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Poems of Phillis Wheatley
The poetry of America's first published black poet was published before the Revolutionary War and recognized throughout the English-speaking world. Phillis Wheatley was born in Africa, sold as a slave in America, and became a celebrity in Europe. This volume also contains a short memoir of her life.
108 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1966
About the author
Phillis Wheatley
78 books99 followersPhillis Wheatley (1753 – December 5, 1784?) was the first professional African American poet and the first African-American woman whose writings were published. Born in Gambia, Senegal, she was enslaved at age eight. She was purchased by the Wheatley family of Boston, who taught her to read and write, and helped encourage her poetry.
Born about 1753 in West Africa, she was kidnapped in 1763 and taken to America on a slave ship called The Phillis (this is where she got her name). She was purchased in Boston by John Wheatley. Wheatley and his wife Mary instructed the young girl and encouraged her education including study of Latin and history. Mrs.Wheatley arranged for Phillis to work around the house and allowed Mary Wheatley to tutor Phillis. Mary Wheatley taught Phillis science, geography, and history. Phillis was also taught English and studied the American Bible extensively. Within 2 ½ years of joining the Wheatley family, Phillis was fully literate. At the age of 12 she was reading the Greek and Latin classics, and passages from the Bible. This amazed the Wheatleys. Phillis was encouraged to continue to learn and was allowed to express herself, so much so she was also provided pen and paper on her nightstand in case she was inspired to write during the night.
In 1773, Phillis Wheatley was sent to London with Nathaniel Wheatley. However Wheatley’s visit did not go unnoticed. She held an audience with the Lord Mayor of London, she was also scheduled to have a session where she recited a poem to George III was arranged, but Phillis returned home before expected. A collection of her poetry was also published in London during this visit. Wheatley was free of slavery, but not given the full rights of a free woman. On October 18, 1773 she was given this "freedom" as a result of her popularity and influence as a poet.
In 1775, she published a poem celebrating George Washington entitled, “To his Excellency General Washington.” In 1776, Washington invited Wheatley to his home as thanks for the poem. Wheatley was a supporter of the American Revolution, but the war hurt the publication of her poetry because readers were swept up in the war and seemingly uninterested in poetry.
In 1778, Phillis was legally freed when her master John Wheatley died. Three months later, Phillis married John Peters, a free black grocer. Wheatley was unable to publish another volume of her poetry. Wheatley’s husband, John Peters, was imprisoned for debt in 1784, leaving an impoverished Wheatley behind with a sickly infant daughter, Eliza. Wheatley became a scullery maid at a boarding house, forced into domestic labor that she had avoided earlier in life while enslaved. Wheatley died alone on December 5, 1784, at age 31.
Phillis Wheatley, like most authors, wrote about what she knew or experienced. She believed that the power of poetry is immeasurable.
Born about 1753 in West Africa, she was kidnapped in 1763 and taken to America on a slave ship called The Phillis (this is where she got her name). She was purchased in Boston by John Wheatley. Wheatley and his wife Mary instructed the young girl and encouraged her education including study of Latin and history. Mrs.Wheatley arranged for Phillis to work around the house and allowed Mary Wheatley to tutor Phillis. Mary Wheatley taught Phillis science, geography, and history. Phillis was also taught English and studied the American Bible extensively. Within 2 ½ years of joining the Wheatley family, Phillis was fully literate. At the age of 12 she was reading the Greek and Latin classics, and passages from the Bible. This amazed the Wheatleys. Phillis was encouraged to continue to learn and was allowed to express herself, so much so she was also provided pen and paper on her nightstand in case she was inspired to write during the night.
In 1773, Phillis Wheatley was sent to London with Nathaniel Wheatley. However Wheatley’s visit did not go unnoticed. She held an audience with the Lord Mayor of London, she was also scheduled to have a session where she recited a poem to George III was arranged, but Phillis returned home before expected. A collection of her poetry was also published in London during this visit. Wheatley was free of slavery, but not given the full rights of a free woman. On October 18, 1773 she was given this "freedom" as a result of her popularity and influence as a poet.
In 1775, she published a poem celebrating George Washington entitled, “To his Excellency General Washington.” In 1776, Washington invited Wheatley to his home as thanks for the poem. Wheatley was a supporter of the American Revolution, but the war hurt the publication of her poetry because readers were swept up in the war and seemingly uninterested in poetry.
In 1778, Phillis was legally freed when her master John Wheatley died. Three months later, Phillis married John Peters, a free black grocer. Wheatley was unable to publish another volume of her poetry. Wheatley’s husband, John Peters, was imprisoned for debt in 1784, leaving an impoverished Wheatley behind with a sickly infant daughter, Eliza. Wheatley became a scullery maid at a boarding house, forced into domestic labor that she had avoided earlier in life while enslaved. Wheatley died alone on December 5, 1784, at age 31.
Phillis Wheatley, like most authors, wrote about what she knew or experienced. She believed that the power of poetry is immeasurable.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 56 reviews
October 13, 2018
“Some view our sable race with scornful eye, ‘Their colour is a diabolic dye.’ Remember, Christians... Negros, black as Cain, May be refin'd, and join th' angelic train.”
This was a for-school-read that I really ended up enjoying. First published in 1770, Phillis Wheatley was a remarkable young woman. A slave in the American colonies, Wheatley spent years not only learning English, but developing a power with words. She became the first African-American poet published, with success as far reaching as Europe.
