"MEDITATION 8" BY EDWARD TAYLOR

The traditions or movements in poetry that was currently going on back over in England were
metaphysical poetics of John Donne, George Herbert, books like that. This poem is an example
of this kind of metaphysical poetry. The characteristics of this kind of poem are its use of strong
language from images, powerful images. Sometimes a bit jarring and also strange kind of
comparisons. 'Torturing one poor word ten thousand ways" is the way Dryden describes the
metaphysical poets in a later era. Looking back we find this same sort of thing in Edward Taylor.

I kening through Astronomy Divine
The Worlds bright battlement, wherein I spy
A Golden Path my Pencil cannot line,
From that bright Throne unto my Threshold ly.
And while my puzzle thoughts about it pour,
I find the Bread of Life int at my door.
So he is looking out at the sky and sees a path from Gods Heaven to his door, and there is a
basket of bread which is the Bread of Life. Remember that Galileo had recently been
excommunicated for his Astronomy, which was more natural and less Divine.

When that this bird of Paradise put in
This Wicker Cage (my Corpse) to tweedle praise
Had pecked the Fruit forbade: and so did fling
Away its Food; and lost its golden days;
It fell into Celestial Famine sore:
And never could attain a morsel more.
This stanza refers to original sin, the Total deprevity part of TULIP. The Bird of Paradise is the
soul which is kept inside the prison of the body. It is rather Greek image. Some ancient Greeks
believed in the immortality of the soul so it was a divine spark which was then imprisoned in the
lump of clay that was the body, and they longed for the day that they would be free of it. So in
the opposition between the body and soul, last time we saw that the body is the evil twin of the
soul. Now the body is the cage and the soul is the bird that is enclosed in the cage. Something
else is also affecting the bird, original sin. He lost his ability to eat the divine food and so he was
hungry in a severe famine.

Alas! alas! Poor Bird, what wilt thou do?
The creatures field no food for Souls eer gave.
If you go out and look at corn, wheat, deer, is this food for the soul? No, you can eat it but it
wont feed the soul, it just feeds the body. The soul cannot feed on the food that animals feed on
or even on the food that feeds the physical side.
And if thou knock at Angels doors they show
An Empty Barrel: they no soul bread have.
Angels dont have soul food. You cant go to Heaven and ask for a cup of bread or divine flour.
He is twisting and looking at this idea of the Bread of Life from various angles.
Alas! Poor Bird, the Worlds White Loaf is done.
And cannot yield thee here the smallest Crumb.
There is nothing for him to feed on. But then we find Gods grace intervene.

In this sad state, Gods Tender Bowels run
Out streams of Grace.
This is an image you might not want to visualize. What Taylor is saying is that God is
overflowing in His love and mercy toward us. This is the irresistible grace area of TULIP.

Out streams of Grace.And He to end all strife
The Purest Wheat in Heaven His dear-dear son
Grinds, and kneads up into this Bread of Life.
God took his own son to make Bread of Life for us. Taylor is pushing the limits of the image as
metaphysical poets tend to do. This is the atonement area of TULIP:
Which Bread of Life from Heaven down came and stands
Disht on Thy Table up by Angels Hands.
Taylor is saying that God has provided. This is also the atonement area. Since there was no
provision to overcome sin, God made provision.

Did God mold up this Bread in Heaven, and bake,
Which from His Table came, and to thine goeth?
Doth He bespeak thee thus, This Soul Bread take.
Come Eat thy fill of this thy Gods White Loaf?
Its Food too fine for Angels, yet come, take.
And Eat thy fill. Its Heavens Sugar Cake.
Jesus is now the sugar cake of life. By this, Taylor is saying that he is better than just regular
breads he is like sugar loaf. Taylor is trying to see how far he can push the image before it breaks
down.

What Grace is this knead in this Loaf? This thing
Souls are but petty things it to admire.
Yee Angels, Help: This fill would to the brim
Heavns whelmed-down Crystal meal Bowl, yea and higher.
This Bread of Life dropped in thy Mouth, doth Cry:
Eat, Eat me, Soul, and thou shalt never die.
Here is another aspect of metaphysical poetry, as well as other kinds of poetry. That is the
tendency to rearrange the syntax. Souls are but petty things to admire it. Instead of saying this,
Taylor says "Souls are but petty things it to admire". When you are reading this poetry if you
want to understand it, you have to stop and say, "O.K. whats the verb; whats the subject;
whats the object; how would this flow in normal English ?" Then once you understand what the
sentence would normally read, you can start to appreciate what Taylor is doing with the sentence
by rearranging it.



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Edited by Group 1, English 303-02 Winter Quarter 1998.