The two poems being discussed in this essay will be Phillis Wheatley’s “On Being Brought from Africa to America” and Claude McKay’s “America.” “On Being Brought from Africa to America” is a poem by Phillis Wheatley, published in her 1773 book, Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Morals. Phillish Wheatley, born in 1753 in West Africa, was a trailblazer for African American poetry during the 18th century. Despite the many obstacles and struggles she faced within her life, Wheatley was impressively intelligent and talented and was able to direct these attributes in her own work. Her purpose in writing “On Being Brought from Africa to America” was to convey the hypocritical prejudice and racial bias against black people that runs rampant within the …show more content…
The main themes of “America” include the inner turmoil of the speaker about conflict between the country of America and it’s own citizens in which they are oppressed. Through the exploration of religious themes, Claude McKay's "America" and Phillis Wheatley's "On Being Brought from Africa to America" present perspectives on the African American experience in America, with McKay expressing discontent and conflict and Wheatley finding redemption in America's religious landscape but still struggling with both her religious identity and her race. Both poems explore the relationship between identity, race, and the American experience. By analyzing these poems, we remember the affect racism has on our society and on individuals today. Claude McKay’s “America” begins with a striking and contradicting opening, representing the speakers feelings within the context of the African American experience. McKay paints a picture that describes both his resentment and reluctant love for America. This sets the stage to explore the contradicting and complex struggle for African American’s and their relationship with
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
When picking an author that is the “epitome of what it means to be an American,” one author in particular stands out to me every time, and it is an author who is probably not considered by many to be an “American” author. Her name is Phillis Wheatley. Through her writings, Wheatley expresses her patriotism and overall respect for life in America, gaining her recognition by critics and fans alike, and a major spot in the topic of American Literature. Within my essay, I aim to prove how Wheatley deserves the title of being labeled an American, and how she embodies the topic of what it means to be an American.
The two concepts are perhaps the most powerful writing of the sheer burden of African-American in our society. Ever though the story was written many decades ago, many African-American today reflect on how things haven’t changed much over time. Still today American will conceptualize what is “Black” and what is “American”.
Perhaps Wheatley’s most well-known poem, “On being brought from AFRICA to AMERICA” is short but poignant in both its biblical allusion and
In his poems, Langston Hughes treats racism not just a historical fact but a “fact” that is both personal and real. Hughes often wrote poems that reflect the aspirations of black poets, their desire to free themselves from the shackles of street life, poverty, and hopelessness. He also deliberately pushes for artistic independence and race pride that embody the values and aspirations of the common man. Racism is real, and the fact that many African-Americans are suffering from a feeling of extreme rejection and loneliness demonstrate this claim. The tone is optimistic but irritated. The same case can be said about Wright’s short stories. Wright’s tone is overtly irritated and miserable. But this is on the literary level. In his short stories, he portrays the African-American as a suffering individual, devoid of hope and optimism. He equates racism to oppression, arguing that the African-American experience was and is characterized by oppression, prejudice, and injustice. To a certain degree, both authors are keen to presenting the African-American experience as a painful and excruciating experience – an experience that is historically, culturally, and politically rooted. The desire to be free again, the call for redemption, and the path toward true racial justice are some of the themes in their
The eyes of potential soul arose into the world in Senegambia, and half way around the world in Easton arisen a soul to be etched into the world forever. A girl , no , a woman I should say given the strength possessed in the soul of her body and mind and certainly a man , a man who will grow to learn fathoms of knowledge breaking the impenetrable minds of those who heard silence. These two were of separate shades although fused from one deep pigment. Two of the most renowned black writers that were for the abolitionist movement in America were Frederick Douglass and Phillis Wheatley. During the times of slavery, finding a literate black slave who could read the very words of a paper who could then think for themselves and stand up to show who they were , to speak with wisdom to tell off the silenced cowards who looked away at the reality of the world was rare . These two authors with bold spirits managed to write literature that inspired the minds of people to change. Wheatley would move her readers with a delicate, yet powerful literature while Douglass would use strong authoritative use of words. ……During the years of 1773 and 1845, works of perfection and meaning arose. In 1773 a work by Phillis Wheatley was published. A poem called “On Being Brought from Africa to America” that had described a doomed destiny but enclosed in a veil of liberation and sovereignty. Wheatley was one of the more passive writers. She knew she was a slave reckoned with no moral standing in the eyes of the whites, and she was aware of her place in society as against the whites. She knew the only way to grasp the attention of her readers was to enflame them in anger. When analyzing slavery...
The power to do an outlandish action to change the future is truly remarkable. Eighteenth century poet Phillis Wheatley a former slave in the United States became the first African American to publish a book of poems. Fully aware that her life would change drastically she had no idea that her life would change for the better as her slave ship kissed the shores of Massachusetts. She had no idea that she would embark on the journey which would become the pathway for other African Americans to take upon themselves to understand literature. Phillis is amongst the few in history that created a tremendous change in how the eighteenth century population of white masters viewed the slaves they owned.