Reading her works from a 21st Century viewpoint is somewhat odd. Not only is the language itself more difficult, but the some of the themes extremely dated. Engrossed in religious fervor, several of her poems reflect the ideas of Calvinism, including predestination-- that there's a God with a specific plan for everything. In one work, Wheatley even goes as far as stating, “'Twas mercy brought me from my Pagan land, Taught my benighted soul to understand that there's a God, that there's a Saviour too.”
Most of my class found this understandably off-putting and antiquated. And I'm certainly not trying to claim it isn't. But the subtle message of her works is stronger. Believing in a sovereign God, it can be inferred Wheatley viewed her slavery as part of a predestined plan to bring her to Christianity, but that does not mean she agreed with the practice itself. (In fact, she spent most of her life vehemently fighting against it.)
In Revolutionary-Era America, the literate were predominantly white, due to the restriction of access to education. Wheatley seems keenly aware of her audience. She didn't use poetry as a way for blatantly calling for the abolition of slavery, but instead uses her poems as a lyrical way of advocating equality, by appealing to their shared religion. In quotes like the one I've place at the top of this review, she politely, but firmly reminds "Christians" that all races are equal in their God's eyes. To be frank, she's continually calling out their hypocrisy.
I found it intensely courageous that someone so young was so dedicated to spreading a message so important, whether the world was ready to hear it or not.
In Conclusion:
Definitely not for an afternoon of light reading. Intensely powerful all the same.
May 21, 2013
her critics are too harsh. she died @ 31. Milton didn't write "Paradise Lost" till he was 56!
March 2, 2020
I so adore her verses and flow. She has a way with words that can allow others to move along with her hidden agenda.
April 15, 2015
Phillis Wheatley is my girl. She was the first black poet to publish a book. She had a gift for language and she wrote some of the best poems. Here's this from "To S.M., A Young African Painter, on Seeing His Works"
To show the lab’ring bosom’s deep intent,
And thought in living characters to paint,
When first thy pencil did those beauties give,
And breathing figures learnt from thee to live,
How did those prospects give my soul delight,
A new creation rushing on my sight!
To show the lab’ring bosom’s deep intent,
And thought in living characters to paint,
When first thy pencil did those beauties give,
And breathing figures learnt from thee to live,
How did those prospects give my soul delight,
A new creation rushing on my sight!
July 18, 2017
I am not a fan of poetry much but I had to read this book. Phillis Wheatley was America's first published poet. She was an African sold into slavery. She was brought here when she was about 7. She had a dizzying intellect and wrote many of these poems in her youth.
I especially enjoyed the poem on Imagination. Here is a small excerpt from it:
"Such is they power, nor are thine orders vain. O thou, the leader of the mental train: In full perfection all thy works are wrought, And thine the sceptre o'er the realms of thought; Before thy throne the subject passions bow, Of subject-passions sov'reign ruler Thou; at thy command joy rushes on the heart, And through the glowing veins the spirits dart."
As a writer, that verse perfectly describes the wondrous power of the mind to create beautiful stories.
The only reason for this book getting four stars is because, as I said, I am not a fan of poetry.
I especially enjoyed the poem on Imagination. Here is a small excerpt from it:
"Such is they power, nor are thine orders vain. O thou, the leader of the mental train: In full perfection all thy works are wrought, And thine the sceptre o'er the realms of thought; Before thy throne the subject passions bow, Of subject-passions sov'reign ruler Thou; at thy command joy rushes on the heart, And through the glowing veins the spirits dart."
As a writer, that verse perfectly describes the wondrous power of the mind to create beautiful stories.
The only reason for this book getting four stars is because, as I said, I am not a fan of poetry.
November 1, 2023
I don't know how to rate this book - is it the poems, the letters, the skill of the compiler, the thorough notes being considered?... Anyway, it was a delightful dip into American and British history and a nearer acquaintance with this sister who I had heard of forever and never actually read. Her poetry is too much of the florid style of Pope to be thoroughly endearing to the modern reader, but it displays noteworthy skill in the literary gymnastics of rhymed verse. Lots of Milton-like scenes of paradise painted into elegies on departed dear ones, lots of 'ardent glowing bosoms'... I especially enjoyed the few included letters, as they gave a slightly more real glimpse of her personal thoughts than the highly formal style of her poetry allowed, and as with her poetry, displayed a true love for Christ and the gospel.
"Let me be a Servant of Christ and that is the most perfect freedom."
"Let me be a Servant of Christ and that is the most perfect freedom."
November 12, 2021
I was very impressed with the poetic ability of this young female slave. I still am, for the most part, especially her command of language. However, I got half way through this volume before I began to realize every poem was the same basic structure, with 10 syllable couplets. It began to get tedious. Not to mention the religiosity and frequent themes of death were disturbing. This young black woman was obviously very indoctrinated into the prevailing christianity of the day, even to the extent of seeming to believe herself lucky to have been taken from her homeland and raised in America. In spite of her obviously unusual education and abilities for the time, these poems show that her mind was still enslaved in a way.
January 9, 2019
Phillis Wheatley is a very interesting character and some of her poetry is thus really interesting to look at. It did take me a while to get used to the writing of 's' as an 'f' in some cases, but once you get through that it's really easy to read. I did think there were too many poems about the death of people which basically all came down to the conclusion that the bereaved did not have to be sad because their loved ones were happy in heaven. The rest of her poetry is really good and I liked how she mixed christianity and the Greek and Roman myths.
September 23, 2024
Women’s AND American Lit course. How crazy is that?!
