A Swift Analysis of Phillis Wheatley and Anne Bradstreet – APA. Daniel Frasure - ENGL 201 Phillis Wheatley and Anne Bradstreet, two pioneering figures in American poetry, while over eighty years separate the death of Bradstreet and Wheatley’s birth, both lived in periods of significant societal constraints—Wheatley as an enslaved African woman and Bradstreet as a Puritan wife (Belasco, 2019). Their writings reflect unique perspectives shaped by the environments of their respective eras, revealing how they managed their societal roles through poetry. This author’s intent is to both compare and contrast the Wheatley’s and Bradstreet’s poetry, illustrating how their unique circumstances influenced their theme and style. Through their distinctive …show more content…
Anne Bradstreet (1612-1672) and Phillis Wheatley (1753-1784) operated under vastly different yet similarly restrictive environments. Bradstreet, part of the early Puritan migration to Massachusetts, dealt with societal expectations that as a woman her domain should be contained to her sphere of her home and children (Eisinger, 1951). In contrast, Wheatley, born in West Africa, kidnapped around the age of six or seven, and enslaved in Boston, experienced the brutal limitations of slavery (Bennett, 1998). Despite these restrictions, both women learned to read and write, using their literary talents to carve out a voice for themselves within their communities. Bradstreet’s work often delved into her personal life and spiritual beliefs (Cowell, n.d.), while Bennett points out that Wheatley's poems tackled the themes of freedom and identity, often containing classical, religious, and neoclassical elements. Religion serves as a central role in both poets' works. Bradstreet's faith and Puritan way of life permeated her poetry, such as observed in Contemplations (Bradstreet, 1645). I wist not what to wish, yet sure thought I, If so much excellence abide
Wheatley was born in West Africa around 1750, and was captured when she was 7. John Wheatley purchased Phillis for his wife, Susanna; together they taught Phillis how to read and write, and as early as 12, Phillis was writing poetry and her first poem had been published. Wheatley’s poems implicitly advocated for racial equality, while condemning slavery. Her work received some negative feedback from political figureheads, such as Thomas Jefferson. White America classified a human as having the ability to read, write, and reason; therefore, leaving no room for the uneducated Africans, seeing Africans as nonhuman. Jefferson claimed Wheatley’s work was not literature because the moment he admitted Wheatley’s work was indeed literature, he would have had to admit she was a human being. The way Phillis Wheatley handled the adversity she faced is admirable. Wheatley definitely impacted American history, and “owes her place in history to advocates of inequality” (Young 1999
Readers unfamiliar with Phillis Wheatley may wonder of her background and who she was in particular to be able to gain rights to be mentioned in early American literature. Wheatley was born in 1753 and was captured by Africans, and sold to an American family known as the Wheatley’s. She quickly became a member of the Wheatley family, living in the home, and being tutored on reading and writing.
Anne Bradstreet and Phillis Wheatley both published great works of poetry during a very difficult time when gender and race were not easily overlooked. Bradstreet was a Puritan housewife and Wheatley was an African slave. Both writers were extremely intelligent which was not very common back then. Their poems are not precisely the same subject matter, but their similarity is the expression of their own opinions. The topic that they do seem to share is that of religion.
As a final point, Phillis Wheatley may have been bought a slave but she never lost faith and ended up being one of the best known poets in the early nineteenth century. This poem illustrates how she was living in darkness in Senegal, West Africa and because of slavery she was bought and brought to America. In this poem “On Being Brought from Africa to America,” Wheatley uses poetic devices such as similes, metaphors, hyperboles to illustrate color and darkness, multiple meanings of words, and the relationship between skin tone and salvation. This poem seems to be a narrative of her life and how slavery might have been the best thing that happened to her.
Mason, Jr., Julian D. The Poems of Phillis Wheatley. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1989.
Phillis Wheatley, who is now known as one of America’s most scholarly writers, has made a major impact on American Literature today. Her role in Literature had influenced many African Americans during this time period because it was very uncommon for them to become educated. Her poems made some people realize that they shouldn’t have slaves. Many people say that Phillis Wheately should go down in history as a hero while others say that she should not. Phillis is a historical hero because of the extraordinary courage that she showed by writing her poems while facing the adversities that she encountered. People disagree with this statement because they say that she did not make a difference in history.
