Hannah+Challenger


 * //Wiki Poetry Project 2010

By: Hannah Challenger //**



By: Edward Taylor
 * Huswifery **

Make me, O Lord, thy Spinning Wheele compleat; Thy Holy Worde my Distaff make for mee. Make mine Affections thy Swift Flyers neate, And make my Soule thy holy Spoole to bee. My Conversation make to be thy Reele, And reele the yarn thereon spun of thy Wheele. Make me thy Loome then, knit therein this Twine: And make thy Holy Spirit, Lord, winde quills: Then weave the Web thyselfe. The yarn is fine. Thine Ordinances make my Fulling Mills. Then dy the same in Heavenly Colours Choice, All pinkt with Varnish't Flowers of Paradise. Then cloath therewith mine Understanding, Will, Affections, Judgment, Conscience, Memory; My Words and Actions, that their shine may fill My wayes with glory and thee glorify. Then mine apparell shall display before yee That I am Cloathd in Holy robes for glory.

 Taylor was born around 1642 into a Puritan family and spent most of his childhood in Leicestershire, England. Born into a nonconformist religious family, Taylor began teaching school in Bagworth soon after he finished schooling. In 1658, Charles II was reinstated as King causing many people to fear religious prejudice. Taylor refused to sign the 1662 Act of Uniformity, prohibiting him from teaching in any school, worshiping, or pursuing a career in any type of ministry. On April 26, 1668, Taylor decided to travel to America in hopes of finding wealth. During his journey to America, he wrote his “Diary,” which illustrated his travels across the Atlantic Ocean. He arrived into the Massachusetts Bay Colony on July 5, 1668 and quickly enrolled at Harvard University at the age of twenty-nine. Only staying for three years, Taylor was appointed the position of college butler due to age and knowledge. Called to the town of Westfield Massachusetts, Taylor proceeded to move straight into ministry and eventually organized the church in 1679.

 Poetry Analysis: This poem is one of Edward Taylor’s most famous poems. Like many Puritan’s of his time, Taylor was able to find evidence of God’s providence in his daily life. In this poem, he discovers God’s purpose for him in his wife’s spinning wheel. He begins this poem with a direct plea to God, “Make me, O Lord, thy Spinning Wheele compleat.” Throughout this poem, Taylor mentions “the yarn,” that is being twisted by the flyers. This symbolism throughout the poem is representing Taylor’s religious emotions. As the poem continues, Taylor writes about clothes that are being sewn in this poem can also symbolize the fashion that each human should wear to display the love of God on them at all times. At the end of this poem, Taylor explains how he is clothed in Holy robes for the glory of God by saying “then mine apparel shall display before yee, that I am Cloathed in Holy robes for glory.” After reading this poem, I thought about how people portray themselves to society. As a Christian, one should be “cloathed in Holy robes for glory,” by living out the Bible each day of their lives. Not only should one practice their religion, but also be able to live his word out. I thought this poem was very interesting that someone could compare a spinning wheel and clothes to a religion. Edward Taylor was born around 1642 in England during the Puritan time period. Upon arriving to America, Taylor attended Harvard University and soon became very interested in the Lord and studied various aspects of the Bible. Taylor was very emotional in his poems in the sense that he put a lot of thought and poured his heart into each poem or meditation he wrote. Taylor took a great importance to including nature in his devotionals and he often used a great deal of imagery and English meter in his poems.



