A
rare portrait of Phillis Wheatley shows her facing
forward, wearing an evening dress and jewelry. The
portrait appeared in Revue des Colonies in Paris
between 1834 and 1842.
An Elegiac Poem,
on the Death of that celebrated Divine, and eminent Servant of
Jesus Christ, the late Reverend, and pious George Whitefield,
Chaplain to the Right Honourable the Countess of Huntingdon
(first published as a broadside in Boston, 1770; republished
several times); Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and
Moral (London, 1773); many poems were published individually.
Levernier, James A. "Phillis
Wheatley and the New England Clergy." Early American
Literature 26.1 (1991): 21-38.
Mason, Julian. Poems of
Phillis Wheatley. Chapel Hill: U of N. Carolina P, 1966. PS866
.W5
Nott, Walt. "From
`uncultivated Barbarian' to `Poetical Genius': The Public Presence of
Phillis Wheatley." Melus 18.3 (Fall 1993): 21.
Richards, Phillip M.
"Phillis Wheatley and Literary Americanization." American
Quarterly 44.2 (Jun 1992): 163-191.
Richmond, M. A. Bid the
Vassal Soar: Interpretive Essays on the Life and Poetry of Phillis
Wheatley and George Moses Horton. Washington: Howard UP, 1974.
PS866 W5 Z68
Rizzo, Betty M. "The Poems
of Phillis Wheatley." Eighteenth-Century Studies 28.3 (1995):
345.
Robinson, William H.
Critical Essays on Phillis Wheatley. 1982.
---. Phillis Wheatley: A
Bio-Bibliography. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1981.
---. William H. Phillis
Wheatley: A Bio-Bibliography. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1981.
---. Phillis Wheatley and
Her Writings. 1984.
Shields, John C. "Phillis
Wheatley's Struggle for Freedom in Her Poetry and Prose," in his
The Collected Works of Phillis Wheatley. NY: Oxford UP, 1988.
PS866 .W
- - -, ed. The Collected
Works of Phillis Wheatley. NY: Oxford UP, 1988. PS866 .W5
Willard, Carla. "Wheatley's
Turns of Praise: Heroic Entrapment and the Paradox of Revolution."
American literature 67.2 (JUN 1995):233-257.
1. The first
African-American to publish a book of imaginative writing.
2. She started the
African-American literary tradition.
3. She started the
African-American women's literary tradition.
4. Her use of meter and
rhyme-scheme is precise and correct.
5. She combined the
influences of religion and neo-classicism in her poems.
6. According to John
Shields, Phillis Wheatley articulates the theme of freedom in four
ways:
a. she makes
political comments supporting American freedom from
Britain.
b. she shows evidence of
"the mandala archetype" described by Jung as "a circular image
pattern closely associated with a psychological attempt to
discover freedom from chaos."
c. Her numerous elegies
suggest a conscious poetic escape from slavery. She celebrates
death and the rewards and freedom of an afterlife.
d. She uses poetry to
escape to a world of imagination.
#a. PW's political poetry
has been largely ignored, but she lived in Boston and was witness
to the events leading to the Revolution.
Fearing his
Strength which she undoubted knew
She laid some taxes on her darling son
He weeps afresh to
feel this Iron chain.
- "America" (1970)
dread the iron
chain
Which wanton Tyranny with lawless hand
Had made, and with it meant t'enslave the land
"To Dartmouth" (10/10/1772)
From native Clime,
when seeming cruel Fate
Me snatch'd from Afric's fancy'd happy Seat
. . . Ah! what bitter pangs molest
What Sorrows labour'd in the Parent Breast?
That, more than Stone, ne'er soft Compassion mov'd
Who from its Father seiz'd his much belov'd.
But how,
presumptuous shall we hope to find
Divine acceptance with th' Almighty mind-
While yet (O deed Ungenerous!) they disgrace
And hold in bondage
Afric's blameless race?
Let virtue reign - And thou accord our prayers
Be victory our's, and generous freedom theirs."
