Edward Taylor Essay

Living during the late 1600’s, Edward Taylor lived through a time of many hardships. With the constant battles between colonists and natives going on, he lived in fear of his home and life being in jeopardy. Yet, through this terrifying time, he wrote poetry that earned him the name of the best colonial poet. Some aspects that can be looked at of his writing are his style, subject matter, and tone. The first area of his writing is his style. Edward Taylor’s style consists of both easy to understand sentences, and a fluid happy word choice that shows the loving side of god. An example of his style is â€Å"Lord clear my misted sight that I May hence view they divinity†(Taylor). This sentence shows his focus on god and word choice, and comes from his piece â€Å"Upon a Wasp Chilled with Cold†. The next area to go over of Taylor’s writing is his subject matter. The main aspects that he writes about are God and how he is gracious, and how he is evident in every day life events. This can be shown in the passage â€Å"My words, and actions, that their shine may fill My ways with glory and Thee glorify†(Taylor), from his writing â€Å"Huswifery†. He is very clear on what he wants to show and clear about his Puritan faith. Last of all the areas of Taylor’s writing is his tone. The tone of his pieces show a very happy and hoping attitude toward life. He clearly shows how he wants people to see the grace of go and how they can be forgiven, rather than the radical view of God’s wrath. This tone can be seen in the passage â€Å"Where all my pipes inspired upraise An heavenly music furred with praise† (Taylor), from his piece â€Å"Upon a Wasp Chilled with Cold†. Edward Taylor goes down as a great colonial poet for a reason, and through his work that reason is easily seen. With aspects like style, subject matter, and tone, his writing is a crisp example of how to incorporate God into poetry in a hopeful matter. Everything about Taylor, from his childhood to his adult life, portrays his amazing character and strong love towards God. His writing has surely made the impact on people that he wanted of showing people Gods grace.