Mr. Edwards and the Spider

In Mr. Edwards and the Spider, there are 5 stanzas each 9 lines long. The rhythms are mainly iambic, and the number of iambs varies with the number of poetic feet in each stanza usually forming a 5-5-4-4-3-5-5-5-6 pattern. (If the lines were center justified, the shape would create an hourglass or spider shape on the page.) Often, Lowell violates the established meter for effect, upending a marching cadence. The rhyme scheme is mainly ABBACCCDD. This intricate structure creates a container for the three prose pieces of Edwards as Lowell often takes lines word for word from Edwards but refashions the words to fit his formal stanzas. For example, take this prose excerpt from Edwards:

A very little thing, a little worm or spider, or some such insect, is able to kill thee. What then canst thou do in the hands of God? It is vain to set the briers and thorns in battle array against glowing flames; the points of thorns, though sharp, do nothing to withstand the fire (Edwards as qtd. in McMahon, C. M. “The Future Punishment of the Wicked Unavoidable and Intolerable.” Reformed Theology at A Puritan's Mind.).

In Lowell’s “Mr. Edwards and the Spider,” these lines become

What are we in the hands of the great God?

It was in vain you set up thorn and briar

In battle array against the fire

And treason crackling in your blood;

For the wild thorns grow tame

And will do nothing to oppose the flame;

Your lacerations tell the losing game

You play against a sickness past your cure.

How will the hands be strong? How will the heart endure? (Lines 10-18)

Lowell uses rhyme and enjambed line breaks to gain control over Edwards’s intense imagery, rhyming “briar” and “fire” and introducing the idea of thorns that grow “tame,” which works to rhyme with “flame” and “game.” But Lowell adds a layer of poignancy over the viciousness of some of the imagery, incorporating the idea of a lacerated “you” to symbolize the human condition. The briars and thorns from Edwards have made their marks on Lowell’s “You”. The alliteration of “l’s” connects the “lacerations,” “losing,” and “play,” creating a lulling weak sound in comparison to the alliteration of the “ck” sound in “crackling,” “ sickness,” and “cure.” The tone becomes tender as the you who has been lacerated by thorns ironically conjures Christ lacerated with a crown of thorns, implying a powerful contrast between the lacerated New Testament Christ and the wrathful Old Testament God. The form and rhyme scheme transform Edwards’s prose, allowing more space for a You to appear—a You that reflects the burden of Edwards’s words.