--"On the Death of Gen. Wooster" (July 1778)
| Top
| #b. The presence of the mandala archetype as the dominant
image in PW's work suggests a partially unconscious response to her
need of freedom. The mandala (the Sanskrit word for "circle"),
Jung maintains, is an instrument of "meditation, concentration, and
self-immersion, for the purpose of realizing inner experience; . . .
when they appear in a series, they often follow chaotic, disordered
states marked by conflict and anxiety. They express the idea of a
safe refuge of inner reconciliation and wholeness." (The
Archetypes and Collective Unconscious)
those blissful
regions, which need not the light of any,
but the sun of Righteousness (3/29/1774)
"her mother poured
out water before the sun at his rising"
- PW's recollection to her white captors
Sun worship combines two
primitive religions of animism and fetishism. ; animism is a belief
in expired souls and their probable interaction with the influence on
events of the natural world; fetishism belongs to "the doctrine of
spirits embodied in or attached to, or conveying influence through
certain material objects." (E. B. Taylor, Religion in Primitive
Culture, 1958)
"But O that I could
dwell on & delight in him alone above
every other object!" - Letter 5/6/1774
That Wisdom, which
attends Jehovah's ways
Shines most conspicuous in the solar rays.
- "Thoughts on the Works of Providence" (1773)
Another feature of the
mandala archetype occurs in her much less frequent lunar
imagery - the use of the cool moon, "Phoebe" or "Cynthia" complements
the sun's quality of warm radiance and underscores her attempt to
maintain a sense of order and peace of mind.
Mark rising Phoebus
when he spreads his ray
And his commission for to guide the day
At night keep watch, and see a Cynthia bright
And her commission for to guide the night
"Atheism" (1767)
Where grief
subsides, where changes are no more,
And life's tumultuous billows cease to roar."
- "To the Honourable T. H. Esq; on the Death of his
Daughter" (1773)
The use of the sun and the
moon constitute a dual mandala figure; Jung would identify the
cooperation of conscious and unconscious acting to produce a fuller
archetype of wholeness. He remarks, "It is . . . not unusual for
individual mandalas to display a division into light and a
dark half, together with their typical symbols." Jung further states
that the most exalted form the mandala assumes is "`the
squaring of the circle' . . . one of the many archetypal motifs which
form the basic patterns of dreams and fantasies." This quaternity is
"the schema of all images of God, as depicted in the visions of
Ezekiel, Daniel and Enoch, and as the representation of Horus with
his four sons also shows."
| Top
| Phillis Wheatley's strongest anti-slavery
statement is contained in this letter to the Rev. Samson Occom
dated February 11, 1774.
Reverend and honoured
Sir,
"I have this day received
your obliging kind epistle, and am greatly satisfied with your
reasons respecting the negroes, and think highly reasonable what you
offer in vindication of their natural rights: Those that invade them
cannot be insensible that the divine light is chasing away the thick
darkness which broods over the land of Africa; and the chaos which
has reigned so long, is converting into beautiful order, and reveals
more and more clearly the glorious dispensation of civil and
religious liberty, which are so inseparably united, that there is
little or no enjoyment of one without the other: Otherwise, perhaps,
the Israelites had been less solicitous for their freedom from
Egyptian slavery; I do not say they would have been contented without
it, by no means; for in every human breast God has implanted a
principle, which we call ~ it is impatient of oppression, and pants
for deliverance; and by the leave of our modern Egyptians I will
assert, that the same principle lives in us. God grant deliverance in
his own way and time, and get him honour upon all those whose avarice
impels them to countenance and help forward the calamities of their
fellow creatures. This I desire not for their hurt, but to convince
them of the strange absurdity of their conduct, whose words and
actions are so diametrically opposite. How well the cry for liberty,
and the reverse disposition for the exercise of oppressive power over
others agree - I humbly think it does not require the penetration of
a philosopher to determine."
(First
printed in the Connecticut Gazette for March 11,
1774)
Hail, happy
saint, on thine immortal throne,
Possest of glory, life, and bliss unknown;
We hear no more the music of thy tongue,
Thy wonted auditories cease to throng.
Thy sermons in unequall'd accents flow'd, 5
And ev'ry bosom with devotion glow'd;
Thou didst in strains of eloquence refin'd
Inflame the heart, and captivate the mind.