June 15, 2019
It’s amazing a slave wrote such poems. But the poems aren’t good.
February 18, 2024
It's a shame Wheatley was so indoctrinated in certain ways, but yet you can still see that she has this sense of pride in herself and her fellow Africans/African Americans. Plus what she did just at a formal level is more impressive than any of her white peers when you factor in that she was literally kidnapped, enslaved, and forced to write in a foreign language. Show me one white poet who did that, I'll wait. I can't say Wheatley is radical, but there are some delicious nuggets in here for careful readers.
February 23, 2013
Her poems may, at times, be repetitive and derivative (of Pope and Milton--not two of my favorites). Many of the poems are elegies rather than direct expressions of her personal feelings and history. But here she is: the first published African American poet.
Phillis was seized from Senegal/Gambia, West Africa, when she was about seven years old. She was transported to the Boston docks with a shipment of "refugee" slaves, who because of age or physical frailty were unsuited for rigorous labor in the West Indian and Southern colonies, the first ports of call after the Atlantic crossing. In the month of August 1761, "in want of a domestic," Susanna Wheatley, wife of prominent Boston tailor John Wheatley, purchased "a slender, frail female child ... for a trifle" because the captain of the slave ship believed that the waif was terminally ill, and he wanted to gain at least a small profit before she died. A Wheatley relative later reported that the family surmised the girl—who was "of slender frame and evidently suffering from a change of climate," nearly naked, with "no other covering than a quantity of dirty carpet about her"—to be "about seven years old ... from the circumstances of shedding her front teeth."
The Wheatleys recognized and nurtured Phillis' prodigious poetic talent. She was remarkably well-educated; she translated Ovid and Horace. She was celebrated in New England and abroad. After the death of her masters, she lost financial security and a room of her own. Phillis married poorly, and fell into extreme poverty. She and her three children died young.
But the poems sing!
Some view our sable race with scornful eye,
"Their colour is a diabolic die."
"On Being Brought from Africa to America"
Imagination! who can sing thy force?
Or who describe the swiftness of thy course?
Soaring through air to find the bright abode,
Th' empyreal palace of the thund'ring God,
We on thy pinions can surpass the wind,
And leave the rolling universe behind:
From star to star the mental optics rove,
Measure the skies, and range the realms above.
There in one view we grasp the mighty whole,
Or with new worlds amaze th' unbounded soul.
"On Imagination"
Still may the painter’s and the poet’s fire
To aid thy pencil, and thy verse conspire!
"To S. M. A Young African Painter, On Seeing His Works"
Phillis was seized from Senegal/Gambia, West Africa, when she was about seven years old. She was transported to the Boston docks with a shipment of "refugee" slaves, who because of age or physical frailty were unsuited for rigorous labor in the West Indian and Southern colonies, the first ports of call after the Atlantic crossing. In the month of August 1761, "in want of a domestic," Susanna Wheatley, wife of prominent Boston tailor John Wheatley, purchased "a slender, frail female child ... for a trifle" because the captain of the slave ship believed that the waif was terminally ill, and he wanted to gain at least a small profit before she died. A Wheatley relative later reported that the family surmised the girl—who was "of slender frame and evidently suffering from a change of climate," nearly naked, with "no other covering than a quantity of dirty carpet about her"—to be "about seven years old ... from the circumstances of shedding her front teeth."
The Wheatleys recognized and nurtured Phillis' prodigious poetic talent. She was remarkably well-educated; she translated Ovid and Horace. She was celebrated in New England and abroad. After the death of her masters, she lost financial security and a room of her own. Phillis married poorly, and fell into extreme poverty. She and her three children died young.
But the poems sing!
Some view our sable race with scornful eye,
"Their colour is a diabolic die."
"On Being Brought from Africa to America"
Imagination! who can sing thy force?
Or who describe the swiftness of thy course?
Soaring through air to find the bright abode,
Th' empyreal palace of the thund'ring God,
We on thy pinions can surpass the wind,
And leave the rolling universe behind:
From star to star the mental optics rove,
Measure the skies, and range the realms above.
There in one view we grasp the mighty whole,
Or with new worlds amaze th' unbounded soul.
"On Imagination"
Still may the painter’s and the poet’s fire
To aid thy pencil, and thy verse conspire!
"To S. M. A Young African Painter, On Seeing His Works"
October 4, 2015
(I didn't read the whole book of poems but someone's I did like "To the University of Cambridge") This was required reading in my English class and for the most part I really liked it. But let me say, you need a dictionary with you to understand it. Her writing style is very strong so sometimes you may be thinking what does she mean but overall I found that she was very pleasent to read. I love her background story and how she got to be published. Even though the culture in that time tought black people were sinful, I still love how Phillis stand up from that and got to study and get published. She believed that God was the right path for everyone and her poems shows that. I gave it 5 starts because this poem is one of those that you have to think and admire cause it's literature and is history, and you learn new things from them.
February 8, 2011
What a powerful way to begin my reading lists for 2011! Reading Phillis Wheatley poetry was so interesting. I read it on my iPad through the kindle application. This book of poetry was also my first book completed on my iPad. What a monumental day! I am just dumbfounded that she was a slave and that she wrote these poems during the 1700s. However, my psychobiographical background forces me to be intrigued by the numerous poems, which are laced with death themes. I was intrigued by the many poems, which were poems to people who had experienced death. The poem dedicated to the five year old girl who dies was very touching. Overall, this poetry drew me back into the world of literary criticism so fast that I could not help but give this book five stars!
