described in the bible.

g. Beliefs still espoused.

1) They believed in a commitment to a morality, a form of worship and a civil society strictly conforming to Gods’commandments.

h. beliefs no longer espoused

1) Music is used in church worship, but puritans did not believe in that

2. Personal?.feelings described in poems.

a. metaphysical poems—abstract or theoretical characterized by intellectually challenging style and extended to metaphors

b. Examples?.