//Upon Wedlock, and Death of Children

By: Edward Taylor //

//A Curious Knot God made in Paradise,// //And drew it out inamled neatly Fresh.// //It was the True-Love Knot, more sweet than spice// //And set with all the flowres of Graces dress.// //Its Weddens Knot, that ne're can be unti'de.// //No Alexanders Sword can it divide.// //The slips here planted, gay and glorious grow:// //Unless an Hellish breath do sindge their Plumes.// //Here Primrose, Cowslips, Roses, Lilies blow// //With Violets and Pinkes that voide perfumes.// //Whose beautious leaves ore laid with Hony Dew.// //And Chanting birds Cherp out sweet Musick true.// //When in this Knot I planted was, my Stock// //Soon knotted, and a manly flower out brake.// //And after it my branch again did knot// //Brought out another Flowre its sweet breath’d mate.// //One knot gave one tother the tothers place.// //Whence Checkling smiles fought in each others face.// //But oh! a glorious hand from glory came// //Guarded with Angells, soon did Crop this flowere// //Which almost tore the root up of the same// //At that unlookt for, Dolesome, darksome houre.// //In Pray're to Christ perfum'de it did ascend,// //And Angells bright did it to heaven tend.// //But pausing on't, this sweet perfum'd my thought,// //Christ would in Glory have a Flowre, Choice, Prime,// //And having Choice, chose this my branch forth brought.// //Lord, take't. I thanke thee, thou takst ought of mine,// //It is my pledg in glory, part of mee// //Is now in it, Lord, glorifi'de with thee.// //But praying ore my branch, my branch did sprout// //And bore another manly flower, and gay// //And after that another, sweet brake out,// //The which the former hand soon got away.// //But oh! the tortures, Vomit, screechings, groans,// //And six weeks fever would pierce hearts like stones.// //Griefe o're doth flow: and nature fault would finde// //Were not thy Will, my Spell, Charm, Joy, and Gem:// //That as I said, I say, take, Lord, they're thine.// //I piecemeale pass to Glory bright in them.// //I joy, may I sweet Flowers for Glory breed,// //Whether thou getst them green, or lets them seed.

Poetry Analysis: // //In “Upon Wedlock, and Death of Children,” Edward Taylor writes in a type of meter called iambic pentameter. There is also a rhyme scheme of ABABCC. This poem displays Taylor’s life and the trials that he suffered. This poem is very moving in the sense that it displays his marriage with Elizabeth Finch and also his experience with some of his children dying and being sick. In the first line, Taylor says “A Curious Knot God made in Paradise,” in which he is referring to his marriage. Taylor also writes about his children and the love he has for them. In the line where Taylor says, “when in this Knot I planted was, my stock,” he compares himself to a plant to describe the birth of his son. Also in the poem above, Taylor displays symbolism when he then begins to describe the tragic life his children suffered. Taylor had six children with his wife Elizabeth. Taylor describes the pain his children suffered in the line where he writes, “vomit, screechings, groans, and six week’s fever would pierce hearts like stones.” Although Taylor experienced such tragedy in his life, he did not steer away from his strong, religious beliefs. After reading this poem, I admired Edward Taylor for many reasons. During his time period, life was not taken for granted because they knew it could be taken from you at a very young age. Reading this poem and seeing the pain he suffered and his children suffered, I think about how lucky I am to be healthy and living. I also admired Taylor for his strong beliefs and his dedication to his religion even after he had been threw so much. Taylor continued to write throughout his entire life and also became a minister because he loved preaching and reaching out to his congregation. For anyone who wished to worship with Taylor, he demanded a public account of conversion before admission to church membership. //

Edward Taylor Meditation 8 (First Series) John 6.51. I am the Living Bread

I kenning through Astronomy Divine The World’s bright Battlement, wherein I spy A Golden Path my Pencil cannot line, From that bright Throne unto my Threshold lie. And while my puzzled thoughts about it pour, I find the Bread of Life in’t at my door.

When that this Bird of Paradise put in This Wicker Cage (my Corpse) to tweedle praise Had pecked the Fruit forbade: and so did fling Away its Food; and lost its golden day; It fell into Celestial Famine sore: And never could attain a morsel more.

Alas! alas! Poor Bird, what wilt thou do? The Creatures’ field no food for Souls e’er gave. And if thou knock at Angels’ doors they show An Empty Barrel: they no soul bread have. Alas! Poor Bird, the World’s White Loaf is done. And cannot yield thee here the smallest Crumb.

