It has a steady rhythm, the classic iambic pentameter of five beats per line giving it a traditional pace when reading: Twas mer / cy brought / me from / my Pag / an land, Taught my / benight / ed soul / to und / erstand. This simple and consistent pattern makes sense for Wheatleys straightforward message. By the time Wheatley had been in America for 16 months, she was reading the Bible, classics in Greek and Latin, and British literature. Although most of her religious themes are conventional exhortations against sin and for accepting salvation, there is a refined and beautiful inspiration to her verse that was popular with her audience. Her being saved was not truly the whites' doing, for they were but instruments, and she admonishes them in the second quatrain for being too cocky. "On Being Brought from Africa to America" is a poem written by Phillis Wheatley, published in her 1773 poetry collection "Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral." The poem describes Wheatley's experience as a young girl who was enslaved and brought to the American colonies in 1761. This racial myth and the mention of slavery in the Bible led Europeans to consider it no crime to enslave blacks, for they were apparently a marked and evil race. 27, 1992, pp. Spelling is very inaccurate and hinders full understanding. In the poem, she gives thanks for having been brought to America, where she was raised to be a Christian. 253 Words2 Pages. 2, December 1975, pp. Such couplets were usually closed and full sentences, with parallel structure for both halves. In alluding to the two passages from Isaiah, she intimates certain racial implications that are hardly conventional interpretations of these passages. That theres a God, that theres a Saviour too: Once I redemption neither sought nor knew. by Phillis Wheatley. Surviving the long and challenging voyage depended on luck and for some, divine providence or intervention. Line 2 explains why she considers coming to America to have been good fortune. At the same time, she touches on the prejudice many Christians had that heathens had no souls. 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. Some of her poems and letters are lost, but several of the unpublished poems survived and were later found. Once I redemption neither sought nor knew. Its like a teacher waved a magic wand and did the work for me. 18 On being brought from AFRICA to AMERICA. A discussionof Phillis Wheatley's controversial status within the African American community. Trauma dumping, digital nomad, nearlywed, petfluencer and antifragile. IN perusing the following Dictionary , the reader will find some terms, which probably he will judge too simple in their nature to justify their insertion . The poet quickly and ably turns into a moral teacher, explaining as to her backward American friends the meaning of their own religion. This is all due to the fact that she was able to learn about God and Christianity. Phillis lived for a time with the married Wheatley daughter in Providence, but then she married a free black man from Boston, John Peters, in 1778. Some view our sable race with scornful eye. We sense it in two ways. To S. M., a Young African Painter, on Seeing His Works. Text is very difficult to understand. Wheatley's cultural awareness is even more evident in the poem "On Being Brought From Africa to America," written the year after the Harvard poem in 1768. Slavery did not become illegal after the Revolution as many had hoped; it was not fully abolished in the United States until the end of the Civil War in 1865. In this regard, one might pertinently note that Wheatley's voice in this poem anticipates the ministerial role unwittingly assumed by an African-American woman in the twenty-third chapter of Harriet Beecher Stowe's The Minister's Wooing (1859), in which Candace's hortatory words intrinsically reveal what male ministers have failed to teach about life and love. It is no accident that what follows in the final lines is a warning about the rewards for the redeemed after death when they "join th' angelic train" (8). It is easy to see the calming influence she must have had on the people who sought her out for her soothing thoughts on the deaths of children, wives, ministers, and public figures, praising their virtues and their happy state in heaven. In this poem, Wheatley posits that all people, from all races, can be saved by Christianity. By Phillis Wheatley. Provides readers with strategies for facilitating language learning and literacy learning. Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography. Remember, Christians, Negros, black as Cain. Poetry for Students. 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. The use of th and refind rather than the and refined in this line is an example of syncope. "In every human breast, God has implanted a Principle, which we call Lov, Gwendolyn Brooks 19172000 An online version of Wheatley's poetry collection, including "On Being Brought from Africa to America.". At a Glance Question 4 (2 points) Identify a type of figurative language in the following lines of Phillis Wheatley's On Being Brought from Africa to America. 