April 22, 2018
Rejoice! Let us read another review about Phillis Wheatley that celebrates her well written poetry. A review that wonders at the melodic dance she plays with words that engage you into appreciation: appreciation that she is the first African or person of color to write and be published in America, appreciation that she was taken from her land and forced to write for profit and be published-yet died poor and alone, or how about appreciation for the fact that she wrote in celebration of the people who assimilated her from her birth culture. This isn’t that!
While my rebellious nature wants me to divert on to a tangent and discuss our cultural climate in relation to her situation, I will not. What I’d like to share with you though in this review is the celebration of her potential as a woman of color (in bondage) to navigate the harsh conditions of an immature nation and immortalize herself through her writings. To look back more than 200 years and present the gifts of a girl born in Africa who paints pictures with words through poetry, and discuss it today in a college level course needs to be celebrated. It strikes a tone throughout our culture that the image created for us is not the reality, and when Susanna Wheatley (Phillis Wheatley’s slave owner) offered her the same education she did her very own children, Phillis Wheatley became emboldened.
I have to say, when this poem was introduced to me by my college professor, I felt the need to explain the delusion to be found in appreciating the views of anyone in slavery celebrating their owners or their situation. The poem became an enigma to me as I tried to understand its importance hundreds of years later until I came upon the review of Kaylin (The Re-Read Queen) on the same poem. In her review, Kaylin beautifully explains the position that Wheatley was writing from and gives her appreciation for her ability to advocate for her people.
“In Revolutionary-Era America, the literate were predominantly white, due to the restriction of access to education. Wheatley seems keenly aware of her audience. She didn't use poetry as a way for blatantly calling for the abolition of slavery, but instead uses her poems as a lyrical way of advocating equality, by appealing to their shared religion.”
In conclusion, I would like to explain why you should read this poem, and include it into your canon of literature. Beyond the beauty that is found in the words Wheatley selects to create her images, she can be identified as the first black (r)evolutionary poet in America. Not because she was an advocate against racial oppression, but because she saw a future others did not. Phillis Wheatley saw a future that would evolve out of the present that she existed in, a trait that I find to be truly prestigious. So make sure you read and understand this poem and Phillis Wheatley’s story well, so that you can take a journey into the past and find appreciation in who you are and what it means to be a person of color in this country, or explain it to someone who may be having a trouble finding cultural significance in a nation without one culture.
While my rebellious nature wants me to divert on to a tangent and discuss our cultural climate in relation to her situation, I will not. What I’d like to share with you though in this review is the celebration of her potential as a woman of color (in bondage) to navigate the harsh conditions of an immature nation and immortalize herself through her writings. To look back more than 200 years and present the gifts of a girl born in Africa who paints pictures with words through poetry, and discuss it today in a college level course needs to be celebrated. It strikes a tone throughout our culture that the image created for us is not the reality, and when Susanna Wheatley (Phillis Wheatley’s slave owner) offered her the same education she did her very own children, Phillis Wheatley became emboldened.
I have to say, when this poem was introduced to me by my college professor, I felt the need to explain the delusion to be found in appreciating the views of anyone in slavery celebrating their owners or their situation. The poem became an enigma to me as I tried to understand its importance hundreds of years later until I came upon the review of Kaylin (The Re-Read Queen) on the same poem. In her review, Kaylin beautifully explains the position that Wheatley was writing from and gives her appreciation for her ability to advocate for her people.
“In Revolutionary-Era America, the literate were predominantly white, due to the restriction of access to education. Wheatley seems keenly aware of her audience. She didn't use poetry as a way for blatantly calling for the abolition of slavery, but instead uses her poems as a lyrical way of advocating equality, by appealing to their shared religion.”
In conclusion, I would like to explain why you should read this poem, and include it into your canon of literature. Beyond the beauty that is found in the words Wheatley selects to create her images, she can be identified as the first black (r)evolutionary poet in America. Not because she was an advocate against racial oppression, but because she saw a future others did not. Phillis Wheatley saw a future that would evolve out of the present that she existed in, a trait that I find to be truly prestigious. So make sure you read and understand this poem and Phillis Wheatley’s story well, so that you can take a journey into the past and find appreciation in who you are and what it means to be a person of color in this country, or explain it to someone who may be having a trouble finding cultural significance in a nation without one culture.
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December 9, 2022While this book is fascinating as a historical artifact, it doesn’t quite hold in my mind the same distinction as other black writers of the time. This is no fault of Phillis Wheatley’s own - clearly she was a brilliant writer versed in the style of her time, and was likely a genius. Yet she was a genius in captivity and was shaped by circumstance completely outside of her control. The subject matter of these poems are clearly influenced by her education as a slave of a wealthy family. At their most intriguing, her poems address her race, most poignantly in “On Being Brought From Africa to America”. Most of the time, however, the subject matter is themed around a dead person, faith, or western classical mythology. These poems show her gift for language, but say little about who she was as a person or how she felt about her historical moment.
This problematizes her poetry. While her talents made her significant for abolistionist causes, it doesn’t advance our understanding of her world in the same way that Olaudah Equiano or Frederick Douglass were able to speak to it. This is likely magnified by the fact that she wasn’t just the first African American to have her poetry published, but a woman as well. Additionally, these were written before she was freed, at which point she became victim to the extreme poverty of the time.
