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Supplemental Notes on Edward Taylor

Note from the anthology introduction that Taylor was a newcomer to New England who became very well connected. Also note that he acted as a physician in Westfield, as frontier ministers were often of necessity required to do.

What do you think of the story of how Taylor's manuscripts were found?
Why do you think that he didn't publish them in his lifetime?

The poems show a conflict in Taylor between a strict Calvinism (an intellectual faith) and a very emotional Christianity that is almost more like that of a Catholic. Think about it... The Catholic mystical union is an effort to merge the human with the divine. That is much easier for Catholics to imagine than for Puritans because the Catholics accept the doctrine of transubstantiation. The Puritan cannot achieve that union. The best the Puritan can do is by meditating, to set one's heart on God, acquaint one's heart with the truth and the beauty of doctrine. Taylor's metaphysical conceits were a vehicle for trying to do the impossible -- for trying to bridge that gap that the Puritans cannot otherwise do.

Be sure to learn the definitions of "metaphysical poetry" and the "metaphysical conceit."
Find examples of how they are used in Taylor's poems.

Norman Grabo has called Taylor's "Meditations" "a form of secret prayer." There are 217 meditations in all, and they apparently were written in connection with Eucharist (Communion) Sundays and the sermons he prepared for them. All are in iambic pentameter, almost all rhyming ABABCC stanzas. The structure of the poems is similar to that of a sermon: They usually begin with a question or sometimes a metaphor in which the subject is stated; they proceed to diverse methods of development; and conclude with a petition.