Huswifery

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Huswifery

• By Edward Taylor

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Background

• Edward Taylors work was generally unknown during
  his lifetime.
• Some believe that he chose not to publish his
  poems because their joyousness in the sensory
  experience countered Puritan attitudes that
  poetry be for moral instruction only.
• The discovery in the 1930s of a stash of
  Taylors poems is considered a major literary
  find of the twentieth century.

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Huswifery

• Compares the household task of making cloth with
  the gift of Gods salvation.
• This extended metaphor expresses Edward Taylors
  deep belief in God and celebrates the divine
  presence in daily life.
• The poem is like a prayer imploring God to guide
  the speaker to do his bidding.
• By submitting to Gods will, the speaker hopes to
  achieve eternal glory.

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Huswifery - Vocabulary

• distaff n. staff on which flax or wool is wound
  for use in spinning.
• affections n. Emotions
• flyers n. part of a spinning wheel that twists
  fibers into yarn.
• quills n. Weavers spindles or bobbins
• ordinances n. Sacraments or religious rites.
• fulling mills n. Machines that shrink and
  thicken cloth to the texture of felt.
• pinked v. decorated

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Huswifery

• Although this poem uses simple words to describe
  common household items, Taylor has created a
  rich, multi-layered metaphor.
• Increasingly complex connections spinning wheel
  to yarn to loom to cloth to holy robes represent
  steps the speaker hopes he can follow in life to
  glorify God and to achieve a state of grace.

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Huswifery

• The poem begins with an analogy between the
  writer and a spinning wheel.
• However, at the end of the poem suddenly he is no
  longer the spinning wheel, he is now a man
  wearing the cloth that was spun by the spinning
  wheel.
• How could the main analogy of the poem shift so
  drastically?
• Actually, upon closer inspection, the shift does
  not seem so bizarre.
• The main idea of the poem is followed through
  from beginning to end.
• It is the story of a man who is truly devoted to
  the Lord and how his relationship with the Lord
  evolves from the point where he is seeking God in
  his life to the point where he has found him and
  become a changed man.
• As the man changes, the analogy within the poem
  must naturally evolve to keep up with his
  changes.

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Huswifery

• In the first line, Edward Taylor asks that God be
  the master spinner behind his spinning wheel self
  which indicates his desire for the Lord to take
  control of his life and to use that life to
  create what He will.
• He then expounds upon this idea by incorporating
  many of the parts of a spinning wheel into the
  analogy.
• Taylor asks that all that he believes come from
  the Holy Word (his distaff) and that all that he
  longs for be kept in line with the Lord's wishes
  by His "swift flyers".
• He wants his conversation to spring forth from
  that which the Lord is creating in him, just as
  the thread, once spun, does not change in nature
  as it is wound around the reel. Essentially, in
  this stanza, he is saying Lord, take me and mold
  my heart for I am Yours.

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Huswifery

• The second stanza starts off saying much the same
  thing. It expands upon the idea of wanting the
  Lord to mold his heart and shape the kind of
  person that he is.
• He again gives complete control to the Lord as he
  says, "Then weave the web thyself. The yarn is
  fine." Going along with the fabric heart
  analogy, this would seem to indicate that he
  wants the Lord to pull together the pieces of his
  heart, bring together all of his thoughts and
  affections and focus them into one beautiful
  creation.
• The "The yarn is fine." part of the line displays
  a feeling of fragility. He does not believe that
  he is capable of shaping his heart himself, and
  this is why he must hand it over to the Lord. In
  his mind, if he tries to do it on his own, the
  pieces will most likely break (since the yarn is
  thin) and he will be just another tattered rag
  thrown by the wayside, not usable for its
  intended purpose.

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Huswifery

• Once he has been completely woven, and all the
  essentials of a God-serving heart are completed,
  he then goes on to ask of the Lord that He not
  just leave him plain and dull.
• He wants to be dyed with "heavenly colors
  choice." and "pinked with varnished flowers of
  paradise." A garment that has been woven and is
  left plain is very functional for the owner of
  that garment, but will not be beautiful or
  attractive to others. No one else will feel a
  great desire to have a similar one for
  themselves.
• One possible interpretation of this point is to
  think that the author is now turning away from
  God and seeking his own glory, asking that others
  be envious of him. However, this would not fall
  in line with the very humble, God-serving
  attitude displayed throughout each of the
  stanzas. It seems more likely that he desires for
  others to see his inner beauty that they might
  desire that same inner beauty for themselves,
  leading them too to seek after the Lord.

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Huswifery

• Now that the colors and extra frills have been
  added on to the garment, it is completed. His
  heart is now a finished work, fully devoted to
  God - not limited to only himself, but also
  reaching out to others and bringing others to
  devote their lives to God as well.
• And so, in the third stanza the spinning wheel
  is completely dropped out of the poem which makes
  sense, for once a machine's work is complete,
  there is no longer a need for that machine. In
  essence, he's saying that his life was just a
  machine for serving and creating hearts devoted
  to God. Now that this purpose is complete, it is
  time for him to pass on.
• But he asks one thing of the Lord. Though his
  earthly body and life may pass away, he wishes
  for his eternal soul, for all that truly makes up
  who he is to be clothed with the virtues the Lord
  has instilled in him. This is so that his
  "apparel shall display before God" that he is
  "clothed in holy robes for glory." In other
  words, he has done his best, followed the Lord
  all his life, and now he is ready to be taken to
  his eternal reward in Heaven.