In Phillis Wheatley’s life she has experienced both good and bad. From being stolen and sold in to the brutal world of institutionalized slavery and dealing with the new things that are forced upon her. While adjusting to her new lifestyle she begins to learn how to write among other things. Throughout her life she accomplishes many things that were not usual especially for a woman, who also happened to be a slave. The events of loss, especially in death, Christianity, and freedom reflect in her poems as themes. In her early years Wheatley accomplishes so much, which she thanked god for. Phillis Wheatley was born in Gambia, West Africa in 1753. At the early age of eight she arrives from West Africa to Boston on July 11, 1761. She was purchased …show more content…
Phillis Wheatley was baptized by Samuel Cooper. Her religion affected not only the messages in her poems, but how she portrays them. While looking at the surface of her poems it may seem she does not address the things that affected her most. Phillis Wheatley followed tradition. Phillis was also devoutly religious. She may have felt that expressing her faith was more important than her own feelings. At least that is what most critics think (“Literature” 159). Even though Phillis has filters on her writing this did not mean she didn’t address her problems. In her poem, “0n being brought from Africa to America she uses biblical myth to make her commentary or assumptions about race (Bloom72). Wheatley wrote for an audience that grew up and inherited the traditional degrading of black skin. Slave holders twisted biblical imagery. This perpetuates the belief that black is insecurity, sin, fear, ignorance, ultimately Satan and hell. While white is light, purity, and God in Heaven. Phillis Wheatley attempted to change that ideology of skin color. Even though she uses “dark” and “black” to denote evil she was sure to differentiate between skin colors (Bloom 71). Even in other poems she can be found challenging eighteen century evangelicals. She uses the same language and doctrine that whites used to define Africans. When doing this she undercuts …show more content…
In “To his Excellency General Washington” and “To the Right and Honorable William, Earl of Dartmouth” similar themes occur. In “To His Excellency General Washington” she states America is rightfully free from Britain. She even goes as far as to say that America is the home of the free. This is not true. This poem is ironic. Phillis is urging and congratulating a white man for fighting for his freedom when she is not. Even though Wheatley was not in a state to address her concerns, she did (“To His Excellency General Washington” 241). In “To the Right and Honorable William, Earl of Dartmouth she praises “fair freedom” along with “Freedoms charms”. A poem written by a slave on behalf of the rights of the slaveholders draws attention to the strategy in her writing. She speaks of Africa as a happy seat. Phillis was so knowledgeable about African men and women. She wrote a letter to Occom. This concerns the natural rights of the enslaved. In this poem she talks of the “Christian” slave holders. She states that “In every human breast, God has implanted a principle, which we call love of freedom; it is impatient of oppression, and pants for deliverance.” This shows the blatant hypocrisy of the slave holders who say they follow Christian Principle. The theme of death also shows up in her poems. In “To a Lady on the Death of Her Husband” she refers death as a direful sovereign who keeps his vassals bound in
Wheatley explains in her works that there is a God that believes in you, no matter what race or religion. The idea of hope is so strongly engraved into Wheatley’s stories because hope is all she had to cling to while in Africa and then while being separated from her husband after arriving in America. A man named John Wheatley purchased Wheatley and gave her a much better life than she ever imagined. From her journey across the ocean upon her arrival to the United States of America, she expressed her love for writing as an illustration of God’s unfailing love to share with people. She became familiar with the true meaning of the bible and God’s providence. God’s providence is how he cares and watches over her during the life’s passage. In “To the University of Cambridge, in New England”, she is able to write to the college students about the main goals. Wheatley heavily emphasizes to them that they should not get so wrapped up in their schoolwork and studies that it hinders their personal relationship with God. By having a balance in schooling and daily walk with God, it will help the student’s life more efficiently than just doing one action. The author’s main point in her poetry
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
Throughout the poem, “To the University of Cambridge, in New England”, Phyllis Wheatley suggest that she accepted the colonial idea of slavery, by first describing her captivity, even though this poem has a subversive double meaning that has sent an anti-slavery message. Wheatley’s choice of words indicates that her directed audience was educated at a sophisticated level because of the language chosen. Her audience was assumingly also familiar with the bible because of the religious references used. The bible was used as a reference because of its accessibility. Wheatley uses religious references to subversively warn her readers about slavery and its repercussions and to challenge her reader’s morals.
Scheik, William J. "Subjection and prophecy in Phillis Wheatley's verse paraphrases of scripture." College Literature 22.3 (1995); 122+. Academic OneFile. Web. 24 Mar. 2014.
Wheatley's book, The Collected Works of Phillis Wheatley was first published in London. Five years after her return from London her owners; Mr. and Mrs. Wheatley died. In 1778 Wheatley married John Peters and they had three children that all died ve ry young.