Unhappy we the setting sun deplore,
So glorious once, but ah! it shines no more. 10
Behold the prophet in his tow'ring flight!
He leaves the earth for heav'n's unmeasur'd height,
And worlds unknown receive him from our sight.
There Whitefield wings with rapid course his
way,
And sails to Zion through vast seas of day. 15
Thy pray'rs, great saint, and thine incessant cries
Have pierc'd the bosom of thy native skies.
Thou moon hast seen, and all the stars of light,
How he has wrestled with his God by night.
He pray'd that grace in ev'ry heart might dwell, 20
He long'd to see America excel;
He charg'd its youth that ev'ry grace divine
Should with full lustre in their conduct shine;
That Saviour, which his soul did first receive,
The greatest
gift that ev'n a God can give, 25
He freely offer'd to the num'rous throng,
That on his lips with list'ning pleasure hung.
"Take him, ye wretched, for your only good,
"Take him, ye starving sinners, for your food;
"Ye thirsty, come to this life-giving stream, 30
Ye preachers, take him for your joyful theme;
"Take him, my dear Americans," he said,
"Be your complaints on his kind bosom laid:
Take him, ye Africans, he longs for you,
"Impartial Saviour is his title due 35
"Was'd in the fountain of redeeming blood,
"You shall be son, and kings, and priests to God."
Great Countess, we Americans revere
Thy name, and mingle in thy grief sincere; New England deeply feels, the Orphans mourn
40
Their more than father will no more return.
But, though arrested by the hand of death, Whitefield no more exerts his lab'ring breath,
Yet let us view him in th' eternal skies,
Let ev'ry heart to this bright vision rise; 45
While the tomb safe retains its sacred trust,
Till life divine re-animates his dust. (1770)
`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:
Once I redemption neither sought nor knew.
Some view our
sable race with scornful eye
"Their colour is a diabolic die."
Remember, Christians, Negros, black as
Cain,
May be refin'd, and join th' angelic train. (1773)
|
Top
| To the University of Cambridge, in
New England
While an
intrinsic ardor prompts to write,
The muses promise to assist my pen;
`Twas not long since I left my native shore
The land of errors, and Egyptian gloom:
Father of mercy, `twas thy gracious hand 5
Brought me in safety from those dark abodes.
Students, to you `tis giv'n to scan the heights
Above, to traverse the ethereal space,
And mark the systems of revolving worlds.
Still more, ye sons of science ye receive 10
The blissful news by messengers from heav'n,
How Jesus' blood for your redemption flows.
See him with hands out-strecht upon the cross;
Immense compassion in his bosom glows;
He hears revilers, nor resents their scorn: 15
What matchless
mercy in the Son of God!
When the whole human race by sin has fall'n,
He deigned to die that they might rise again,
And share with him in the sublimest skies,
Life without death, and glory without end. 20
Improve your privileges while they stay,
Ye pupils, and each hour redeem, that bears
Or good or bad report of you to heav'n.
Let sin, that baneful evil to the soul,
By you be shunn'd, nor once remit your guard; 25
Suppress the deadly serpent in its egg.
Ye blooming plants of human race divine,
An Ethiop tells you `tis your greatest foe;
Its transient sweetness turns to endless pain,
And in immense perdition sinks the soul. 30 (1773)
Sir,
I Have taken the freedom to address your Excellency in the
enclosed poem, and entreat your acceptance, though I am not
insensible of its inaccuracies. Your being appointed by the Grand
Continental Congress to be Generalissimo of the armies of North
America, together with the fame of your virtues, excite sensations
not easy to suppress. Your generosity, therefore, I presume, will
pardon the attempt. Wishing your Excellency all possible success
in the great cause you are so generously engages in. I am,
Your Excellency's most obedient humble servant,
Phillis Wheatley.
Celestial choir!
enthron'd in realms of light,
Columbia's scenes of glorious toils I write.
While freedom's cause her anxious breast alarms,
She flashes dreadful in refulgent arms.
See mother earth her offspring's fate bemoan, 5
And nations gaze at scenes before unknown!
See the bright beams of heaven's revolving light
Involved in sorrows and the veil of night!