Wheatley’s poem, “On Being Brought from Africa to America” is part of a set of works that Henry Louis Gates Jr. recognized as a historically significant literary contribution for black Americans and black women (Baym et al. 752). Addressed to the Christians who participated in the slave trade, the poem is meant to reveal the inconsistencies between their actions and the Christian Ideal. Whether perceived as a work of sincerity or a work of irony, the poem conveys the message that an individual’s behaviors are influenced by the examples of others and that all people are equal. Understanding Phillis Wheatley’s intent in her poem, “On Being Brought from Africa to America,” is gained by considering all of the aspects of her existence when analyzing her work and even though perception is based on individual perspective, analysis and explication will reveal the contrariety Phillis Wheatley observed between society and the Christian Ideal and evidence her desire for the dissolution of every inequality.
“The history of the American Negro is the history of this strife, – this longing to attain self-consciousness, manhood, to merge his double self into a better and truer self. In this merging he wishes neither of the older selves to be lost. He would not Africanize America, for America has too much to teach the world and Africa. He would not bleach his Negro soul in a flood of white Americanism, for he knows that Negro blood has a message f...
The clash between racial reality and idea is what is artistically shown in “on being brought from Africa to America”. Wheatley is a subtle rebel. At the beginning of her poem she shows thanks for being enslaved because it brought happiness to her life in finding Christianity, but as time goes by we start to see the true tone of Wheatley, which clearly show in the last two lines of the poem, now Wheatley begins to take a big position of power as if she already has the attention of the reader. Wheatley continues by saying that Africans may not be perfect but the Christians who enslave human beings aren’t
Phillis Wheatley, one of America’s most profound writers, has contributed greatly to American literature, not only as a writer, but as an African American woman, who has influenced many African Americans by enriching their knowledge of and exposure to their Negro heritage and Negro literature. As one of America’s most renown writers, Wheatley, said to be the mother of African American Literature, is best known for her sympathetic portrayals of African American thought. Wheatley’s literary contributions are vast in nature and distinguish her apart from most writers of her era. Her writings have helped in the molding of the African American tradition and are favored by people of all ethnic backgrounds.Phillis Wheatley was born on the West coast of Africa. Her exact birthplace is unknown; however it is assumed that she was born near Senegambia, a territory that today is divided between the nation of Senegal and Gambia.
The poem America by Claude McKay is on its surface a poem combining what America should be and what this country stands for, with what it actually is, and the attitude it projects amongst the people. Mckay uses the form of poetry to express how he, as a Jamaican immigrant, feels about America. He characterizes the bittersweet relationship between striving for the American dream, and being denied that dream due to racism. While the America we are meant to see is a beautiful land of opportunity, McKay see’s as an ugly, flawed, system that crushes the hopes and dreams of the African-American people.
During the American colonies, Phillis Wheatley was one of the first African-American women to publish a book of poetry. Both her poems, “On Being Brought from Africa to America” and “To The Right Honourable William, Earl of Dartmouth” emphasize the importance of slaves wanting freedom. Similarly, Frances E.W. Harper’s poem “The Slave Mother” dramatizes the pain a slave mother undergoes when she is separated from her child. Both authors use an identifiable persona as a means to appeal to their White female Christian audience religious beliefs or familial values. By maintaining a didactic tone in order to question their audience 's morality, as well as effectively using either lament full or melodramatic imagery to render emotions such as compassion
Robert Hayden recovered what had been lost of the African American experience in the following poems: “Middle Passage”, Homage to the Empress of the Blues”, and “Those Winter Sundays”. In his poem “Middle Passage” Hayden talks about the suffering and the desire of restoration in African Americans through the experience they endured. Hayden uses his poems as a way to communicate his experience and escape what is happening around him the best he can. “I cannot sleep, for I am sick with fear, but writing eases fear a little” (Hayden, 1962, p. 2373), he cannot get away from what is happening around him, and he cannot ignore the pain that is so familiar, but he is able to escape to his own mind.
Over the course of the century chronicling the helm of slavery, the emancipation, and the push for civil, equal, and human rights, black literary scholars have pressed to have their voice heard in the midst a country that would dare classify a black as a second class citizen. Often, literary modes of communication were employed to accomplish just that. Black scholars used the often little education they received to produce a body of works that would seek to beckon the cause of freedom and help blacks tarry through the cruelties, inadequacies, and inconveniences of their oppressed condition. To capture the black experience in America was one of the sole aims of black literature. However, we as scholars of these bodies of works today are often unsure as to whether or not we can indeed coin the phrase “Black Literature” or, in this case, “Black poetry”. Is there such a thing? If so, how do we define the term, and what body of writing can we use to determine the validity of the definition. Such is the aim of this essay because we can indeed call a poem “Black”. We can define “Black poetry” as a body of writing written by an African-American in the United States that formulates a concentrated imaginative awareness of an experience or set of experiences inextricably linked to black people, characterizes a furious call or pursuit of freedom, and attempts to capture the black condition in a language chosen and arranged to create a specific emotional response through meaning, sound, and rhythm. An examination of several works of poetry by various Black scholars should suffice to prove that the definition does hold and that “Black Poetry” is a term that we can use.