Benjamin Rush, a prominent abolitionist, holds that Wheatley's "singular genius and accomplishments are such as not only do honor to her sex, but to human nature." Following fuller scholarly investigation into her complete works, however, many agree that this interpretation is oversimplified and does not do full justice to her awareness of injustice. Parks, writing in Black World that same year, describes a Mississippi poetry festival where Wheatley's poetry was read in a way that made her "Blacker." Wheatley is guiding her readers to ask: How could good Christian people treat other human beings in such a horrific way? (February 23, 2023). 2 Wheatley, "On the Death of General Wooster," in Call and Response, p. 103.. 3 Horton, "The Slave's Complaint," in Call and Response, pp. The opening sentiments would have been easily appreciated by Wheatley's contemporary white audience, but the last four lines exhorted them to reflect on their assumptions about the black race. May be refin'd, and join th' angelic train. That theres a God, that theres a Saviour too: Once I redemption neither sought nor knew. As cited by Robinson, he wonders, "What white person upon this continent has written more beautiful lines?". Generally in her work, Wheatley devotes more attention to the soul's rising heavenward and to consoling and exhorting those left behind than writers of conventional elegies have. Most descriptions tell what the literary elements do to enhance the story. 120 seconds. The first four lines of the poem could be interpreted as a justification for enslaving Africans, or as a condoning of such a practice, since the enslaved would at least then have a chance at true religion. 1, 2002, pp. Through all the heav'ns what beauteous dies are . Spelling and Grammar. She addresses her African heritage in the next lines, stating that there are many who look down on her and those who look like her. The masters, on the other hand, claimed that the Bible recorded and condoned the practice of slavery. Cain murdered his brother and was marked for the rest of time. Mercy is defined as "a blessing that is an act of divine favor or compassion." 23, No. While Wheatley included some traditional elements of the elegy, or praise for the dead, in "On Being Brought from Africa to America," she primarily combines sermon and meditation techniques in the poem. The early reviews, often written by people who had met her, refer to her as a genius. Wheatley explains her humble origins in "On Being Brought from Africa to America" and then promptly turns around to exhort her audience to accept African equality in the realm of spiritual matters, and by implication, in intellectual matters (the poem being in the form of neoclassical couplets). 2019Encyclopedia.com | All rights reserved. But in line 5, there is a shift in the poem. Wheatley perhaps included the reference to Cain for dramatic effect, to lead into the Christian doctrine of forgiveness, emphasized in line 8. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem. Recent critics looking at the whole body of her work have favorably established the literary quality of her poems and her unique historical achievement. HubPages is a registered trademark of The Arena Platform, Inc. Other product and company names shown may be trademarks of their respective owners. Then, copy and paste the text into your bibliography or works cited list. Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography. POETRY POSSIBILITES for BLACK HISTORY MONTH is a collection of poems about notable African Americans and the history of Blacks in America. . She places everyone on the same footing, in spite of any polite protestations related to racial origins. Source: William J. Scheick, "Phillis Wheatley's Appropriation of Isaiah," in Early American Literature, Vol. The question of slavery weighed heavily on the revolutionaries, for it ran counter to the principles of government that they were fighting for. This article needs attention from an expert in linguistics.The specific problem is: There seems to be some confusion surrounding the chronology of Arabic's origination, including notably in the paragraph on Qaryat Al-Faw (also discussed on talk).There are major sourcing gaps from "Literary Arabic" onwards. Wheatley was in the midst of the historic American Revolution in the Boston of the 1770s. 'Twas mercy brought me from my Question 14. 1-13. Importantly, she mentions that the act of understanding God and Savior comes from the soul. Remember, Christians, Negros, black as Cain. This voice is an important feature of her poem. This question was discussed by the Founding Fathers and the first American citizens as well as by people in Europe. This means that each line, with only a couple of questionable examples, is made up of five sets of two beats. In the following excerpt, Balkun analyzes "On Being Brought from Africa to America" and asserts that Wheatley uses the rhetoric of white culture to manipulate her audience. Although she was an enslaved person, Phillis Wheatley Peters was one of the best-known poets in pre-19th century America. 