In this sad state, God’s Tender Bowels run Out streams of Grace: and He to end all strife The Purest Wheat in Heaven His dear-dear son Grinds, and kneads up into this Bread of Life. Which Bread of Life from heaven down came and stands Dished on Thy Table up by Angels’ Hands

Did God mold up this Bread in Heaven, and bake, Which from His Table came, and to thine goeth? Doth He bespeak thee thus, This Soul Bread take. Come Eat thy fill of this thy God’s White Loaf? It’s Food too fine for Angels, yet come, take And Eat thy fill. It’s Heaven’s Sugar Cake.

What Grace is this knead in this Loaf? This thing Souls are but petty things it to admire. Ye angels, help: This fill would to the brim Heav’ns whelmed-down Crystal meal Bowl, yea and higher. This Bread of Life dropped in thy mouth, doth Cry: Eat, Eat me, Soul, and thou shalt never die.

Poetry Analysis: Looking at another one of Edward Taylor’s famous poems, you see that this has changed to one of his meditations. His meditations were very deep in the sense that Taylor loved reading about his Lord and then writing his feelings about the scripture. From the biblical text of John 6.51, this poem begins with the poet looking up at heaven asking God how Adam and Eve could have ever disobeyed him and picked the forbidden fruit. In this poem, Taylor portrays that without your loving God and his help, the Earth is a/ “and cannot yield thee here the smallest crumb.” The poet also shows a way out the sinner. “Eat thy fill of this, they God’s white loaf.” Taylor presents questions toward God like many humans do every day throughout his poem to explain his reasoning behind his writings. Eating this bread shall give eternal life, “Eat me, eat me soul and thou shall never die.” Taylor also writes about his emotions and how he sees’s he in the world and also how he lives for his God. Taylor He also uses imagery when he compares the loaf that one needs to eat to become one with God. This reminded me of communion and how each Christian eats the bread which symbolizes Jesus’ body and then we drink the wine that symbolizes his blood. By doing this, each Christian is showing that they too want to become one with their God. After doing these three poems from Edward Taylor, I saw just how inspiration his poems really are. Reading these poems has allowed me to see things in a different perspective and allow me to think of my life differently. Although times were completely different in his day, Taylor still shows how each person should live true to their religion.



Forgetfulness By: Billy Collins <span style="color: #800080; display: block; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: center;">The name of the author is the first to go followed obediently by the title, the plot, the heartbreaking conclusion, the entire novel which suddenly becomes one you have never read, never even heard of,

as if, one by one, the memories you used to harbor decided to retire to the southern hemisphere of the brain, to a little fishing village where there are no phones.

Long ago you kissed the names of the nine Muses goodbye and watched the quadratic equation pack its bag, and even now as you memorize the order of the planets,

something else is slipping away, a state flower perhaps, the address of an uncle, the capital of Paraguay.

Whatever it is you are struggling to remember, it is not poised on the tip of your tongue, not even lurking in some obscure corner of your spleen.

It has floated away down a dark mythological river whose name begins with an L as far as you can recall, well on your own way to oblivion where you will join those who have even forgotten how to swim and how to ride a bicycle.

No wonder you rise in the middle of the night to look up the date of a famous battle in a book on war. No wonder the moon in the window seems to have drifted out of a love poem that you used to know by heart.

<span style="color: #800080; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Billy Collins is an American poet who has served two terms as the Poet Laureate of the United States. He was born in New York City to William and Katherine Collins. His mother was a nurse, but soon stopped working to raise the couple’s only child, Billy. Billy attended Archbishop Stephinac High School in White Plains and then received a B.A in English from the College of the Holy Cross. Soon after, Collins decided to attend the University of California at Riverside where he received his M.A and PhD. D in English. In 1975, Collins founded //The Mid Atlantic Review//. Collins is now a professor of English at Lehman College in the Bronx. Along with that job, he has also taught and served as a visiting writer at Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York. <span style="color: #800080; display: block; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"> Poetry Analysis: <span style="color: #800080; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">Throughout this poem, “Forgetfulness,” Billy Collins portrays one of the most common illnesses that every human faces; forgetfulness. Throughout this entire poem, Collins uses different images for classifying what people forget. In the first stanza, he compares a book to someone’s memory saying, “the name of the author is the first to go, followed obediently be the title, the plot, the heartbreaking conclusion, the entire novel which suddenly becomes one you have never read…” Many of us read tons of books throughout our lifetimes, but the books that one might have read in high school, will not be able to remember the title, let alone the plot of the story when they are much older. As the poem continued, Collins gives more possible explanations of things people forget. For example, he says “something else is slipping away, a state flower perhaps, the address of an uncle, the capital of Paraguay.” This is something that all people go through. It is evident that one will not be able to remember everything for the rest of their lives. After reading this poem, I completely agreed with his perspective. Even though I am still very young, I also suffer with forgetfulness. I especially suffer from, “it is not poised on the tip of your tongue, not even lurking in some obscure corner of your spleen.” I think of something and then I completely forget what I was about to say. I enjoyed reading this poem because I thought it was very interesting because it was so true and so easy to compare with. I think that is what Billy Collins was trying to do. I believe he wrote this poem because he too, was suffering from forgetfulness. At an old age, he was probably experiencing it much more than when he was younger. I enjoyed reading this poem and I thought it was very interesting the way he gave examples of forgetfulness.

