42 The Colonial and Revolutionary PeriodsGradually, the intimate tone of address is switched to God, who is asked to “break the
Cord” with which “Hells Spider,” the Devil, would “tangle Adams race.” What is mem-
orable about the poem is how closely Taylor attends to both the material facts of the
spider and the spiritual truth it is chosen to emblematize: symbolic meaning is not
developed at the expense of concrete event. And what is just as memorable is the way
Taylor uses an elaborate conceit and intricate stanzaic form as both a discipline to his
meditations and a means of channeling, then relaxing emotion. So, in the final stanza,
the poet anticipates eventually singing to the glory of God, “when pearcht on high” –
“And thankfully, /” he concludes, “For joy.” And that short last line, consisting of just
two words, at once acts as a counterpoint to the conclusion of the first stanza (“For
why?”) and allows Taylor to end his poem on a moment of pure, spiritual elation.
The experience of bereavement moved Taylor immensely, just as it did Bradstreet.
“Upon Wedlock, & Death of Children,” for example, probably written in 1682, explores
loss just as Bradstreet’s poem about her granddaughter does, by comparing children to
the things of nature, in this case flowers. The difference is that Taylor, characteristically,
extends the comparison into an elaborate conceit. He plays, among other things, on
the connections between the perfume of flowers ascending to the skies, prayers rising
on offerings of incense, and the souls of children climbing up to heaven. Also, and
equally characteristically, he manages to resolve his loss of spiritual resolve, trust in the
will of God, in a way that Bradstreet cannot quite, or will not. Without undervaluing
his grief (“Grief o’re doth flow,” he admits), he seems to find genuine consolation in
the belief that his children are now with the Lord – not only that, but also in the belief
that, as he puts it, “I piecemeal pass to Glory bright in them.” “I joy,” he ends by declar-
ing to God, “may I sweet Flowers for Glory breed, / Whether thou getst them green, or
lets them Seed.” And that simple but striking image, of his children passing “green” to
God, is at once elegiac and triumphant, an expression of loss certainly but also of faith.
The experience of faith was, in fact, central to Taylor’s life and his work. About
1647, he began writing metrical paraphrases of the Psalms. Recalling the Bay Psalm
Book, it is nevertheless in these poems that Taylor’s distinctively meditative voice
starts to be given freer rein. More important, he also began to bring together his
vision of the history of salvation to produce his first major work, Gods Determinations
touching his Elect. A collection of 35 poems, this traces the “Glorious Handywork” of
creation, dramatizes a debate between Justice and Mercy over the fate of mankind,
then describes the combat between Christ and Satan for human souls. Gods
Determinations is, in effect, both a visionary narrative and a didactic debate, record-
ing the progress of the soul from the beginnings of life, through the Fall and
Redemption, to the triumph of the Resurrection. It is also a work that demonstrates
Taylor’s ability to domesticate Christian mystery, using humble, everyday imagery to
explore the transcendent, the ineffable. This is nowhere more evident than in “The
Preface” to the sequence, where Taylor considers the mysteries of time and infinity,
aboriginal nothing and original creation. “Infinity,” he announces,when all things it beheld
In Nothing, and of Nothing all did build,GGray_c01.indd 42ray_c 01 .indd 42 8 8/1/2011 7:54:55 AM/ 1 / 2011 7 : 54 : 55 AM