Edward Taylor’s (c. 1642-1729) early life in England leaves much up to the imagination due to the lack of documentation. Three facts are known which allow us to vaguely draw an outline of his early life in England: Taylor went to university, Taylor taught school, and Taylor left England because he would not devote himself to the Church of England. Edward’s first splash onto the scene in America sprouted from his application to Harvard College and later his acceptance. While at Harvard his area of study ranged from medicine to the ministry.  It is said that he compiled a 500 page description of medicinal herbs and also studied the technology of metals in extreme depth. Taylor’s passion for science appears frequently within his poetry thus giving it an “intellectual flare” unlike any others in his time. After receiving his degree in three and a half years from Harvard he took a job in Westfield Massachusetts as a minister. However, poetry was his forte.

What shocks me most about the life of Edward Taylor is the discovery of his poetry. Taylor’s poetry was not discovered until the 1930’s. Norton’s description of the discovery can not be said much better: “it was one of the major literary discoveries of the twentieth century and revealed a body of work by a Puritan divine that was remarkable both in its quantity and quality” (144). Further research shows that the works were deposited into the Yale Library by Ezra Stiles, former Yale president and Taylor’s grandson. Stile’s was appointed president of Yale in 1778 and died in 1795. So Edward Taylor’s work was sitting in a library from c. 1785 to 1930 or 145 years before anyone found it. The amount of time this literary gem sat untouched from academia is absolutely stunning to me.

Reuben, Paul P. “Chapter 1: Edward Taylor.” PAL: Perspectives in American Literature- A Research and Refrence Guide.