With this all having been said, what can be said of her work? Should we celebrate her for her gifts, or decry the circumstances that led to its existence in the first place? I think that Phillis Wheatley would be a FANTASTIC subject for historical fiction for this exact reason. Many of her poems written after this publication are gone forever - and this is an incredible loss for literature from this period, as I feel like she would be able to express herself more freely without the threat of living under enslavement. We can’t say how she truly felt about anyone. Even the elegies in this, to me, are suspect.
I found the biography of her at the end of this to be extremely troubling. However, again, it’s useful from an historical perspective to see how it justifies this collections existence. I wouldn’t go out of my way to celebrate the poems as to me they feel like a product of slavery rather than emancipation. Still, Phillis Wheatley’s gifts are worthy of recognition. Does that make sense?
Thus, I can’t exactly give this a rating. As wonderful as it is that an African American woman was able to receive recognition for her creativity and intelligence, she was not freed even as she met abolitionists in Europe. Would she be writing odes to departed children if she were not concerned with impressing a certain image of herself among people who saw her as a tool rather than a human? What would her poetry look like with full creative control? Remarkable though she may be, the circumstances that produced these poems are anything but. This should not disqualify her significance or intelligence, but Wheatley’s work deserves a critical evaluation that is sympathetic to her personhood.
This problematizes her poetry. While her talents made her significant for abolistionist causes, it doesn’t advance our understanding of her world in the same way that Olaudah Equiano or Frederick Douglass were able to speak to it. This is likely magnified by the fact that she wasn’t just the first African American to have her poetry published, but a woman as well. Additionally, these were written before she was freed, at which point she became victim to the extreme poverty of the time.
With this all having been said, what can be said of her work? Should we celebrate her for her gifts, or decry the circumstances that led to its existence in the first place? I think that Phillis Wheatley would be a FANTASTIC subject for historical fiction for this exact reason. Many of her poems written after this publication are gone forever - and this is an incredible loss for literature from this period, as I feel like she would be able to express herself more freely without the threat of living under enslavement. We can’t say how she truly felt about anyone. Even the elegies in this, to me, are suspect.
I found the biography of her at the end of this to be extremely troubling. However, again, it’s useful from an historical perspective to see how it justifies this collections existence. I wouldn’t go out of my way to celebrate the poems as to me they feel like a product of slavery rather than emancipation. Still, Phillis Wheatley’s gifts are worthy of recognition. Does that make sense?
Thus, I can’t exactly give this a rating. As wonderful as it is that an African American woman was able to receive recognition for her creativity and intelligence, she was not freed even as she met abolitionists in Europe. Would she be writing odes to departed children if she were not concerned with impressing a certain image of herself among people who saw her as a tool rather than a human? What would her poetry look like with full creative control? Remarkable though she may be, the circumstances that produced these poems are anything but. This should not disqualify her significance or intelligence, but Wheatley’s work deserves a critical evaluation that is sympathetic to her personhood.
December 10, 2017
My rating is a tribute rating, for the pomp, sentimentality and internalized colonialism of these poems is had to take, but the humanity of this first-published African American slave poet shines through them, and her life story -- best told in Honoree Fanonne Jeffers' 2016 essay "'The Dear Pledges of our Love': A Defense of Phillis Wheatley's Husband" -- deserves nothing less than veneration.
February 8, 2023
Reread for American Lit grad school class
August 27, 2020
Although she only published one book during her lifetime, a somewhat fascinating aspect of the life and writings of Phillis Wheatley has been the earnest attempt to hunt down as many of her manuscript poems as possible, as her writing demonstrates some of the complexities of publishing that exist in any time and that certainly existed during her own lifetime as her career as a writer spanned the period of the rising tensions between the North American colonies of Britain and the mother country, as well as the period of the Great Awakening, in which she was a participant, as well as the rising tide of abolitionism's first wave in Great Britain and America. A patriotic American, so patriotic that one of her poems puts words into the mouth of the imprisoned Charles Lee that he would never have said about the bravery and courage and excellence of one George Washington (who she also wrote a poem about, with his blessing and indirect support in its printing, concerning the siege of Boston, her adopted hometown), her one book of published poetry was printed in London, with some of her more patriotic poems excised and other poems renamed to give them more general titles than the very specific occasional titles that they had as very specific occasional poems. The result of these and other issues is that the writings of Phillis Wheatley are not only interesting in their own right but have a fascinating publishing history that this book explores somewhat.
This book is a bit more than 200 pages and it is divided topically and chronologically into several parts. The book begins with acknowledgements, an introduction, some notes on the reputation of Phillis Wheatley as a poet, and a note on the text. After that, the book contains the first and only work of Wheatley's that was published in her lifetime, including the letters and notes, and the titles insofar as they were originally intended, frequently as topical works. This takes up a few dozen pages. After that the author provides other poems that have survived in manuscript form or that were printed in various newspapers during and after the life of the poetess as well as variants to her works that show the process of editing and revision that occasionally took place in her works. The third part of the book consists of letters and proposals that frequently discuss the efforts that Wheatley and others on her behalf made to get her works into print, and which presents a fascinating look at the efforts that were required to become a published poet(ess) in the late 18th century English speaking world. The book then ends with a selection of works for further reference and an index.
