Huswifery and to a Waterfowl

For essay number one I am going to discuss the changing views of man's place in relationship to his God and to his earthly existence as shown in the Puritan poetry by Taylor and Bryant. Using the poems "Huswifery" and "To a Waterfowl" to discuss the views mentioned earlier. Both of these poems are very interesting poems and also are the use of nature in them that both the poets use. They are both religious in there own way by the way mention God or the Lord doing something for the creature to help them.

"To a Waterfowl" by William Cullen Bryant uses the fowler as a symbol of nature. The changing views of man's place in relationship to God is that God helps the bird fly on it's journey to find a new home to settle down for the summer cause it is migrating from one place to another. As Bryant says in stanza four:

" There is a Power whose care

Teaches thy way along that pathless coast--

The desert and illimitable air--

Lone wandering, but not lost."

The word Power is referring to God and that he does care where the fowler is taken and he will help him find his way even though he is traveling alone. Also Bryant uses man's relationship with God in stanza eight;

" He who, from zone to zone,

Guides through the boundless sky thy certain flight,

In the long way that I must tread alone,

Will lead my steps aright."

He is referred to God as he guides the fowler from one place to another through the sky alone but hoping that God will lead him in the right direction. Bryant also uses the fowler as the show the changing views of his earthly existence. The fowler's goes from zone to zone to find a warm place to hibernate while it is winter where he was. This is a common aspect for birds to do as the year goes on when winter comes they migrate south to a warmer climate to stay till it gets cold there. "The Waterfowl" has great meaning in the poem and it reaches out its religious side by telling how God helps the fowler to find a nesting spot.

"Huswifery" by Edward Taylor is a poem that is about housekeeping. In this poem, Taylor wants you to know how the housekeeping was in the Puritan times. This particular poem is about weaving something significant together. Man's place in this relationship to God is that he is asking God to help him weave his life together. For example, the whole poem is the explanation for this.

Make me, O Lord, thy Spinning Wheel complete;

Thy Holy Word my Distaff