Gracious laughter : the meditative wit of Edward Taylor
Abstract
Study of the New England colonial poet, Edward Taylor, and the relationship between his verbal wit and his religious commitment to Puritan belief. Gatta evaluates the anti-utilitarian dimensions and Puritan themes in Taylor's poems to draw larger conclusions about the New England soul.
Table of Contents
Divinity at play. Another view of the Puritan divine ; Wit's anatomy : from mind to humor ; Taylor's play : reverent parody and the comic imagination -- Pills to purge New England melancholy. The diagnosis of Puritan sorrow ; Wit, meditation, and the word -- From depravity to festival. The aesthetics of depravity ; The problem of audience and expression ; The festal attraction of the Lord's Supper -- The comic design of Gods determinations touching his elect. The character and precursors of Gods determinations ; The divine plot and human parody of creation ; The ludicrous trials of the doubting soul and the unwitting compliance of Satan ; Christ's curious paradise regained -- A festival frame of spirit : the preparatory meditations. The contemplative spark : Taylor's poetic triptych ; Patterns of play in the meditations -- Songs and valedictions : later meditations and other verse. Typological wit and the holy delight of canticles ; Taylor's wit of valediction.