<span style="color: #008080; display: block; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: right;"> The Starry Night By: Anne Sexton

<span style="color: #008080; display: block; font-family: Georgia,serif; text-align: right;">That does not keep me from having a terrible need of—shall I say the word—religion. Then I go out at night to paint the stars.Vincent Van Gogh in a letter to his brother The town does not exist except where one black-haired tree slips up like a drowned woman into the hot sky. The town is silent. The night boils with eleven stars. Oh starry starry night! This is how I want to die. It moves. They are all alive. Even the moon bulges in its orange irons to push children, like a god, from its eye. The old unseen serpent swallows up the stars. Oh starry starry night! This is how I want to die: into that rushing beast of the night, sucked up by that great dragon, to split from my life with no flag, no belly, no cry.

<span style="color: #008080; display: block; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 10pt; text-align: right;">Anne Sexton was born in Newton, Massachusetts, in 1928 to Mary Gray Staples and Ralph Harvey. She spent most of her childhood in Boston and soon enrolled in the Rogers Hall Boarding School in Lowell, Massachusetts. She later attended Garland Junior College and then for some time she modeled for Boston’s Hart Agency. In 1948 she married Alfred Sexton. Sexton soon suffered from severe mental illnesses for the rest of her life. In 1954, she suffered from her first manic episode and soon had another breakdown in 1955. Upon meeting Dr. Martin Orne, who soon became her long-term therapist at Glenside Hospital, she began writing more because of his encouragement for her to take up poetry. In the late 1950’s she began attending poetry workshops. She had a very low self-esteem causing her to become promiscuous and therefore causing her to cheat on her husband. She had major psychological problems and was diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

<span style="color: #008080; display: block; font-family: Georgia,serif; text-align: right;"> Poetry Analysis: <span style="color: #008080; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 95%;">Throughout Anne Sexton’s life she suffered from many mental illnesses. She often wrote about her depression with her life and many other things such as adultery. Sexton had many famous works such as “Sylvia’s Death.” In this poem, “Starry Night,” Sexton uses incredible imagery. Although I have seen Van Gogh’s painting, if one had never seen it, this poem would still be very moving. Sexton gives much description on the way she describes this painting. “Even the moon bulges in its orange irons to push children, like a god, form its eye.” In this stanza, Sexton describes the painting the exact way she sees it. In the way she wrote about this painting, she almost brought it to life for the reader. By putting “This is how I want to die,” at the end of every stanza is very significant I believe. This can refer to her mental illness and just how crazy it turned her mind or it can be simply thought of as a non-depressing thought. This could be a simple statement made by her because she see the painting for its brilliance and if she could choose the way she could die, it would be to be sucked up into all those amazing stars. After I read this poem, I thought of Sexton a different way then before. I thought it was brave of her to look at this painting a different way then some people might. Although she had many things bothering her, she looked at the painting as a way out. Since this painting is very dark to some people, Sexton could have used this to symbolize her fall into depression. I enjoyed reading this poem and looking at it a different way because it allows me to see other peoples lives in a painting and just how they see it.

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