Analysis of Huswifery

Often when writers write about God, it is from a rather lofty position. In celebrating what is divine, some writers seem to forget their own human qualities and understanding. Humanity is on the opposite end of the spectrum, often at war with spirituality (Anne Bradstreet's "The Flesh and the Spirit," for example). What makes Edward Taylor's poetry and mediations unique is that his relationship with God is deeply rooted in the physical world. In incorporating God even into his own corporal body, Taylor marries together both the human and the divine, celebrating the best of both worlds in a manner that is both accessible to the reader and deeply, unabashedly personal.


In his poem "Huswifery," Taylor gets straight to the human point even in the title, telling us that we are about to read about housework and domesticity. What an odd thing for a minister to write about; not only household tasks, but tasks typically assigned to women. Wouldn't a minister be occupied with loftier goals? To quote George Eliot's Mr. Tulliver, "My notion o' the parsons was as they'd got a sort o' learning as lay mostly out o' sight" (20). This is what makes Taylor's poem extraordinary. By asking God to use him as a woman would use a mundane, everyday object (in this case, a spinning wheel), Taylor greatly humbles himself, his metaphors knowing no such gender restrictions. The subject of "Huswifery" is Taylor petitioning God to make him a tool of sorts, namely a spinning wheel, then later, a loom (1, 7). Taylor gives an account of each working part of a spinning wheel, each line adding a new layer to his metaphor in order to make him a "Spinning Wheel complete" (my emphasis) (1).

To start, the distaff is what holds the raw wool or flax into place when spinning; Taylor asks God to make His "Holy Word" his own distaff so that he can be guided into the proper places presumably to lead a virtuous life (2). The flyers are what regulate the action of the spinning, and Taylor wants God's...