814 Words. Look at the poems and letters of Phillis Wheatley, and find evidence of her two voices, African and American. Daniel Garrett's appreciation of the contributions of African American women artists includes a study of Cicely Tyson, Angela Bassett, Viola Davis, and Regina King. 7Remember, Christians, Negros, black as Cain. Negros For example, while the word die is clearly meant to refer to skin pigmentation, it also suggests the ultimate fate that awaits all people, regardless of color or race. This comparison would seem to reinforce the stereotype of evil that she seems anxious to erase. Boston, Massachusetts The speaker then discusses how many white people unfairly looked down on African American people. . Carretta, Vincent, and Philip Gould, Introduction, in Genius in Bondage: Literature of the Early Black Atlantic, edited by Vincent Carretta and Philip Gould, University Press of Kentucky, 2001, pp. 1 Phillis Wheatley, "On Being Brought from Africa to America," in Call and Response: The Riverside Anthology of the African American Literary Tradition, ed. Chosen by Him, the speaker is again thrust into the role of preacher, one with a mission to save others. At the age of 14, she published her first poem in a local newspaper and went on to publish books and pamphlets. Phillis Wheatley was an internationally known American poet of the late 18th century. ", In the last two lines, Wheatley reminds her audience that all people, regardless of race, can be Christian and be saved. Additional information about Wheatley's life, upbringing, and education, including resources for further research. Hers is a seemingly conservative statement that becomes highly ambiguous upon analysis, transgressive rather than compliant. "On Being Brought from Africa to America" is really about the irony of Christian people who treat Black people as inferior. Ironically, this authorization occurs through the agency of a black female slave. It is important to pay attention to the rhyming end words, as often this can elucidate the meaning of the poem. She had written her first poem by 1765 and was published in 1767, when she was thirteen or fourteen, in the Newport Mercury. 4, 1974, p. 95. The first four lines concentrate on the retrospective experience of the speaker - having gained knowledge of the new religion, Christianity, she can now say that she is a believer, a convert. Line 6, in quotations, gives a typical jeer of a white person about black people. Imperative language shows up in this poem in the last two lines. The effect is to place the "some" in a degraded position, one they have created for themselves through their un-Christian hypocrisy. This discrepancy between the rhetoric of freedom and the fact of slavery was often remarked upon in Europe. Wheatley is saying that her being brought to America is divinely ordained and a blessing because now she knows that there is a savior and she needs to be redeemed. In this book was the poem that is now taught in schools and colleges all over the world, a fitting tribute to the first-ever black female poet in America. Later rebellions in the South were often fostered by black Christian ministers, a tradition that was epitomized by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s civil rights movement. A second biblical allusion occurs in the word train. She believes that her discovery of God, after being forcibly enslaved in America, was the best thing that couldve happened to her. Sources She was baptized a Christian and began publishing her own poetry in her early teens. Wheatley makes use of several literary devices in On Being Brought from Africa to America. , "On Being Brought from Africa to America," in The Norton Anthology of American Literature, Vol. Surely, too, she must have had in mind the clever use of syntax in the penultimate line of her poem, as well as her argument, conducted by means of imagery and nuance, for the equality of both races in terms of their mutually "benighted soul." Secondly, it describes the deepest Christian indictment of her race: blacks are too sinful to be saved or to be bothered with. But, in addition, the word sets up the ideological enlightenment that Wheatley hopes will occur in the second stanza, when the speaker turns the tables on the audience. Line 5 boldly brings out the fact of racial prejudice in America. Phillis Wheatley 's poem "On Being Brought from Africa to America" appeared in her 1773 volume Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral, the first full-length published work by an African American author. Such a person did not fit any known stereotype or category. She did not know that she was in a sinful state. Poem Analysis, https://poemanalysis.com/phillis-wheatley/on-being-brought-from-africa-to-america/. To a Gentleman and Lady on the Death of the Lady's Brother and Sister, and a Child of the Name Avis, Aged One Year. There are many themes explored in this poem. The speaker, a slave brought from Africa to America by whites magnifies the discrepancy between the whites' perception of blacks and the reality of the situation. 1-7. "On Being Brought from Africa to America" by Phillis Wheatley, is about how Africans were brought from Africa to America but still had faith in God to bring them through. Wheatley lived in the middle of the passionate controversies of the times, herself a celebrated cause and mover of events. It is also pointed out that Wheatley perhaps did not complain of slavery because she was a pampered house servant. Those who have contended that Wheatley had no thoughts on slavery have been corrected by such poems as the one to the Earl of Dartmouth, the British secretary of state for North America. Shuffelton also surmises why Native American cultural production was prized while black cultural objects were not. The first two children died in infancy, and the third died along with Wheatley herself in December 1784 in poverty in a Boston boardinghouse. She has master's degrees in French and in creative writing. