Poetic Pastor, Matronly Muse, and Sensual Saint

Edward Taylor and Anne Bradstreet, being relatively shy about their poetry, constantly apologized for the manner in which their poems were written and for writing poems in the first place. The communities in which they lived were predominantly Puritan; frivolous creativity was considered a sin, and self-glorifying art was deemed blasphemy. The time in which Taylor and Bradstreet lived, however, was a time of abrupt change for the fledgling country of America. Influenced by a wave of interest in natural religion, Taylor's poetry expresses his desire to use his creativity for God's glory instead of hiding his talent in fear of God's jealousy. Bradstreet, with confidence and ability gained through her privileged education, defies popular opinions concerning women and defends her rights to be heard through poetry. The trek of American poetry starting with the timid baby steps of Taylor and Bradstreet eventually evolved into Walt Whitman's bounding, self-confident verses. Together, Taylor and Bradstreet illustrate how Americans sought to reconcile differing ideas about individuality, religion, and gender to create an American identity, leading the way for complete freedom of expression culminating in the experimental poetry of Whitman.

According to Robert Hass's article "Edward Taylor: What Was He Up To?" (2002), Edward Taylor's poetry is an excellent example of the "solitariness, self-sufficiency, and peculiarity of the American imagination" (43). His meditations, in particular, display a very personal approach to formal poetry, rely almost entirely on individual experience, and often use bizarre imagery to portray a certain Christian truth. Taylor's meditation poem "Full of Truth"
(c. 1701) describes man's fall and his desire to be whole again by telling a story about God as the sculptor of a beautiful "Truth-Box" (line 18). The first and third stanzas of this poem depict God as an artist: the "Artist's Hand" (line 1) forms the box and reforms it after it "Fell, Broke, undone" (line 10). By comparing the creative occupation of a sculptor to God's ability as Maker, Taylor lessens the gap between human creativity and divine creation. Taylor partakes in his own art form-poetry-while he describes God's artwork. The ability to create is something that Edward considers to have in common with God, which was a notion highly suppressed in early Puritan America. In the third stanza, Taylor describes the image of God remaking the broken box into a "Box of Pearle" (line 17) that ends up being "More rich than that Smaragdine Truth-Box was" (line 18). This action of bettering and remaking a piece of art seems to compare with a poet's writing and revising process: the results are always better than the initial attempt, and creativity continues to perfect itself.

In the last stanza, Taylor begs God that "Thou, and I ne'er severed bee" (line 46) and requests of Him, "Embox my Faith, Lord, in thy Truth a part / And I'st by Faith embox thee in my heart" (lines 47-8). In these lines, Taylor seems to desire a mutual understanding of God. According to Hass, "the intention of Taylor's art, and therefore about the formalization of his meditations, is that they were intended as an offering, and although Taylor believed that no human action could bring a person to God, he seems to have hoped that his gift would be accepted" (46). Taylor obviously appreciates God's workmanship in both visible nature and in the beauties of the unseen spirit, but he longs for God to take enjoyment in his poetry, too, as a sort of reflection of God's glory. Taylor uses the image of reflection in lines 29 and 30, where he writes, "Their Truth they finde in thee: this makes them shine. / Their Shine on thee makes thee appeare Divine." Just as a mirror cannot reflect light unless light is cast upon it, man cannot express creativity if God does not show His own creativity to him. With this realization, Taylor finds that expressing himself creatively through poetry is not blasphemous but rather a pious activity of glorifying God. The result of such a realization is the formation of an American identity, which is a composite of battling beliefs, a compromise between loyalties, and a newer, better, freedom of self than had ever previously been enjoyed.

Even though they probably shared little else in common, both Taylor and Bradstreet placed a high value on the freedom to be themselves. Anne Bradstreet, like most women of her time, felt restricted in the traditional setting for women and gasped for an outlet of self-expression. In her article "Negotiating Theology and Gynecology: Anne Bradstreet's Representations of the Female Body" (1997), Jean Marie Lutes describes Anne Bradstreet as a "dutiful Christian, devoted wife and mother.

The poem is not entirely concerned with female power, however. Bradstreet complains of a "feeble brain" (line 1) and the "rambling brat" (line 8) that her mind has created. Just because Bradstreet admits to weakness does not mean she is submitting to the popular views of her time, however; Lutes claims that "even as she connected physical and spiritual weakness, she disconnected feminine physical nature and spiritual weakness from its associations with disease and immorality" (319). Even though she admits to noticing her child's faults- the poem walks with a "hobbling" gait (line16), is dressed in "homespun cloth" (line 18), and has many facial "blemishes" (line 12)-the fact that she is concerned with imperfections, and even more with correcting them, shows that Bradstreet is an artist in the truest sense. She is always striving for perfection and unwilling to let her "affection" (line 11) for her work stand in the way of its becoming excellent. Because Bradstreet addresses and overcomes her struggles with female identity as an artist through her poetry, she is a shining sample of American identity in its formation; she uses roadblocks as building material. She uses her struggle with forming an identity as subject matter for her poetry, which proves that she does not have to choose between conflicting interests to be a real woman. She defines herself by what she does-she both raises children and writes poetry.

