Edward Taylor

Puritan poet and minister, was one

of the finest literary artists of colonial
America.
Edward Taylor was born in Leicestershire, England in 1642. He
originally worked as a school teacher, but later left England for
the United States.

Taylor's Towards Life

He was married twice, first to Elizabeth
Finch, by whom he had eight children, five
of whom died in infancy. After her death, he
married Ruth Wyllys, who bore six more
children.
Taylor himself died on June 29, 1729.
He had left instructions that his heirs never
publish any of his writings.
Edward Taylor and His
Works

Two of his volumes remained in

the Yale library for more than two
centuries.
When Thomas H. Johnson
examined them, he edited for
publication The Poetical Works of
Edward Taylor.
It was said, "Taylor's poems
established him almost at once
and without quibble as not only
America's finest Colonial poet,
but as one of the most striking
writers in the whole range of
American literature."
 His most important poems, the first sections of Preparatory
Meditations (1682–1725) and God's Determinations
Touching His Elect and the Elects Combat in Their
Conversion and Coming up to God in Christ: Together with
the Comfortable Effects Thereof were published shortly after
their discovery.
Gods Determinations touching his Elect ...
is a dramatization of Taylor’s Calvinistic religious beliefs
concerning predestination, creation, the nature of God, original
sin, saving grace, redemption through faith in Christ, the
division of mankind into the damned and the elect, and the joys
of eternal salvation. There is some allegory, and the devil
reminds us of the personified vices of the morality plays, but the
poem is not an exercise in symbolism nor in Neoplatonism.
Heaven and hell are depicted as real places. Christ, Satan, and
the angels may sometimes take on the physical attributes of real
persons.
The major part of the poem depicts the various methods by
which God, through Christ, brings salvation to the elect. The
struggle for their salvation is dramatically presented as a
combat for the souls of the elect between Mercy and Justice on
the one hand and the devil on the other. The effect of sin on
natural man and the combats for his redemption are graphically
presented, often in a colloquial, down-to-earth style. Of
disobedient man’s terror of God’s wrath Taylor writes:

Then like a Child that fears the Poker Clapp

                       Him on his face doth on his Mothers lap
                       Doth hold his breath, lies still for fear least hee
                       Should by his breathing lowd discover’d bee.
Puritanism was a religious reformation movement that began
in England in the late 1500s. Its initial goal was removing any
remaining links to Catholicism within the Church of England
after its separation from the Catholic Church.
To do this, Puritans sought to change the structure and
ceremonies of the church.
Puritanism may be defined primarily by the intensity of the
religious experience that it fostered. Puritans believed that it was
necessary to be in a covenant relationship with God in order to be
redeemed from one’s sinful condition, that God had chosen to
reveal salvation through preaching, and that the Holy Spirit was
the energizing instrument of salvation. Calvinist theology and
polity proved to be major influences in the formation of Puritan
teachings. This naturally led to the rejection of much that was
characteristic of Anglican ritual at the time, these being viewed as
“popish idolatry.” In its place the Puritans emphasized preaching
that drew on images from scripture and from everyday experience.
Still, because of the importance of preaching, the Puritans placed
a premium on a learned ministry. The moral and religious
earnestness that was characteristic of Puritans was combined
with the doctrine of predestination inherited from Calvinism to
produce a “covenant theology,” a sense of themselves as
the elect chosen by God to live godly lives both as individuals and
as a community.
Thank you for your attention!!!