Housewifery is a poem by the American colonial poet Edward Taylor. It was written in about 1682 but was not published until more than 250 years later. Taylor’s verses were first discovered at the Yale University library in 1937, and The Poetical Works was published in 1939.
Edward Taylor was born in England but immigrated to the American Colonies in 1668. Taylor was a Puritan minister in the town of Westfield, in Massachusetts Bay Colony. He remained largely unrecognized as a poet in his own lifetime but is now considered the most important poet of the American colonial period. “Housewifery” (spelled “Huswifery” in the original Early Modern English) was part of a manuscript collection entitled Preparatory Meditations. In this three-stanza poem, the poet compares his religious devotion to the art of spinning cloth, asking the Lord to make him His “spinning wheel.”
Make me, O Lord, Thy spinning wheel complete. Thy holy word my distaff make for me. Make mine affections Thy swift flyers neat, And make my soul Thy holy spool to be. My conversation make to be Thy reel, And reel the yarn thereon spun of Thy wheel. Make me Thy loom then, knit therein this twine; And make Thy holy spirit, Lord, wind quills. Then weave the web Thyself. The yarn is fine. Thine ordinances make my fulling mills. Then dye the same in heavenly colors choice, All pinked with varnished flowers of paradise. Then clothe therewith mine understanding, will, Affections, judgment, conscience, memory, My words, and actions, that their shine may fill My ways with glory and Thee glorify. Then mine apparel shall display before Ye That I am clothed in holy robes for glory.
The poetry of Edward Taylor shows the influence of the English Devotional Metaphysical poets of the 1600’s. The Metaphysical poets used simple, everyday language; uneven rhythms; and witty metaphors known as conceits. The Devotional Metaphysical poets who most used these techniques for religious purposes included John Donne, George Herbert, and Henry Vaughan.
The Metaphysical poets often stretched conceits to great lengths, as Taylor does when he uses the metaphor of the spinning wheel throughout his poem. The Lord’s word is to be the speaker’s distaff (the tool for holding material, but more generally a support). His Holy Spirit will be the force that winds quills (spools). The speaker’s own words (“conversation”) are simply the “reel” on which the fine yarn is spun. God provides the material; the speaker is merely God’s instrument. His created product, the cloth dyed in “heavenly colors,” will clothe the man’s entire being, and guide his words and actions.
In the context of his Puritan faith, Taylor’s use of this extended Metaphysical conceit takes on additional meaning. He has deliberately chosen a homely instrument—a spinning wheel—and he elevates the humble, domestic business of housewifery. The Puritans favored simple expressions of faith over elaborate church rituals. They stressed the virtue of hard work—as reflected in tasks like spinning cloth—in achieving grace. Some critics have suggested that the poet’s use of a complex conceit can be seen as a form of religious labor.
Compared to his great poetic models, such as the devotional poems of John Donne, Taylor’s verse is not greatly sophisticated. But his style is similar to the Metaphysical poets’ style, and Taylor remains the outstanding Puritan poet of American literature.
For more information on Taylor, see Taylor, Edward. See also American literature (Colonial literature (1608-1764)).
