The Influence of Religion in Phillis Wheatley's Life
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.
On July 11, 1761, a slave ship from Fula, West Africa docked in Boston, Massachusetts (Weidt 7). John Wheatley, a wealthy merchant and a tailor, and his wife, Susanna, were at the auction searching for younger, more capable slaves (Weidt 9). Among those chosen, they picked a cheaply priced girl, estimated by her missing front teeth to be about seven or eight years old (Weidt 7). She was also chosen because Susanna felt sorry for her, probably because she was so emaciated (Weidt 9). Because the little girl had no identity, as it was left behind in West Africa, the Wheatleys needed to name her. Like all slave owners, they gave the young girl their last name (Weidt 10). Her first name came from the ship she was on, Phillis, which was owned by Timothy Fitch (Mason 3).
As time passed, Phillis was considered more like a part of the family than a slave. Phillis received an extensive education, which was comparable to that of a wealthy white man (Mason 4). Mary, the Wheatley's daughter, was an aspiring teacher and taught the Arabic-speaking girl English and ...
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...t social injustices (Weidt 53). Because of her quest for freedom, she gave way to writers such as Gwendolyn Brooks and Countee Cullen. Countee Cullen wrote "Heritage," which mixes themes of freedom, Africa, and religion. It can be said, then, that he gave way to writers such as Gwendolyn Brooks wrote "Negro Hero," which is about the status of the African American during the 1940s. Clearly, these poets followed the first steps taken by Phillis Wheatley towards speaking out against social issues, and today's poetry is a result of the continuation to speak out against them
Works Cited
"Elegy". The American Heritage Dictionary. 3rd ed. 1992.
Mason, Jr., Julian D. The Poems of Phillis Wheatley. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1989.
Weidt, Maryann N. Revolutionary Poet: A Story About Phillis Wheatley. Minneapolis:
Carolrhoda Books, 1997.
Gwendolyn Brooks was born on June 7, 1917 in Topeka, Kansas, to KeziahWims Brooks and David Anderson Brooks. Brooks’ family didn’t have much income. Her father David Brooks was a janitor. Keziah Brooks, Gwendolyn’s mother was a school teacher. Soon after Gwendolyn was born her family moved away from Kansas. The Brooks family relocated to Chicago, Illinois, where Brooks remained the rest of her life. Brooks, as a child, loved to read. She was encouraged by her family and friends to do so. She spent most of her childhood immersed in her writing. Gwendolyn became a published poet at an early age. At age 13, Brooks’ poem Eventide was published. Her poem appeared in “American Childhood.” Brooks’ poems were frequently published in the Chicago Defender. At age 16, Brooks had written over seventy poems (J.Williams 28).In Brooks’ early years of writing she spoke on a lot. She talked about racial discrimination and praised African American heroes. Also, Brooks satirized both blacks and whites (A.williams1). In 1993, Gwendolyn meet poet James Weldon Johnson and writer Langston Hughes. The two influenced Brooks’ writing tremendously. The influence lead her to write over seventy poems (Bloom 12).
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.
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.
Phillis Wheatley published her first poem at the age of seventeen years old (358). Phillis Wheatley is thought to live in Senegal and Gambia, who was sold into slavery when she was about seven years old. The family she was sold to bought her right off a boat in Boston and were called The Wheatley’s, they treated her nicely and educated her in English as well as educating her with the Bible (358). The education she was able to received carved into the poet she longed to be. In Wheatley’s poem “To The University of Cambridge, in New England.” she argues religion for not only the impact it had on her but the impact religion has had on all human race.
Phyllis Wheatley was captured and brought into slavery during the early stages of America’s fight for independence from Colonial British. Just like her fellow African writers of the time, Wheatley had to overcome oppression and prejudices and prove herself to the whites that Africans are very well capable of learning and becoming part of the civilized society. Although some might think Wheatley was confused about by her place in the America, I think otherwise. Not only Wheatley disproved the Europeans opinion on blacks by writing on the ideas that Africans were thought incapable of learning, she also used Christianity as a way to call Americans into harmony free from oppression.
The civil rights movement may have technically ended in the nineteen sixties, but America is still feeling the adverse effects of this dark time in history today. African Americans were the group of people most affected by the Civil Rights Act and continue to be today. Great pain and suffering, though, usually amounts to great literature. This period in American history was no exception. Langston Hughes was a prolific writer before, during, and after the Civil Rights Act and produced many classic poems for African American literature. Hughes uses theme, point of view, and historical context in his poems “I, Too” and “Theme for English B” to expand the views on African American culture to his audience members.