The problems that Taylor and Bradstreet toiled so hard to work through paved the path for later Americans to freely bloom in their individuality. Where Taylor and Bradstreet had to cautiously follow set formats for poetry and stick to a relatively limited stockpile of subjects, Whitman invents his own format for poetry and lets his subject matter range from the most majestic themes to the lowliest scum, sometimes right next to each other on a line. Ted Genoways writes in his article "Inventing Walt Whitman" (2005) that even though Whitman's "Song of Myself" (1855) has had his critics, "readers recognized in it something new, something American" (2). Genoways describes Whitman's poetry as "the earliest example of that most American trick: self-invention" (2). Rather than attempting to mash himself into a restricted definition, Whitman allows himself to remain undefined or, in his own words, "untranslatable" (line 1323). Instead of offering one term to define himself, he lists numerous opposing terms to imagine the scope of his identity. He describes himself on line 499: "Walt Whitman, an American, one of the roughs, a kosmos." He identifies himself by name and then by nationality, signifying that he is both an individual person and also a part of a society. He calls himself a rough, or an unmannerly person; then he calls himself a kosmos, or the entire organized universe, meaning that the scope of the universe can be contained in an average, middle-class man.

Although some readers find Whitman's celebration of less than appetizing characters somewhat hard to stomach, nothing raises more eyebrows than when Whitman partakes in a delightful and sometimes risqué celebration of the human body and physical love. As a poet, he claims to be the voice of the voiceless, including "voices of sexes and lusts . . . . voice veiled"; taking his role seriously, he boldly says, "I remove the veil" (line 519). Although Whitman did shock his readers, Genoways point out that "the point was never to shock, only to admit to whatever is human. Whitman wanted more than anything to bridge the gap between poet and reader" (3). Whitman was not trying to be sensational. He was trying to be himself; he just happened to be human. He celebrates himself as "immortal and fathomless" and encourages readers to join in the celebration, to "no longer take things at second or third hand" but to experience their own individuality for themselves (line 128, line 27). Genoways claims that Whitman's poetry is both a personal celebration of identity and also a national celebration of freedom to be unique, saying that Whitman "welcomed every part..., accepted every part, and made it part of himself" (2). Whitman was "no stander above men and women or apart from them"; he was a man who only desired to sound his "barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world" (line 501, line 1323). Thanks to the victories of poets like Taylor and Bradstreet, Whitman was free to do so.

The struggle of creating an American identity is that so many opposing authorities place barriers and restrictions on how the self can be expressed. The determination of early Americans such as Edward Taylor and Anne Bradstreet created precedence for coping with multiple responsibilities and loyalties. Taylor reconciles his religion to his art by using his reason and creativity to justify art as glorifying God. Bradstreet enters into a male-dominated art form by personifying the craft as what could be an entirely female process and by taking her art as seriously-if not more seriously-than men took their own. Later on, Walt Whitman proved that nothing is too low, too common, or too suggestive to be celebrated in poetry. Poetry cannot be defined; neither can living, thinking, feeling people be restrained to exist within narrow-minded boundaries. Even when the world told them, "There is no such thing as worshipful creativity. There is no such thing as female authorship. There is no such thing as sublime commonality," these poets bravely stood and said, "Yes, there is. Here I am."

Works Cited

Bradstreet, Anne. "The Author to Her Book." (1666) The Heath Anthology of American Literature Volume A. Ed. Paul Lauter. 402.

Genoways, Ted. "Inventing Walt Whitman." Virginia Quarterly Review. 81.2 (Spring 2005): 1-3.

Hass, Robert. "Edward Taylor: What Was He Up To?" American Poetry Review. 31.2 (2002): 43-53.

Lauther, Paul. Ed. The Heath Anthology of American Literature Volume A + B. Boston: Houghton, 2006.

Lutes, Jean Marie. "Negotiating theology and gynecology: Anne Bradstreet's representations of the female body." Signs: Journal of Women in Culture & Society. 22.2 (1997): 309-39.

Taylor, Edward. "Meditation. Joh. 1.14. Full of Truth." (c. 1701) The Heath Anthology of American Literature Volume A. Ed. Paul Lauter. 488-9.

Whitman, Walt. "Song of Myself." (1855) The Heath Anthology of American Literature Volume B. Ed. Paul Lauter. 2937-82.