Responding to Puritan PoetryAnswer the following questions thoughtfully and with textual support. Please refer to your handout as to the technicalities of citing poetry because the rules differ from those that dictate how to quote prose.

“To My Dear and Loving Husband” by Anne Bradstreet1. How does the speaker emphasize the magnitude of her feeling for her husband?2. What does Bradstreet mean by the apparent paradox in the last two lines: “…let’s so persevere / That when we live no more, we may live ever”?3. What ideas about heaven and the afterlife does the poem convey?4. In ancient Greece the lyre was a musical instrument, and lyric came to mean “a song accompanied by music.” In common speech the words of songs are still called lyrics. In literature a lyric is any short poem that presents a single speaker who expresses thoughts and feelings. In this poem the speaker is almost certainly the poet herself, speaking in an intensely personal way. What would you say is the purpose of this lyric?5. Although this poem is not arranged in separate stanzas, the poem does appear to have three parts. Where do the divisions fall? What different idea does the poet develop in each part? What progression emerges in the thought pattern?“In Memory of My Dear Grandchild…” by Anne Bradstreet1. How does the speaker feel in the first stanza about the loss of her grandchild? What poetic devices alerts you to her tone?2. What is the moment of change in this poem?3. What does the speaker emphasize in the second stanza?4. What is the purpose of this poem?“Upon the Burning of Our House…” by Anne Bradstreet1. Describe the speaker’s initial feelings as she realizes that her house is on fire. What does she quickly conclude about the reasons for the fire?2. The speaker allows herself to mourn her house and her possessions. What does she focus on in lines 25-35?3. Explain the line, “Adieu, Adieu, all’s vanity.” What gives the speaker hope after everything is destroyed? What does she refer to in speaking of the house that is “purchased and paid for too”?4. The final two stanzas of this poem develop an extended metaphor. What is the speaker’s metaphor for an afterlife? What are the different parts to the comparison?5. Notice the speaker’s plain, homely concerns as she views the destruction of her house. Still, in spite of this concrete focus, the speaker is obviously an essentially spiritual person. What is the speaker’s view of life? of earth? of heaven? What is her attitude toward prayer?“Upon a Spider Catching a Fly” by Edward Taylor1. The poem begins with a parable, a brief story drawn from everyday life that is used to teach a lesson. This parable has three characters: the spider, the wasp, and the fly.. How does the spider treat the wasp that has fallen

into its net, and how does it treat the fly? Why does the spider treat its two victims differently?2. Explain the metaphor of the spider. Who is the spider meant to be compared to? What warning does Taylor give in lines 28-30?3. In line 31, Taylor begins to talk about connections he notices between this natural scene and something in our own existence. What is “Hell’s spider,” and what does it do to “Adam’s race”? Who alone can break the cords spun by Hell’s spider?4. Summarize the lesson Taylor is teaching in his parable of the spider, the wasp, and the fly. What kinds of people do you think the wasp and the fly represent?from “God’s Determinations Touching His Elect” by Edward Taylor1. According to the first two lines, what was the whole world built from?2. The poet draws images from human life—specifically from life in a Puritan village—to talk about the act of creation, something that is impossible for human beings to imagine. Identify the various crafts and practical occupations that the poet refers to.3. Find the lines in which the poet conveys to us the terrifying power of God, a power far greater than that of any human artisan.4. According to lines 37-38, what is the purpose of human existence in God’s world?5. What is the “gem” that God sets in “nothing” (line 39)? In the last image of the poem, what has become of this gem? What Biblical event might the poet be referring to here?6. The first part of the poem is a series of questions. How does Taylor answer his own questions? What feelings about God is this series of questions designed to create?7. Taylor often uses puns, or plays on words, and paradoxes, or expressions that seem to be contradictory. What paradox do you find in line 36? What pun does the poet use in line 28?“Upon a Wasp Chilled with Cold” by Edward Taylor1. (a) What human features does Taylor use in describing the wasp? (b) How does the wasp warm itself? (c) What does the wasp do after it has warmed itself?2. (a) To whom is the second stanza addressed? (b) For what does the poet ask?3. In the first stanza, the poet creates a comparison between the warming of the wasp and the granting of God’s grace. (a) What does the manner in which the wasp is warmed suggest about Taylor’s beliefs concerning the granting of God’s grace? (b) With what can the actions of the wasp at the end of the first stanza be compared?4. In this poem, the wasp serves as an example for the poet. List two other insects or animals you feel could serve as an example for humans, and explain what you think we could learn from them.“Huswifery” by Edward Taylor1. To whom is the poem addressed?

2. (a) What type of machine does Taylor describe? (b) What process does he describe? (c) In what does the poet ask to be clothed?3. What does the poem suggest about the poet’s attitude toward God?4. (a) What seems to be the poem’s overall purpose? (b) How do the final two lines covey Taylor’s belief that religious grace comes as a gift from God, rather than as a result of a person’s efforts?5. What process do you think Taylor might have described in the poem if he had written it while living in today’s society?6. In order to grasp the meaning of figurative language, you must examine the suggestions and associations it evokes. What is suggested by the first line of the poem: “Make me, O Lord, Thy spinning wheel complete”?7. A conceit is an elaborate, often lengthy comparison between two startlingly different subjects. For example, in “Huswifery,” Taylor creates an intricate, extended comparison between the making of cloth and the granting of God’s grace. What do each of the following lines from “Huswifery” suggest?

(a) “And make my soul Thy holy spoole to be.”(b) “That I am clothed in holy robes for glory.”

8. Taylor believed that the granting of grace involved the transformation of a person from a flawed and imperfect state of being to a state of purity and perfection. How does Taylor’s conceit express this belief?9. What does Taylor’s comparison of a common household task with the granting of grace suggest about his beliefs concerning the relationship between God and the earthly world?