What one gets out of a book like this, if one is a reader who is also a writer, is the reminder that publishing and the survival of one's writing has always been a highly chancy matter. Let us consider all that Wheatley had going for her as a writer? She was a pioneer black writer whose situation as a slave but also someone who was learned about the Bible, a devout Christian, and familiar with classical literature in translation. She was the property of indulgent and very wealthy elite owners in Boston, no mean cultural hub of the Atlantic world, who were willing to spend a fair amount of money and effort to encourage her efforts and had obtained the support of eighteen elite figures to vouch for her credibility as the writer of the poems that she was publishing under her name. The poems were written when she was fairly young, and are actually competently written poems, and yet with all of these advantages she was unable to be published in Boston and required considerable support in England to be published in London. The barriers to her being published despite all of the advantages that she had based on her place and the novelty interest of being a black slave poetess (the first we are aware of in Anglo-America) demonstrate that it was no easy thing to be published in the 1700's as a poet, and that poetry has always struggled to be marketable by publishers, something that remains true today.
This book is a bit more than 200 pages and it is divided topically and chronologically into several parts. The book begins with acknowledgements, an introduction, some notes on the reputation of Phillis Wheatley as a poet, and a note on the text. After that, the book contains the first and only work of Wheatley's that was published in her lifetime, including the letters and notes, and the titles insofar as they were originally intended, frequently as topical works. This takes up a few dozen pages. After that the author provides other poems that have survived in manuscript form or that were printed in various newspapers during and after the life of the poetess as well as variants to her works that show the process of editing and revision that occasionally took place in her works. The third part of the book consists of letters and proposals that frequently discuss the efforts that Wheatley and others on her behalf made to get her works into print, and which presents a fascinating look at the efforts that were required to become a published poet(ess) in the late 18th century English speaking world. The book then ends with a selection of works for further reference and an index.
What one gets out of a book like this, if one is a reader who is also a writer, is the reminder that publishing and the survival of one's writing has always been a highly chancy matter. Let us consider all that Wheatley had going for her as a writer? She was a pioneer black writer whose situation as a slave but also someone who was learned about the Bible, a devout Christian, and familiar with classical literature in translation. She was the property of indulgent and very wealthy elite owners in Boston, no mean cultural hub of the Atlantic world, who were willing to spend a fair amount of money and effort to encourage her efforts and had obtained the support of eighteen elite figures to vouch for her credibility as the writer of the poems that she was publishing under her name. The poems were written when she was fairly young, and are actually competently written poems, and yet with all of these advantages she was unable to be published in Boston and required considerable support in England to be published in London. The barriers to her being published despite all of the advantages that she had based on her place and the novelty interest of being a black slave poetess (the first we are aware of in Anglo-America) demonstrate that it was no easy thing to be published in the 1700's as a poet, and that poetry has always struggled to be marketable by publishers, something that remains true today.
April 22, 2018
Ebony Miree
ENG 302-Professor Kappes
April.23.18
Going through a Transition
In the poem “On being brought from Africa to America” by Phillis Wheatley the narrator is going through a change in their religion as well as their thought process. The poem itself is short but Phillis Wheatley uses a tone in the poem that allows the reader to pick up on Wheatley’s grief as well as sarcasm toward the people who colonized her taking away her identity of being African. The reasons people should read this poem is because it invokes the emotions of relief, sadness, along with hope.In the poem Phillis writes the lines “Twas mercy that brought me from my Pagan Land/Taught my benighted soul to understand.”Analyzing these two lines the emotion relief is shown by Phillis saying she is grateful that she is still alive to gain the understanding that her life was spared.
The emotion sadness is shown by the lines “ Some view our race with scornful eye/ Their color is a diabolic die.” In these you can see that even though the narrator is in a new place they are still being look down upon because of their race instead of looking at the narrator like a human being.” The emotion of hope is shown in the lines “ Remember Christians, Negros, black as Cain/ May be refin’d , and join th’ angelic train.”These lines give off the feeling of hope because Phillis is reminding people who are going through a transition in their life that better things are going to come, they just have to have patience.
I would recommend this poem to High School along with College students seeing as how this poem can be used to teach students the technique of using rhyme scheme in their writing.In the poem the words lands, understand, too, knew, eye, die, Cain and train all rhyme.Also it can teach students placement seeing as Phillis specifically choose to have all the words rhyme at the end which was a smart move on her part, it gave more feeling to the poem.
My overall assessment of the text is that it coveys a lot of messages, such as even though a person can be taken away from their homeland, they can still hold on to the belief that better things are going to come. My constructive comments about the text is that when Phillis Wheatley uses the word “Saviour,” it takes on different meanings. One of the meanings of Saviour means “God or Jesus Christ as the redeemer of sin and saver of souls.” This connects to the poem because Phillis admits he exists changing her life for the better.The other definition is “a person who saves someone from danger or harm” this definition can be used to say that Phillis Wheatley was saved from homeland by the colonizers. In the poem Phillis Wheatley is able to tell a story of the different emotions that she herself went through having to leave behind physically as well emotionally the cultures that she held deep to her heart to forcefully replace it with the cultures her captures believed in themselves.
ENG 302-Professor Kappes
April.23.18
Going through a Transition
In the poem “On being brought from Africa to America” by Phillis Wheatley the narrator is going through a change in their religion as well as their thought process. The poem itself is short but Phillis Wheatley uses a tone in the poem that allows the reader to pick up on Wheatley’s grief as well as sarcasm toward the people who colonized her taking away her identity of being African. The reasons people should read this poem is because it invokes the emotions of relief, sadness, along with hope.In the poem Phillis writes the lines “Twas mercy that brought me from my Pagan Land/Taught my benighted soul to understand.”Analyzing these two lines the emotion relief is shown by Phillis saying she is grateful that she is still alive to gain the understanding that her life was spared.
