SOURCE: DeNuccio, Jerome D. “Linguistic Dilemma in Edward Taylor's ‘Meditation 1.22.’” English Language Notes 26, no. 3 (March 1989): 19-24.

In the following essay, DeNuccio discusses Taylor's strategy for dealing with the inadequacy of language in praising God. The poet, explains DeNuccio, emphasized the process of writing laudatory verse over the necessarily unworthy final product.

The devout Puritan faced a particularly thorny problem. He recognized the incomparable majesty of God and recognized that his duty as a temporal creature lay in testifying to that majesty. Indeed, every aspect of his life, all his thoughts and activities, were to be structured toward the overriding purpose of God's glorification. He also recognized, however, that, as a fallen being, he lacked the capacity to perform his duty adequately, no matter how ardently he desired to do so. His best efforts were doomed to fall short of their object; God's glory simply shone far beyond the...