The first of the pillars is Containment. Containment was set forth to stop the spread of communism. Of all the pillars Containment was the most expensive. This was the pillar that created such institutions as NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization), CENTO (Central Eastern Treaty Organization) and SEATO (Southeast Asia Treaty Organization).
Wheatley was the first African American woman living in America to publish a book of poems at the age of 19, Wheatley was brought from Africa to
Gwendolyn Brooks is the female poet who has been most responsive to changes in the black community, particularly in the community’s vision of itself. The first African American to be awarded a Pulitzer Prize; she was considered one of America’s most distinguished poets well before the age of fifty. Known for her technical artistry, she has succeeded in forms as disparate as Italian terza rima and the blues. She has been praised for her wisdom and insight into the African Experience in America. Her works reflect both the paradises and the hells of the black people of the world. Her writing is objective, but her characters speak for themselves. Although the idiom is local, the message is universal. Brooks uses ordinary speech, only words that will strengthen, and richness of sound to create effective poetry.
Gwendolyn Brooks was born in Topeka, Kansas, in 1917. She grew up in a harsh, racist time period along with The Great Depression. Brooks’ poems were influenced from this and encouraged her to write many poems about the life of a black American. “She was inspired by the black power movement and the militancy of such poets as Amiri Baraka” (Barker, 448). During the 1960s her writing underwent a racial change in style and subject matter. Brooks learned to write such great poems at the Associate of Literature and Art, Wilson Junior College, 1936. Writing many known poems such as: A Street in Bronzeville, Annie Allen, Maud Martha, Bronzeville Boys and Girls, The Bean Eaters, etc. She’s a poet of contemporary writings; her poems mirror the ups and the downs of black American lives at this time. Although she writes with great encouragement and wisdom, she looks at everything with an open mind. Her characters speak for themselves. “Her works sometimes resembled a poignant social document, but her poems are works of art…” (Miller, 78). One can picture a vivid idea of Bronzeville, U.S.A. because of the great details she puts into her poems. A black district in her native Chicago, that serves as the setting for many of her poems. “Her characters are usually the unheroic black people who fled the land for the city- only to d...
Any agency that uses children for marketing schemes spend hundreds of billions dollars each year world wide persuading and manipulating consumer’s lifestyles that lead to overindulgence and squandering. Three articles uncover a social problem that advertising companies need to report about. In his research piece “Kid Kustomers” Eric Schlosser considers the reasons for the number of parents that allow their children to consume such harmful foods such as ‘McDonalds’. McDonalds is food that is meant to be fast and not meant to be a regular diet. Advertising exploits children’s needs for the wealth of their enterprise, creating false solutions, covering facts about their food and deceiving children’s insecurities. It contains dissatisfaction that leads to over consumption. Children are particularly vulnerable to this sort of manipulation, American Psychological Association article, “Youth Oriented Advertising” reveals the facts upon the statics on consumers in the food industries. The relationship that encourages young children to adapt towards food marketing schemes, make them more vulnerable to other schemes, such as, advertising towards clothing, toys and cars. Article writer of “The relationship between cartoon trade character recognition and attitude toward product category in young children”, Richard Mizerski, discusses a sample that was given to children ages three to six years old, about how advertising incurs young children that are attracted too certain objects or products on the market.
Ruskin, Gary. “The Fast Food Trap: How Commercialism Creates Overweight Children.” Commercialalert.org. Commercial Alert, 31 Oct. 2003. Web. 8 May 2011.
Uniforms in public schools are becoming more and more accepted around the world. “Over the last two decades, the debate over the implementation of school uniform policies in public schools has been a consistent presence in schools and districts around the United States.” (Sanchez, 345). Teachers, parents and school administrators feel the need for school uniforms as a positive way to increase school safety and increase academic performance. Even though school uniforms are not the most popular choice among students and parents, the positive impact school uniforms make on students and the school outweigh the negative opinions.
Uniforms are worn for many different reasons such as being in jail or going to work, and you can see them today almost anywhere in the world. Now uniforms are becoming a popular trend amongst schools. The question is should students be forced to wear them? Some parents and teachers say that uniforms keep the students focused on academics and not fashion. Opposers believe that kids should have the freedom to choose what they wear to school. Although, uniforms do limit the student’s choice to wear whatever they please, which is the con to having the enforcement, uniforms are supposed to be looked upon as a positive thing. They eliminate bullying, help students focus only on academics, combine social classes and gives the school campus a professional