The emotion sadness is shown by the lines “ Some view our race with scornful eye/ Their color is a diabolic die.” In these you can see that even though the narrator is in a new place they are still being look down upon because of their race instead of looking at the narrator like a human being.” The emotion of hope is shown in the lines “ Remember Christians, Negros, black as Cain/ May be refin’d , and join th’ angelic train.”These lines give off the feeling of hope because Phillis is reminding people who are going through a transition in their life that better things are going to come, they just have to have patience.
I would recommend this poem to High School along with College students seeing as how this poem can be used to teach students the technique of using rhyme scheme in their writing.In the poem the words lands, understand, too, knew, eye, die, Cain and train all rhyme.Also it can teach students placement seeing as Phillis specifically choose to have all the words rhyme at the end which was a smart move on her part, it gave more feeling to the poem.
My overall assessment of the text is that it coveys a lot of messages, such as even though a person can be taken away from their homeland, they can still hold on to the belief that better things are going to come. My constructive comments about the text is that when Phillis Wheatley uses the word “Saviour,” it takes on different meanings. One of the meanings of Saviour means “God or Jesus Christ as the redeemer of sin and saver of souls.” This connects to the poem because Phillis admits he exists changing her life for the better.The other definition is “a person who saves someone from danger or harm” this definition can be used to say that Phillis Wheatley was saved from homeland by the colonizers. In the poem Phillis Wheatley is able to tell a story of the different emotions that she herself went through having to leave behind physically as well emotionally the cultures that she held deep to her heart to forcefully replace it with the cultures her captures believed in themselves.
August 6, 2021
I'm new to Phillis Wheatley—I had heard of her in passing a number of times as a historical footnote but this is only my first time reading her work. Her life story and the mythology around her is fascinating, and I get the impression that just reading her poems is only scratching the surface.
It sounds, just from what little I've read about her, like she was an incredibly complex figure. Her work (which is beautiful and deserving of celebration) was tokenized by the white literary world of the late 18th century, then tossed aside in the aftermath of the American Revolution. Her only book of poetry was published when she was 20, and her life was tragically cut short at only 31. Although she left behind plenty of writing, she never wrote an autobiography. Up until recently, the definitive biography on her life was written by a white woman (in the mid-1800s!) who described her life as a white savior narrative and downplayed her anti-slavery views.
In any case, I really enjoyed reading her poems. There are a lot of poems written to honor dead people I've never heard of (I'll be honest that I skimmed through these) but my favorite poems were the biblical and classical ones. “Goliath of Gath. 1 Samuel, Chap. xvii” is absolutely incredible. Even reading it some 200+ years later, her language is so evocative, visual, and visceral! I just love the way her poetry flows (read this entire collection out loud!!)
My favorite poem overall, though, was "Thoughts on the Works of Providence":
I'm definitely going to memorize this one!
Reading these poems was a wonderful experience and it's given me a lot to think about. Clearly, there's still a lot for me to learn. I especially can't wait to get my hands on The Age of Phillis by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers, which seems like the perfect starting point for delving into Phillis Wheatley studies.
I leave this book inspired and curious, blessed by Virtue through Phillis' pen.
It sounds, just from what little I've read about her, like she was an incredibly complex figure. Her work (which is beautiful and deserving of celebration) was tokenized by the white literary world of the late 18th century, then tossed aside in the aftermath of the American Revolution. Her only book of poetry was published when she was 20, and her life was tragically cut short at only 31. Although she left behind plenty of writing, she never wrote an autobiography. Up until recently, the definitive biography on her life was written by a white woman (in the mid-1800s!) who described her life as a white savior narrative and downplayed her anti-slavery views.
In any case, I really enjoyed reading her poems. There are a lot of poems written to honor dead people I've never heard of (I'll be honest that I skimmed through these) but my favorite poems were the biblical and classical ones. “Goliath of Gath. 1 Samuel, Chap. xvii” is absolutely incredible. Even reading it some 200+ years later, her language is so evocative, visual, and visceral! I just love the way her poetry flows (read this entire collection out loud!!)
My favorite poem overall, though, was "Thoughts on the Works of Providence":
ARISE, my soul, on wings enraptur’d, rise
To praise the monarch of the earth and skies,
Whose goodness and beneficence appear
As round its centre moves the rolling year,
Or when the morning glows with rosy charms,
Or the sun slumbers in the ocean’s arms:
Of light divine be a rich portion lent
To guide my soul, and favour my intend.
Celestial muse, my arduous flight sustain
And raise my mind to a seraphic strain!
I'm definitely going to memorize this one!
Reading these poems was a wonderful experience and it's given me a lot to think about. Clearly, there's still a lot for me to learn. I especially can't wait to get my hands on The Age of Phillis by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers, which seems like the perfect starting point for delving into Phillis Wheatley studies.
I leave this book inspired and curious, blessed by Virtue through Phillis' pen.
"On Virtue"
Attend me, Virtue, thro’ my youthful years!
O leave me not to the false joys of time!
But guide my steps to endless life and bliss.
Greatness, or Goodness, say what I shall call thee,
To give me an higher appellation still,
Teach me a better strain, a nobler lay,
O thou, enthron’d with Cherubs in the realms of day.