The goddess comes, she moves divinely fair,
Olive and laurel binds her golden hair; 10
Wherever shines the native of the skies,
Unnumber'd charms and recent graces rise.
Muse! bow propitious while my pen relates
How pour her armies through a thousand gates,
As when Eolus heaven's fair face deforms, 15
Enwrapp'd in tempest and a night of storms;
Astonish'd ocean feels the wild uproar,
The refluent surges beat the sounding shore;
Or thick as leaves in Autumn's golden reign,
Such, as so many, moves the warriors's train. 20
In bright array
they seek the work of war,
Where high unfurl'd the ensign waves in air.
Shall I to Washington their praise recite?
Enough thou know'st them in the fields of fight.
Thee, first in peace and honours, -we demand 25
The grace and glory of thy martial band.
Fam'd for thy valour, for thy virtues more,
Hear every tongue thy guardian aid implore!
One century scarce perform'd its destined round,
When Gallic powers Columbia's fury found; 30
And so may you, whoever dares disgrace
The land of freedom's heaven-defended race!
Fix'd are the eyes of nations on the scales,
For in their hopes Columbia's arm prevails.
Anon Britannia droops the pensive head, 35
While round increase the rising hills of dead.
Ah! cruel blindness to Columbia's state!
Lament thy thirst of boundless power too late.
Proceed, great chief, with virtue on thy side,
Thy ev'ry action let the goddess guide. 40
A crown, a mansion, and a throne that shine,
With gold unfading, WASHINGTON! be thine. (1776)
| Top
| Manuscript by first black American woman poet
brings $68,500
NEW YORK (May 30, 1998 01:50
a.m. ED (http://www.nando.net)
A manuscript by the United
States' first black woman poet -- a former Senegalese slave named
Phillis Wheatley -- was sold for $68,500 at a Christie's auction
Friday.
"Ocean,"
an ode to the sea, was written in 1773 in Boston, where Wheatley
served from childhood as the personal servant of the wife of a
wealthy tailor.
The only known copy of the
70-line poem -- a creased and yellowing three-page manuscript --
fetched significantly more than its estimate of $18,000 to $25,000,
Christie's spokeswoman Vredy Lytsman said. She said a local book
dealer had bought it.
Wheatley, known as the first
black woman poet in the United States, began writing poetry at the
age of 14 under the tutelage of her owners, who broke with convention
by educating her in literature, Latin and philosophy.
She was freed in 1773 and
later married a failed black businessman, dying destitute in 1784.
"Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral," Wheatley's sole
collection, was published in England in 1773. It did not contain
"Ocean."
No manuscript or letter by
her has appeared on the market for 30 years, Lytsman said.
Now muse
divine, thy heav'nly aid impart,
The feast of Genius, and the play of Art.
From high Parnassus' radiant top repair,
Celestial Nine! propitious to my pray'r.
In vain my Eyes explore the wat'ry reign, 5
By you unaided with the flowing strain.
When first old Chaos of tyrannic soul
Wav'd his dread Sceptre o'er the boundless whole,
Confusion reign'd till the divine Command
On floating azure fix'd the Solid Land, 10
Till first he call'd the latent seeds of light,
And gave dominion o'er eternal Night.
From deepest glooms he rais'd this ample Ball,
And round its walls he bade the surges roll;
With instant haste the new made seas complyd, 15
And the globe rolls impervious to the Tide;
Yet when the mighty Sire of Ocean frownd
"His awful trident shook the solid Ground."
The King of Tempest thunders o'er the plain,
And scorns the azure monarch of the main, 20
He sweeps thy surface, makes thy billows rore,
And furious, lash the loud resounding shore.
His pinion'd race his dread commands obey,
Syb's, Eurus, Boreas, drive the foaming sea!
See the whole stormy progeny descend! 25
And waves on waves devolving without End,
But cease Eolus, all thy winds restrain,
And let us view the wonders of the main
Where the proud Courser paws the blue abode,
Impetuous bounds, and mocks the driver's rod. 30
There, too, the Heifer fair as that which bore
Divine Europa to the Cretan shore.