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); document.getElementById( "ak_js_2" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Our work is created by a team of talented poetry experts, to provide an in-depth look into poetry, like no other. During her time with the Wheatley family, Phillis showed a keen talent for learning and was soon proficient in English. This style of poetry hardly appeals today because poets adhering to it strove to be objective and used elaborate and decorous language thought to be elevated. Her biblically authorized claim that the offspring of Cain "may be refin'd" to "join th' angelic train" transmutes into her self-authorized artistry, in which her desire to raise Cain about the prejudices against her race is refined into the ministerial "angelic train" (the biblical and artistic train of thought) of her poem. Susanna Wheatley, her mistress, became a second mother to her, and Wheatley adopted her mistress's religion as her own, thus winning praise in the Boston of her day as being both an intelligent and spiritual being. Most of the slaves were held on the southern plantations, but blacks were house servants in the North, and most wealthy families were expected to have them. As the final word of this very brief poem, train is situated to draw more than average attention to itself. The poem On Being Brought from Africa to America by Phillis Wheatley is a poetic representation of dark period in American history when slave trade was prominent in society. She describes those Christian people with African heritage as being "refin'd" and that they will "join th' angelic train.". On Being Brought from Africa to America by Phillis Wheatley is a simple poem about the power of Christianity to bring people to salvation. By using this meter, Wheatley was attempting to align her poetry with that of the day, making sure that the primary white readers would accept it. She was born in West Africa circa 1753, and thus she was only a few years younger than James Madison. The use of th and refind rather than the and refined in this line is an example of syncope. An error occurred trying to load this video. also Observation on English Versification , Etc. The later poem exhibits an even greater level of complexity and authorial control, with Wheatley manipulating her audience by even more covert means. Today: African American women are regularly winners of the highest literary prizes; for instance, Toni Morrison won the 1993 Nobel Prize for Literature, and Suzan-Lori Parks won the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. , Wheatley wrote in neoclassical couplets of iambic pentameter, following the example of the most popular English poet of the times, Alexander Pope. Stock illustration from Getty Images. The impact of the racial problems in Revolutionary America on Wheatley's reputation should not be underrated. In this, she asserts her religion as her priority in life; but, as many commentators have pointed out, it does not necessarily follow that she condones slavery, for there is evidence that she did not, in such poems as the one to Dartmouth and in the letter to Samson Occom. While the use of italics for "Pagan" and "Savior" may have been a printer's decision rather than Wheatley's, the words are also connected through their position in their respective lines and through metric emphasis. The irony that the author, Phillis Wheatley, was highlighting is that Christian people, who are expected to be good and loving, were treating people with African heritage as lesser human beings. The very distinctions that the "some" have created now work against them. Against the unlikely backdrop of the institution of slavery, ideas of liberty were taking hold in colonial America, circulating for many years in intellectual circles before war with Britain actually broke out. . Analysis Of The Poem ' Phillis Wheatley '. Wheatley goes on to say that when she was in Africa, she knew neither about the existence of God nor the need of a savior. This line is meaningful to an Evangelical Christian because one's soul needs to be in a state of grace, or sanctified by Christ, upon leaving the earth. On Being Brought from Africa to America Summary & Analysis. Carole A. Richard Abcarian (PhD, University of California, Berkeley) is a professor of English emeritus at California State University, Northridge, where he taught for thirty-seven years. Refine any search. Both black and white critics have wrestled with placing her properly in either American studies or African American studies. However, in the speaker's case, the reason for this failure was a simple lack of awareness. 5Some view our sable race with scornful eye. "On Being Brought from Africa to America." The Norton Anthology of American Literature, edited by Robert S. Levine, shorter 9th ed., Vol.1, W. W Norton & Company, 2017, pp. Wheatley is saying that her homeland, Africa, was not Christian or godly. The soul, which is not a physical object, cannot be overwhelmed by darkness or night. Such authors as Wheatley can now be understood better by postcolonial critics, who see the same hybrid or double references in every displaced black author who had to find or make a new identity. Full text. Alliteration is a common and useful device that helps to increase the rhythm of the poem. ." Each poem has a custom designed teaching point about poetic elements and forms. 1753-1784. Poem Solutions Limited International House, 24 Holborn Viaduct,London, EC1A 2BN, United Kingdom, Discover and learn about the greatest poetry ever straight to your inbox, Discover and learn about the greatest poetry, straight to your inbox. It has been variously read as a direct address to Christians, Wheatley's declaration that both the supposed Christians in her audience and the Negroes are as "black as Cain," and her way of indicating that the terms Christians and Negroes are synonymous. Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. Many readers today are offended by this line as making Africans sound too dull or brainwashed by religion to realize the severity of their plight in America. Wheatley was bought as a starving child and transformed into a prodigy in a few short years of training. There were public debates on slavery, as well as on other liberal ideas, and Wheatley was no doubt present at many of these discussions, as references to them show up in her poems and letters, addressed to such notable revolutionaries as George Washington, the Countess of Huntingdon, the Earl of Dartmouth, English antislavery advocates, the Reverend Samuel Cooper, and James Bowdoin. In line 7 specifically, she points out the irony of Christian people with Christian values treating Black people unfairly and cruelly. Show all. The poet glorifies the warship in this poem that battled the war of 1812. In fact, although the lines of the first quatrain in "On Being Brought from Africa to America" are usually interpreted as celebrating the mercy of her white captors, they are more accurately read as celebrating the mercy of God for delivering her from sin. 1-8." Figurative language is used in this poem. Spelling is very inaccurate and hinders full understanding. Common Core State Standards Text Exemplars, A Change of World, Episode 1: The Wilderness, To a Gentleman and Lady on the Death of the Lady's Brother and Sister, and a Child of the Name, To the Right Honorable William, Earl of Dartmouth, To S. M. A Young African Painter, On Seeing His Works. To instruct her readers to remember indicates that the poet is at this point (apparently) only deferring to a prior authority available to her outside her own poem, an authority in fact licensing her poem. Vincent Carretta and Philip Gould explain such a model in their introduction to Genius in Bondage: Literature of the Early Black Atlantic. Soft purl the streams, the birds renew their notes, And through the air their mingled music floats. The major themes of the poem are Christianity, redemption and salvation, and racial equality. Give a report on the history of Quaker involvement in the antislavery movement. Like many Christian poets before her, Wheatley's poem also conducts its religious argument through its aesthetic attainment. This poetic demonstration of refinement, of "blooming graces" in both a spiritual and a cultural sense, is the "triumph in [her] song" entitled "On Being Brought from Africa to America.". It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil Crushed, "Sooo much more helpful thanSparkNotes. Author Wheatley's mistress encouraged her writing and helped her publish her first pieces in newspapers and pamphlets. No wonder, then, that thinkers as great as Jefferson professed to be puzzled by Wheatley's poetry. White people are given a lesson in basic Christian ethics. She also means the aesthetic refinement that likewise (evidently in her mind at least) may accompany spiritual refinement. They are walking upward to the sunlit plains where the thinking people rule. 24, 27-31, 33, 36, 42-43, 47. In this instance, however, she uses the very argument that has been used to justify the existence of black slavery to argue against it: the connection between Africans and Cain, the murderer of Abel. There was no precedent for it. This could be a reference to anything, including but not limited to an idea, theme, concept, or even another work of literature. 233 Words1 Page. Refer to each styles convention regarding the best way to format page numbers and retrieval dates. 3, 1974, pp. Her refusal to assign blame, while it has often led critics to describe her as uncritical of slavery, is an important element in Wheatley's rhetorical strategy and certainly one of the reasons her poetry was published in the first place. "Remember, Christians, Negros, black as Cain,May be refin'd, and join th' angelic train. Remember: This is just a sample from a fellow student. She did light housework because of her frailty and often visited and conversed in the social circles of Boston, the pride of her masters. The line in which the reference appears also conflates Christians and Negroes, making the mark of Cain a reference to any who are unredeemed. Poetry for Students. In this essay, Gates explores the philosophical discussions of race in the eighteenth century, summarizing arguments of David Hume, John Locke, and Thomas Jefferson on the nature of "the Negro," and how they affected the reception of Wheatley's poetry. Wheatley, Phillis, Complete Writings, edited by Vincent Carretta, Penguin Books, 2001. This quote sums up the rest of the poem and how it relates to Walter . Given this challenge, Wheatley managed, Erkkila points out, to "merge" the vocabularies of various strands of her experiencefrom the biblical and Protestant Evangelical to the revolutionary political ideas of the dayconsequently creating "a visionary poetics that imagines the deliverance of her people" in the total change that was happening in the world. Rather than a direct appeal to a specific group, one with which the audience is asked to identify, this short poem is a meditation on being black and Christian in colonial America. Poet The enslavement of Africans in the American colonies grew steadily from the early seventeenth century until by 1860 there were about four million slaves in the United States. 'Twas mercy brought me from my Pagan land,Taught my benighted soul to understandThat 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. Notably, it was likely that Wheatley, like many slaves, had been sold by her own countrymen. She had been publishing poems and letters in American newspapers on both religious matters and current topics. This is a metaphor. The poem was published in 1773 when it was included in her book, Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral. In regards to the meter, Wheatley makes use of the most popular pattern, iambic pentameter. This poem has an interesting shift in tone. At the same time, she touches on the prejudice many Christians had that heathens had no souls.