Phillis Wheatley
Phillis Wheatley (1753 – December 5, 1784) was the first African American female writer to be published in the United States. Her book Poems on Various Subjects was published in 1773, two years before the American Revolutionary War began, and is seen as one of the first examples of African American literature. After Anne Bradstreet she was only the second woman to be published in colonial America. Phillis Wheatley came to America on a slave ship and died in abject poverty; however, her works left an indelible impression that sewed the seeds for the advocation of abolition in America. Although her poetry about the colonies' struggle for freedom from Great Britain echoes her own thoughts on liberty, she rarely drew attention to her personal circumstances or to issues of race. Rather her poems are for the most part an expression of her religious zeal and her ardent faith in God.
Early years and influences
She was born in Gambia, now known as Senegal on the West Coast of Africa. As a young girl, aged seven, she was kidnapped and sold into slavery. There is no record of what her African name might have been. After being purchased in Boston, Massachusetts in 1761, by John Wheatley, who bought her to be a maidservant for his wife, she was given the name "Phillis." Susannah Wheatley saw the young girl as her protegee and encouraged her education, unheard of in those times for African Americans. At the age of nine she was transcribing difficult passages from the Bible. She was also tutored in geography and mathematics, but poetry was her favorite subject. She especially admired the works of Alexander Pope and her early poems are imitative of his. She became well versed in Latin and Greek classics, even later producing an English translation of Ovid's Metamorphoses. At age fourteen she published her first poem in the colonial newspaper, the Newport Mercury.
As an educated slave Phillis Wheatley's circumstances were different than most blacks of that time. It was illegal to even teach blacks to read or write in the antibellum South. She lived between two worlds and as such did not always fit into either one. However, church, and church leadership, became her refuge and a strong influence in her life. The fact that Wheatley was familiar with the classics shows that she most likely had access to the extensive library of her church, the Old South Church in Boston. This church was the site of the town meeting held after the Boston Massacre. As a child prodigy, clergyman and other literati of the day provided her with encouragement and books. Such influences included ministers such as Harvard educated Mather Byles, a nephew of the puritan leader Cotton Mather.
Poetry during the pre-Revolutionary War years
In 1770 Wheatley wrote a poetic tribute to George Whitefield that received widespread acclaim. Wheatley's poetry overwhelmingly revolves around Christian themes, with many poems dedicated to famous personalities. Over one-third consist of elegies, the remainder being on religious, classical and abstract themes[1]. She rarely mentions her own situation in her poems. One of the few which refers to slavery is "On being brought from Africa to America":
- `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 dye."
Remember, Christians, Negroes, black as Cain,
May be refin'd, and join th' angelic train.´
Because many white people of the time found it hard to believe that a black woman could be so intelligent as to write poetry, in 1772 Wheatley had to defend her literary ability in court. She was examined by a group of Boston luminaries including John Erving, Reverend Charles Chauncey, John Hancock, Thomas Hutchinson, the governor of Massachusetts, and his Lieutenant Governor Andrew Oliver. They concluded that she had in fact written the poems ascribed to her and signed an attestation which was published in the preface to her book Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral published in Aldgate, London in 1773. The book was published in London because publishers in Boston had refused to publish the text. Wheatley and her master's son, Nathanial Wheatley, went to London, where Selina, Countess of Huntingdon and the Earl of Dartmouth helped with the publication.
Wheatley is credited with simultaneously founding two literary genres: Black American literature and Black Women literature.
In 1778, African American poet Jupiter Hammon wrote an ode to Wheatley. Hammon never mentions himself in the poem, but it appears that in choosing Wheatley as a subject, he was acknowledging their common bond.
Later years
After the death of the Wheatley family, Wheatley married a free black grocer named John Peters. Her husband soon left her and Wheatley earned a living as a servant. She died in poverty at the age of 31. Wheatley's third child died only a few hours after her death. At the time of her death, there was a second volume of poetry but neither it nor any other works of hers have ever been seen.
Works
- An Elegy, Sacred to the Memory of the Great Divine, the Reverend and Learned Dr. Samuel Cooper, Who Departed This Life December 29, 1783
- Memoir and Poems of Phillis Wheatley, a Native African and Slave (Boston: Published by Geo. W. Light, 1834), also by Margaretta Matilda Odell
- Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral Published in 1773
- To His Excellency George Washington written for Washington in 1776
External links
- Works by Phillis Wheatley. Project Gutenberg, Retrieved April 3, 2007.
- "Phillis Wheatley", Open Directory Project, Retrieved April 3, 2007.
- "Phillis Wheatley Poems", The James Madison Center, Retrieved April 4, 2007.
- "Jupiter Hammon's Poem to Phillis Wheatley", Perspectives in American Literature, Retrieved April 4, 2007.
- "Power Writers", East End Talking, Retrieved April 4, 2007.
- "A Geo-Biography of Phillis Wheatley", Google Earth Community, Retrieved April 4, 2007.
Notes
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
- Cashmore, E. "Review of the Norton Anthology of African-American Literature" New Statesman, April 25, 1997.
- Gates, H. The Trials of Phillis Wheatley: America's First Black Poet and Her Encounters With the Founding Fathers Basic Civitas Books, 2003 ISBN 0465027296
- Laskey, Kathryn, A Voice of Her Own: The Story of Phillis Wheatley, Slave Poet, Candlewick Press, MA ISBN 0763602523
- Shockley, Ann Allen, Afro-American Women Writers 1746-1933: An Anthology and Critical Guide, New Haven, Connecticut: Meridian Books, 1989. ISBN 0-45200981-2
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