With guileless mein thy gentle Creature strays
Quaffs the pure stream, and crops ambrosial GrassAgain
with recent wonder I survey 35
The finny sov'reign bask in hideous play
(So fancy sees) he makes a tempest rise
And intercept the azure vaulted skies
Such is his
sport: &emdash; but if his anger glow
What kindling vengeance boils the deep below! 40
Twas but e'er now an Eagle young and gay
Pursu'd his passage thro' the aierial way
He aim'd his piece, would C&emdash;f's hand do
more
Yes, him he brought to pluto's dreary shore
Slow breathed his last, the painful minutes move
45
With lingring pace his rashness to reprove;
Perhaps his father's Just commands he bore
To fix dominion on some distant shore
Ah! me unblest he cries Oh! Had I staid
Or swift my Father's mandate had obey 50
But ah! too late. &emdash; Old Ocean heard his
cries
He stroakes his hoary tresses and replies
What mean these plaints so near our wat'ry throne,
And what the Cause of this distressful moan!
Confess Iscarius, let thy words be true 55
Nor let me find a faithless Bird in you
His voice struck terror thro' the whole domain
Aw'd by his frowns the royal youth began,
Saw you not Sire, a tall and Gallant ship
Which proudly scims the surface of the deep 60
With pompous form from Boston's port she came
She flies, and London her resounding name
O'er the rough surge the dauntless Chief prevails
For partial Aura fills his swelling sails
His fatal musket shortens thus my day 65
And thus the victor takes my life away
Faint with his wound Iscarius said no more
His Spirit sought Oblivion's sable shore.
This Neptune saw, and with a hollow groan
Resum'd the azure honours of his Throne. 70
|
Top
| "An Address to Miss Phillis Wheatly
[sic], Ethiopian Poetess, in Boston, who came
from Africa at eight years of age, and soon became
acquainted with the gospel of Jesus
Christ."
Miss Wheatly; pray
give leave to express as follows:
O, come
you pious youth: adore
The wisdom of thy God.
In bringing thee from distant shore,
To learn His holy word.
Thou mightst
been left behind,
Amidst a dark abode;
God's tender Mercy still combin'd,
Thou hast the holy word.
Fair wisdom's
ways are paths of peace,
And they that walk therein,
Shall reap the joys that never cease,
And Christ shall be their king.
God's tender
mercy brought thee here,
tost o'er the raging main;
In Christian faith thou hast a share,
Worth all the gold of Spain.
While thousands
tossed by the sea,
And others settled down,
God's tender mercy set thee free,
From dangers still unknown.
That thou a
pattern still might be,
To youth of Boston town,
The blessed Jesus thee free,
From every sinful wound.
The blessed
Jesus, who came down,
Unveil'd his sacred face,
To cleanse the soul of every wound,
And give repenting grace.
That we poor
sinners may obtain
The pardon of our sin;
Dear blessed Jesus now constrain,
And bring us flocking in.
Come you,
Phillis, now aspire,
And seek the living God,
So step by step thou mayst go higher,
Till perfect in the word.
While thousands
mov'd to distant shore,
And others left behind,
The blessed Jesus still adore,
Implant this in thy mind.
Thou hast left
the heathen shore;
Thro' mercy of the Lord,
Among the heathen live no more,
Come magnify thy God.
I pray the
living God may be,
The sheperd of thy soul;
His tender mercies still are free,
His mysteries to unfold.
|
Top
| Thou, Phillis, when thou hunger hast,
Or pantest for thy God;
Jesus Christ is thy relief,
Thou hast the holy word.
The bounteous
mercies of the Lord,
Are hid beyond the sky,
And holy souls that love His word,
Shall taste them when they die.
These bounteous
mercies are from God,
The merits of his Son;
The humble soul that loves his word,
He chooses for his own.
Come, dear
Phillis, be advis'd,
To drink Samaria's flood;
There nothing is that shall suffice,
But Christ's redeeming blood.
When thousands
muse with earthly toys,
And range about the street,
Dear Phillis, seek for heaven's joys,
Where we do hope to meet.
When God shall
send His summons down,
And number saints together.
Blest angels chant, (triumphant sound)
Come live with me forever.