April 1, 2023
The Wikipedia entry dealing with Phillis Wheatley's Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral begins and ends with quotations from James Wheldon Johnson, arguing that its author is an important poet but not a great one: a verdict that it is hard to disagree with. Her story is a remarkable one, and she was clearly prodigiously talented, but the preponderance of elegies more likely to infuriate than console makes this collection feel rather repetitive, and Wheatley's style is assured rather than notably original. The best poems are those inspired by classical myths and Biblical episodes (such as "Goliath of Gath" and "On Isaiah lxiii. 1–8"); the most interesting are those which deal with the movements of people and ideas back and forth across the Atlantic. I'd never heard of Phillis Wheatley until a few weeks ago and I'm glad to be a little a little less ignorant of her significance now, but to learn more I'd be more likely to seek out a good modern biography than to re-read her poetry.
September 30, 2023
Phillis Wheatley is an extremely interesting read. Her poetry, while not particularly dated, is absolutely a product of its time. Wheatley tends to write in the sonnet form, and while she excels in this form, her subject matter can sometimes feel a little contrived. One has to forgive her given the horrific nature of the time in US history she lived in. She clearly had to write poems to prove that she could be a poet and be black at the same time, that she had a mind that could function like any other human being's.
That being said Wheatley can astonish with her insights. She says some things about the nature of liberty and freedom that just dig into your skin like worms. When she really hits it she hits it. She truly was meant to be a great poet. She just had to be shackled because of the conditions in which she was given life.
Still I wholeheartedly recommend Wheatley's poems. She's an extremely compelling historical figure, and her best poems rival Sappho, Sylvia Plath and Emily Dickinson, in their purity, honesty, and directness of flavour.
That being said Wheatley can astonish with her insights. She says some things about the nature of liberty and freedom that just dig into your skin like worms. When she really hits it she hits it. She truly was meant to be a great poet. She just had to be shackled because of the conditions in which she was given life.
Still I wholeheartedly recommend Wheatley's poems. She's an extremely compelling historical figure, and her best poems rival Sappho, Sylvia Plath and Emily Dickinson, in their purity, honesty, and directness of flavour.
January 10, 2023
I picked up this little book of poetry a few years back on one of our History Trips to Boston because it included a poem on the death of George Whitefield. Whitefield being one of the prominent people on our Boston trip. It sat on my shelf for a few years as we cycled through our other trips. This year I pulled it out and took a closer look at it in preparation for our upcoming trip to Boston. I was inspired by what I read about Phillis Wheatley as well as her poetry, and since she has a display in the Old South Meeting House, I actually did my first History Trip lesson there about her. It was a perfect addition/tie into some of the topics studied on the trip. If you enjoy poetry this is definitely worth the read.
July 26, 2020
I read this book as part of aJane Austen July 2020 prompt ( read a contemporary of Jane Austen).
Wheatley was the first African American person to ever be published. Her book of poetry was published in 1773, just two years before Austen was born. However, both women were writers and lived during the same time period (late 1770s-early 1800s) albeit having very different life circumstances.
I will admit this collection was very challenging for me. A lot of the poems referenced people and stories I'm not familiar with, but I'm so glad I stuck with it because there were some beautiful sentiments expressed throughout.
Wheatley was the first African American person to ever be published. Her book of poetry was published in 1773, just two years before Austen was born. However, both women were writers and lived during the same time period (late 1770s-early 1800s) albeit having very different life circumstances.
I will admit this collection was very challenging for me. A lot of the poems referenced people and stories I'm not familiar with, but I'm so glad I stuck with it because there were some beautiful sentiments expressed throughout.
July 15, 2024
The author was enslaved and taken to Boston from West Africa at the end of the 18th century. She was named after the ship she arrived on. Contemporary beliefs about the capabilities of black people were proven wrong by her when she learnt English and was able to write eloquent poems.
The collection is preceded by an attestation from a bunch of people that she really wrote these herself, even though she came to the USA as an “uncultivated barbarian”.
The poems themselves are skilful, but often revolve around the same themes (mostly people dying in her neighbourhood). The backstory is more interesting than the poems themselves.
The collection is preceded by an attestation from a bunch of people that she really wrote these herself, even though she came to the USA as an “uncultivated barbarian”.
The poems themselves are skilful, but often revolve around the same themes (mostly people dying in her neighbourhood). The backstory is more interesting than the poems themselves.
Read
August 17, 2022I picked up this little book as part of my journey through the writing of early African American authors. Although every one of Phillis Wheatley’s poems display her intelligence and creativity, only a handful of them really caught my eye. I think her best pieces were those inspired by Greek myths and Bible stories, like “Maecenas” and “Goliath of Gath.” However, the vast majority of her poems were requested by friends and family for various funerals. Because these were all on essentially the same subject, they got repetitive and boring for me. I ended up skipping several near the end.
February 22, 2018
I always knew about Phillis Wheatley but I never really knew> her. Through her poetry, I feel that I finally got the chance to hear her voice. She was such a gifted poet, even at such a young age. You can imagine what she would have accomplished if she lived past her 30s. She had two strikes against her: being a woman and being African-American. And she still overcome those odds and manage to publish her own book of poems and make a name for herself. Phillis Wheatley needs to be read more.
November 17, 2019
I looked this up many years ago after learning the brief history of one of our public schools (obviously named Phillis Wheatley. While her poems are very much in a certain style of the time, they are as good or better than any others in that genre and should be lauded just for that, on top of her activism and story.
October 16, 2021
This was absolutely fantastic, though heartbreaking, poetry. Phillis Wheatley was so gifted. And so mistreated. The biography at the back (which was was written quite some time ago) was chock full of prejudiced, undermining language. A wonderful read, for the poetry, but also an eye-opening one which gives the perspective of the horrific impact of slavery.
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