Edward Taylor's Public Devotions
This essay discusses the literary and philosophical aesthetics of New England Puritan pastor Edward Taylor. The essay descries the intersection of Puritan religious and materialist cultures with Taylor's aesthetic sense, focusing on Taylor's book "Preparatory Meditations," a poetical devotional manual. Other subjects under discussion include the Puritan understanding of beauty and its relation to spiritual development and transformation, the social aspects of poetry and the ways in which the concept of beauty affected religious life in Massachusetts, and the poetical aspects of Taylor's writing.
Brissett, Wilson. “Edward Taylor’s Public Devotions.” Early American Literature, vol. 44, no. 3, Nov. 2009, pp. 457–487. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1353/eal.0.0082.