The humble soul
shall fly to God,
And leave the things of time,
Start forth as 'twere at the first word,
To taste things more divine.
Behold! the soul
shall waft away,
Whene'er we come to die,
And leave this cottage made of clay,
In twinkling of an eye.
Now glory be to
the Most High,
United praises given,
By all on earth, incessantly,
And all the host of heav'n.
Composed by
Jupiter Hammon, Hartford, August 4, 1778
Study
Questions
1. Discuss the important
themes in the poetry of Phillis Wheatley. What is the relevance of
the mandala archetype?
2. Examine Phillis's verse
and letters for instances of her acquired Boston gentility and of her
racial awareness and of herself as "the Colonial Boston poet
laureate."
3. Locate and discuss
imagery in Wheatley's poems that directly or indirectly comments on
her experience as a freed slave.
MLA Style
Citation of this Web Page:
Reuben, Paul P.
"Chapter 2: Early American Literature: 1700-1800 - Phillis
Wheatley (1753-1784)." PAL: Perspectives in American
Literature- A Research and Reference Guide. WWW URL:
http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap2/wheatley.html
(provide page date or date of your login).
| Top
| Phillis
Wheatley (1753-1784): A Brief Biography
A Student Project for Professor
Reuben's ENGL 2200: American Literature to 1865, Fall
2003
Prepared and Presented in Class by
Dawn Coyan
Early American poet, African
American slave, and intellectual prodigy, Phillis Wheately gave no
hint of whom she would become as she stood on the slave block
awaiting sale. In 1761 at the age of seven or eight, Phillis was
purchased by a Bostonian merchant, Mr. John Wheatley, for the use of
his wife. Mrs. Wheatley chose Phillis, young as she was, because of
her "humble and modest demeanor" (Odell 9). Mrs. Wheatley planned to
train Phillis both to replace the aging house slaves and to be her
companion, since Mrs. Wheatley's daughter, Mary, would soon be old
enough to leave home (Richmond 15).
Mary Wheatley took it upon
herself to teach Phillis to read and write. Phillis' quick learning
along with her "amiable disposition and propriety of behavior"
pleased Mrs. Wheatley, who kept Phillis always with her, separating
her from the other family slaves (Odell 15). After 16 months of
instruction, Phillis could read English and understand "difficult
passages in the Bible" (Richmond 15). At 12 years old she began to
study Latin. By 14, she had become a poet.
Phillis spent her time with
books, at needlework, and some occasional furniture dusting, but was
always free to go to her writing when the Muse struck. She was
treated like a daughter of the Wheatleys at home, but when dining
out, she would request a side table for eating her dinner separately
(12). It appears that she never forgot her place in society. She did
not truly fit in with any group of people around her, slave or
free.
Through the Wheatleys,
Phillis was exposed to many of Boston's "literati," clergy, and other
members of society (Odell 11). Through these men she was exposed to a
wide variety of books and the Scriptures. Her writing reflects
familiarity with mythology and Pope's Homer,(Odell 17). Without
formal education, Phillis was encouraged to write about whatever she
wished, and to develop her own originality. However, she was happy to
oblige when asked by others to write a poem for a special event. Many
of her elegiac poems are due to special requests.
The Wheatleys received much
more for their money than they intended when acquiring Phillis.
Richmond calls her "an intellectual adornment," a novelty in
Bostonian society, an "exotic curiosity," and the Wheatleys were
happy to show her off (18). Richmond also points out that, in
contrast with the blackness of Phillis' skin, the "Puritanical
whiteness of her thoughts" won her the approbation of many. (19)
Phillis had been baptized in the Wheatley's church, the Old South
Meeting House. Her poetry and demeanor suggest that she took her
faith seriously.
Phillis wrote a poetic elegy
for the popular evangelist George Whitefield in 1770. This poem
spread throughout the Colonies and all the way to England, where
Whitefield's patroness, Lady Huntington, grieved over his death. The
poem "catapulted [Phillis] from the level of local celebrity
to the plateau of poet with a reputation throughout the Colonies and
[. . .] overseas" (Richmond 24).
