Edward Taylor Poetry Analysis

Writing is one of the few forms that allow the future generations to learn from and experience the mind, trials and tribulations of those from the past. To some, literature is simply books; which excludes the depths and flexibility that comes with the opportunity to write. Having the skill to gracefully expound and share eloquently through poetry and story impacts lives. Literature is a writing form used in order to give an account derived from one’s thoughts, emotions and experiences. In America’s colonial literature, through understanding the common themes and backgrounds, there is a greater understanding of the experiences and moral compass of many writers. As with each period in history, there are major events and problems that affect …show more content…
Poetry is one of the infamous outlets for expressing feelings through analogies, imagery and wordplay. Edward Taylor is one poet who shared of his various emotions in finding love and having children, but having a few of them pass away. In “Upon Wedlock”, and “Death of Children”, Taylor shared the different emotions that he felt including, love, grief and humility. He shared his feelings of love, expressing it as a knot “God has made in paradise”, that even Alexander’s Sword cannot divide (Perkins 107). Within his marriage, he had four children, two of which passed away. He expressed throughout the poem his feelings and emotions. He exclaims, “Griefe o’er doth flow: and nature fault would finde/ Were not they Will, my Spell Charm, Joy Gem: / That as I said, I say, take, Lord, they’re thine” (Perkins 108). These lines provide an understanding of the complex emotions that Taylor was experiencing over his children’s death. He had grieved and seen these events and horrors within his life, but humbled himself before God. With his faith and beliefs in Christianity, he submited his children to God. In addition, Anne Bradstreet, a female writer, uses poetry as a tool to express her feelings. Poems like “Upon the Burning of Our House”, and “To My Dear and Loving Husband” exemplifies how she uses metaphors, imagery and diction to express emotion. In the poem to her husband, she proclaims, “My love such that rivers cannot quench, /nor ought but love from thee give recompense” (Perkins 77). Undeniably present, is the love and adoration she feels for her husband. The poem is very brief, but does not fail to meet her goals: to express the magnitude of her feelings for the one she truly loves. Through emotion, the reader can relate and understand the writer, making it one the most vital components within