Phillis Wheatley was an African-born slave in the last quarter of the eighteenth-century in New England. She was born in West Africa and brought to America on the slave ship Phillis. She was, however, much more than chattel-she was a poet. Phillis was the first African American to have a book published. In a time when women were not expected to be able to read or write, and when teaching an African American to be literate was frowned upon, Phillis Wheatley became educated in Latin and English literature. The education of Phillis Wheatley was, for the most part, for the intent of training "a servant and would-be companion for domestic utility," in which they undoubtedly succeeded. However, they "got an intellectual adornment" who, with her knowledge of the poems of Alexander Pope, the "Puritanical whiteness of her thoughts," and ability to write poems, soon became a celebrity among Boston?s social elite (Richmond 18,19).
Anne Bradstreet can be considered as a strong-willed but sensitive Puritan woman. Her poetry includes a combination of sarcasm and dispute against certain issues involving the unequal rights between men and women, and sentimental writings about her own emotions. She mostly writes about her feelings towards events going on in her personal life and not so much about politics or social phenomena. She did not write so as to put on a show or to be socially correct, but about her genuine feelings. She writes about being a woman and all the things that come with it, family, love, sorrow and seeking equality. She also incorporates her religious beliefs strongly in her poem as a driving force to reconciliation between herself and God. Anne Bradstreet was an eloquent poet who was able to convey her innermost feelings to the reader through various techniques and diction.
In the article, The World of Phillis Wheatley, James Rawley’s main thesis is to show that Phillis Wheatley's work was mainly influenced by the religion. Rawley shows evidence for this claim by bringing up the person Wheatley held the tightest bond with was Suzanne Whitley, with Rawley describing her as "This remarkable woman was active in religious, humanitarian enterprises, and conducted a wide correspondence with philanthropic persons in England” (668). The relationship between the two women provided the main reason why Wheatley’s work became known to the public. “It was Susanna who planned for the publication of the Poems, and in England enabled the poet to meet distinguished personages, and ultimately secured the slave's freedom.”
The poetry of Phillis Wheatley is crafted in such a manner that she is able to create a specific aim for each poem, and achieve that aim by manipulating her position as the speaker. As a slave, she was cautious to cross any lines with her proclamations, but was able to get her point across by humbling her own position. In religious or elegiac matters, however, she seemed to consider herself to be an authority. Two of her poems, the panegyric “To MAECENAS” and the elegy “On the Death of a young Lady of Five Years of Age,” display Wheatley’s general consistency in form, but also her intelligence, versatility, and ability to adapt her position in order to achieve her goals.
Anne Bradstreet, whom most critics consider America’s first “authentic poet”, was born and raised as a Puritan. Bradstreet married her husband Simon at the tender age of eighteen. She wrote her poems while rearing eight children and performing other domestic duties. In her poem “Upon The Burning Of Our House, July 10th, 1666”, Bradstreet tells of three valuable lessons she learned from the fire that destroyed her home.
Anne Bradstreet is seen as a true poetic writer for the seventeenth century. She exhibits a strong Puritan voice and is one of the first notable poets to write English verse in the American colonies. Bradstreet’s work symbolizes both her Puritan and feminine ideals and appeals to a wide audience of readers. American Puritan culture was basically unstable, with various inchoate formations of social, political, and religious powers competing publicly. Her thoughts are usually on the reality surrounding her or images from the Bible. Bradstreet’s writing is that of her personal and Puritan life. Anne Bradstreet’s individualism lies in her choice of material rather than in her style.
Samuels, Wilfred D, Loretta G. Woodard, and Tracie C. Guzzio. "Wheatley, Phillis." Encyclopedia of African-American Literature. New York: Facts on File, 2007. 543-45. Print.
Bradstreet’s poetry is fully religious. Being a pious woman, as everyone was at that time period, she wrote poems claiming high morals and religious motifs. Her writings were very popular among puritans who started colonizing America. His Puritan belief was the reason of her special attitude to her life, soul and sufferings. “She thought that God was so hard on her because her soul was too in love with the world. She also wrote some poems where she asked God to watch over her children and husband” (Gonzalez, 2000).
Anne Bradstreet starts off her letter with a short poem that presents insight as to what to expect in “To My Dear Children” when she says “here you may find/ what was in your living mother’s mind” (Bradstreet 161). This is the first sign she gives that her letter contains not just a mere retelling of adolescent events, but an introspection of her own life. She writes this at a very turbulent point in history for a devout Puritan. She lived during the migration of Puritans to America to escape the persecution of the Catholic Church and also through the fragmentation of the Puritans into different sects when people began to question the Puritan faith.