My Favorite Poem in the class (at least as of now)

My favorite poem in the class so far has to be Edward Taylor’s “Upon a Spider Catching a Fly.” No, it’s not just because I am able to understand it—however, it does help a lot since it is maybe only one of a handful that I did really understand. It is my favorite poem because it certainly relates to me as a seeking Christian. I call myself a seeking Christian because even though I’ve had a strong foundation at a church, an education at a Catholic school, and beliefs and morals that match many of Jesus’ teachings, I am still seeking as to exactly who I am.

At times, I would feel like the fly, trapped and hopeless, and even dead to society. Other times, I would feel some kind of supernatural strength helping me fight through tough times in school or with family. Taylor presents the poem really well with the different scenarios of a wasp and a fly being caught in the spider’s web. The poem helps to create visual images that can be disturbing—“And hind the head/Bite dead”—but also revealing and hopeful—“Thy grace to break the cord, afford” (Taylor 24-25, 43).

Another reason as to why I like Taylor’s poem is because it is familiar to what I am used to seeing in poetry. I know this may be because I am very narrow-minded in the field of poetry, but I like how there is a specific structure to the poem. There are 5-line stanzas with the rhyme scheme of ABACC in each stanza and the syllable counts as well (I observed these myself!).

I’ve learned to appreciate this poem a lot more as we progressed in this class because we got into the more modernist poetry and lots of poems that I just could not understand. I would ask myself, “Why would O’Hara write these poems?” Honestly, I’d try to fool myself into an answer that is somewhat satisfactory, but I still have no idea. Moreover, Marianne Moore and Harryette Mullen are two other examples of poets who I still have no idea as to what the purpose was in their writing. As for Taylor, I understand that he is trying to glorify God’s grace and almighty power to the world. In his poetry, Taylor praises God as the one who can help you out of the vicious deaths in meaningless activities on earth. “Upon a Spider Catching a Fly” certainly holds a lot of meaning in its short lines and I certainly do like this poem.

I really do hope that I continue to read poetry, even though I was discouraged a lot this semester by all the complex poems we read. I also hope that you, as well, will continue to read poetry.