She has written many famous poems, including “On Being Brought from Africa to America” and “To the Right Honorable William, Earl of Dartmouth.” Phillis was sold into slavery at the age of seven and brought to North America from Africa. She did not know how to speak English at that time. She was purchased by the Wheatley family. They taught her how to read and write as she displayed great talent and brilliance. Just like Booker T. Washington she was unable to understand the conditions black people have to face when they are enslaved. In the poem “On Being Brought from Africa to America” Phillis narrated her story. She is saying that it was great luck that she was brought here. The Wheatley family did her a huge favor by bringing her here. Africa is her pagan land. She says that coming to America introduced her to Christianity. Christianity is the religion which taught her reality, peace, salvation and moral values. This religion gave her an opportunity to explore and understand herself, and get out of her sinful state. Christianity saved her life which she was unaware of. All the dilemmas that she is facing in America are nothing compared to if she had remained unsaved in Africa. This shows her favoritism towards slavery, she would rather want to remain a slave then being in
Phillis Wheatley was born in Gambia, West Africa around 1753 (Andrews et al. 770). She was forced into slavery when she was about seven or eight years old and purchased by John Wheatley in July of 1761 (770) for his wife Susanna Wheatley, who named her Phillis after the vessel that transported the young slave (Samuels et al. 543). The Wheatley’s, with their two children, Nathaniel and Mary (Brawley 12), taught Phillis to read and write in English and also tutored her in Latin (Samuels et al. 543). Wheatley studied the Bible, the Latin classical works of Virgil and Ovid, astronomy, geography, and history (Brawley 13). Much of her poetry consists of elegies (poetry written as a reflection on someone’s life) and many of her works are...
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.
Each of Phillis Wheatley’s poems is crafted with a specific purpose in mind. Although her use of heroic couplets stays mostly standard, she does leave room for adaptations that offer some insight into her ultimate purpose. While many of her poems humble her own position, often it is indeed for a specific cause, usually to convey a point she could not have otherwise communicated without fear of chastisement. On the other hand, speaking on religious matters she seems to feel bold enough to elevate her own position to that of an authority figure, giving guidance and hope to those in need of it.
When she was seven years old, she was taken from her family and brought to America during the American revolution wrapped in a filthy carpet on board a slave ship in 1761, and she was purchased by a Boston merchant as a gift to his wife Susanna Wheatley. She was given her first name of the slave ship on which she was brought "Phillis", and her surname after her master’s family name “Wheatley"; at first, she spoke no English, but because she was Mrs. Susanna’s best servant of all the other servants for her intelligence and eagerness to learn; thus the Wheatleys afforded her with a high level of education equivalent to any free Native American in Boston at that time. She learned English, Latin, and the bible and she became Christian. Phillis started writing her first poetry when she was a teenager, and she was encouraged by Mrs. Susanna who helped her publish her first poems in the newspapers, and shortly she gained a great reputation for her poetry. An entire book of her poems combined different moral and religious subjects was published in 1773. "On Being Brought from Africa to America" was a poem of this book. Phillis Wheatley was the first black African American poet to publish a
She captured the white, pro-slavery audience of her time by using the sophisticated language they respected as well as focusing on the good she derived from her slavery experience. She insisted that her abduction from Africa, "the land of errors", was by "gracious hand", implying the slave traders had actually done her a service by bringing her to America where she had been saved (Wheatley). Complimenting and thanking her pro-slavery audience allowed Wheatley to catch the attention of her readers and share her true message about the Savior. The saving of peoples' souls was her main concern, even when talking about the deceased George Winthrop, she furthers her mission; “he pray’d that grace in ev’ry heart might dwell, he long’d to see America excel” (Wheatley). For Phillis Wheatley, success was the saving of another soul by
Wheatley’s work is considered to be a sincere expression as it confronts, for one of the first times in American history by an African-American woman, white racism and asserts spiritual equality. Wheatley is an excellent example of Revolutionary-era women writers have been rediscovered by modern-day feminist scholars. Another prominent female colonial writer was Abigail Adams, whose letters between her and Otis Warren and between her and her husband, future President John Adams, discussing women’s rights in the U.S. constitution are regarded as important documents of the era.
Written in 1773, Phyllis Wheatley wrote a poem to criticize the Christians who were for slavery. “On Being Brought from Africa to America” was addressed to the white slaving owning class and to blatantly call them out on not being very good Christians. While her ideological stance is not clear at the beginning of the poem, especially when she starts praising slavery, it becomes clear from the fifth line and to the end of the poem that she argues that blacks are just the same as whites. She is very much this inequality, and wishes to end slavery and this notion of whites being superior to blacks. She becomes very active and condemns the hypocrisy of those who believe in God yet continue to own slaves, and her beliefs is strengthened by her excellent
Phillis Wheatley overcame extreme obstacles, such as racism and sexism, to become one of the most acclaimed poets in the 18th Century. Her works are characterized by religious and moral backgrounds, which are due to the extensive education of religion she received. In this sense, her poems also fit into American Poetry. However, she differs in the way that she is a black woman whose writings tackle greater subjects while incorporating her moral standpoint. By developing her writing, she began speaking out against injustices that she faced and, consequently, gave way to authors such as Gwendolyn Brooks and Countee Cullen.
In “On Being Brought From Africa To America” Phillis Wheatley speaks directly from her experience of coming to America, and how she became very religious on her arrival, so she uses her religious beliefs to explain how lucky she was to be in America and how she made a lot of achievements. Phillis Wheatley was a young black female poet, who started discovering her love for writing when she came to America, although it was illegal to educate black people she found a way to teach herself to read and write, even though a lot of people of her race were told that they weren’t good enough to deserve to be Christians and also to enjoy the advantage of being a citizen in America, Wheatley overcame these immense obstacles and she was so grateful for the chance to be a part of the Christian word and also to hear the word of Christianity, she was also very happy that she was brought to America where she has the opportunity to read and write. “Phillis” wasn’t her real name but her master named her that because the slave ship she boarded to come to America was named Phillis.