Title: A Brief Escape From Puritan Society
Category:Literature / English Details: Words: 521 | Pages: 2.2 (approximately 235 words/page)
A Brief Escape From Puritan Society
In “Upon a Wasp Chilled with Cold” Edward Taylor personifies a wasp as a beautiful woman. In a puritan culture, describing a beautiful woman was against society, but the speaker personifies a wasp to escape this. It is ironic that the speaker chooses to describe the beauty of a wasp because a wasp was referred to as “annoying” in the Old Testament. This may have been another way of avoiding puritan society. At the end of the poem, the speaker asks God to clear his …showed first 85 words of 521 total…
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Although the speaker indirectly describes a charming woman, some puritans may be offended by the speaker’s language. The speaker uses personification of a wasp and an apology to God to avoid consequences from a harsh puritan society. The wasp was given many alluring human qualities that the speaker fanaticizes in the first stanza of the poem. The second stanza brings the speaker back on track by asking God to clear his mind so that he may see the true beauty of nature.
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