In 1772, Phillis wrote a
poem thanking Lord Dartmouth for his part in convincing the King to
repeal the Stamp Act. This is the only poem in which she refers to
her childhood kidnapping. Referencing the sadness of that event, she
bases her love of freedom for the Colonies on her wish that no others
should experience the sorrows that her own parents must have felt.
In 1773, in the hopes of
improving her frail health, the Wheatleys sent Phillis to Europe in
the care of their son. Twenty years of age, she seemed to enjoy her
time there, and met many important persons.
While Phillis was in London,
her book of poetry, entitled Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and
Moral, was published. The book was dedicated to Lady Huntingdon, to
whom she may have been introduced. According to Richmond, this was
the first book by a black woman ever to be published (33). In fact,
Phillis' book was one of the first books published by anyone from the
Colonies. The fact that this poetry was that of a twenty year old
female slave was extremely remarkable&emdash;and unbelievable. Thus
it was that, in order to make the book acceptable to the public,
eighteen well-respected Bostonian gentlemen signed a statement
verifying the work as hers, along with a separate statement by her
master. These were printed inside the book as a preface to her
poetry.
Phillis' stay in Europe was
shortened by a plea from Mrs. Wheatley to return home, as Mrs.
Wheatley's health was now in decline. Mrs. Wheatley died in
1774.
Soon the Colonies were at
war, and the general public became wholly involved in it. Phillis'
audience, many of whom were Boston's elite and loyal to the Crown,
fled to Canada (Richmond 37). Phillis continued to write during the
war. Of note were a poem written for and sent to General Washington
in 1775. (Eventually the two met in March of 1776.) The poem,
entitled "To His Excellency General Washington," was eventually
published in Pennsylvania Magazine in April, 1776 (Richmond
7).
Phillis wrote a second
military poem a year later, called "Thoughts on His Excellency Major
General Lee Being Betray'd into the Hands of the Enemy by the
Treachery of a Pretended Friend."
Prior to his death in 1778,
Mr. Wheatley freed Phillis. Shortly thereafter, Phillis married an
African American grocer, John Peters. The husband failed at his
grocer business, as well as several other business attempts, keeping
them in poverty. Phillis continued to write, but the struggling
economy of the Colonies hindered her effort to make a living at it.
To support herself and her family, Phillis "worked as a servant in
her final years," doing the hard labor she never had to when a slave
(Britannica). Phillis eventually bore three children, all of whom
died of frail health&emdash;the third shared a funeral with its
mother. She was about 31 years old.
Several days after Phillis'
death in 1784 (and too late to earn her any money), three of her
poems were published. Two of these are elegiac, and the third
celebrates the end of the Revolutionary War.
Phillis Wheatley's
contribution to literature is important. First, in an era of
subjugation of her race, she proved to have an intellect matching or
superior to many of those considered her superiors. Second, she wrote
in a style controlled by "rigid boundaries," the heroic couplets and
the "ornate diction of neoclassicism" customary at the time (Richmond
54). Britannica calls her poetry "exceptionally mature." Phillis'
ability to practice her art in the social environment in which she
lived (both due to her slavery and the upheaval and war in the
Colonies) makes her poetry worth studying.
The major themes of Phillis'
poetry include religion, piety, morality, elegies, freedom,
celebration, war, and death.
PRIMARY WORKS
"An Elegiac Poem on the
Death of the celebrated Divine, and eminent Servant of Jesus Christ,
the late Reverend, and Pious George Whitefield, Chaplain to Right
Honourable the Countess of Huntingdon," 1770.
Poems on Various Subjects,
Religious and Moral, 1773
"To His Excellency General
Washington" 1775
Various other published
poems.
WORKS CITED
Odell, Margaretta Matilda.
"Memoir." Memoir and Poems of Phillis Wheatley. Boston: Geo. W.
Light, 1834. 20 Sep. 2003.
<http://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/wheatley/wheatley.html>.
Richmond, M.A. Bid the
Vassal Soar. Washington D.C.: Howard UP, 1974.
"Wheatley, Phillis."
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. 2003. Encyclopaedia Britannica
Premium Service. 20 Sep, 2003.
<http://www.britannica.com/ebc/article?er=407910>.