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. She was greatly saddened by the deaths of John and Susanna Wheatley and eventually married John Peters, a free African American man in Boston. An example is the precedent of General Colin Powell, who served as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the Gulf War (a post equal to Washington's during the Revolution). Her benighted, or troubled soul was saved in the process. 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. Wheatley gave birth to three children, all of whom died. From the 1770s, when Phillis Wheatley first began to publish her poems, until the present day, criticism has been heated over whether she was a genius or an imitator, a cultural heroine or a pathetic victim, a woman of letters or an item of curiosity. Thomas Jefferson's scorn (reported by Robinson), however, famously articulates the common low opinion of African capability: "Religion, indeed, has produced a Phillis Whately, but it could not produce a poet. As placed in Wheatley's poem, this allusion can be read to say that being white (silver) is no sign of privilege (spiritually or culturally) because God's chosen are refined (purified, made spiritually white) through the afflictions that Christians and Negroes have in common, as mutually benighted descendants of Cain. The lady doth protest too much, methinks is a famous quote used in Shakespeares Hamlet. al. 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. (122) $5.99. May be refin'd, and join th' angelic train. Her praise of these people and what they stood for was printed in the newspapers, making her voice part of the public forum in America. One may wonder, then, why she would be glad to be in such a country that rejects her people. By being a voice for those who can not speak for . Wheatley's first name, Phillis, comes from the name of the ship that brought her to America. Here, Wheatley is speaking directly to her readers and imploring them to remember that all human beings, regardless of the color of their skin, are able to be saved and live a Christian life. Her strategy relies on images, references, and a narrative position that would have been strikingly familiar to her audience. She wants to inform her readers of the opposite factand yet the wording of her confession of faith became proof to later readers that she had sold out, like an Uncle Tom, to her captors' religious propaganda. Teacher Editions with classroom activities for all 1699 titles we cover. The poem was "On Being Brought from Africa to America," written by a 14-year-old Phillis in the late 18th century. In fact, blacks fought on both sides of the Revolutionary War, hoping to gain their freedom in the outcome. And indeed, Wheatley's use of the expression "angelic train" probably refers to more than the divinely chosen, who are biblically identified as celestial bodies, especially stars (Daniel 12:13); this biblical allusion to Isaiah may also echo a long history of poetic usage of similar language, typified in Milton's identification of the "gems of heaven" as the night's "starry train" (Paradise Lost 4:646). Just as she included a typical racial sneer, she includes the myth of blacks springing from Cain. Perhaps her sense of self in this instance demonstrates the degree to which she took to heart Enlightenment theories concerning personal liberty as an innate human right; these theories were especially linked to the abolitionist arguments advanced by the New England clergy with whom she had contact (Levernier, "Phillis"). Line 7 is one of the difficult lines in the poem. She notes that the black skin color is thought to represent a connection to the devil. She had not been able to publish her second volume of poems, and it is thought that Peters sold the manuscript for cash. Wheatley was then abducted by slave traders and brought to America in 1761. In addition, Wheatley's language consistently emphasizes the worth of black Christians. The compositions published under her name are below the dignity of criticism." The rest of the poem is assertive and reminds her readers (who are mostly white people) that all humans are equal and capable of joining "th' angelic train." (Thus, anyone hearing the poem read aloud would also have been aware of the implied connection.) it is to apply internationally. Cain is a biblical character that kills his brother, an example of the evil of humanity. . 61, 1974, pp. She believes that her discovery of God, after being forcibly enslaved in America, was the best thing that couldve happened to her. Source: William J. Scheick, "Phillis Wheatley's Appropriation of Isaiah," in Early American Literature, Vol. Source: Mary McAleer Balkun, "Phillis Wheatley's Construction of Otherness and the Rhetoric of Performed Ideology," in African American Review, Vol. In effect, both poems serve as litmus tests for true Christianity while purporting to affirm her redemption. She also indicates, apropos her point about spiritual change, that the Christian sense of Original Sin applies equally to both races. They signed their names to a document, and on that basis Wheatley was able to publish in London, though not in Boston. 'Twas mercy brought me from my 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. The "authentic" Christian is the one who "gets" the puns and double entendres and ironies, the one who is able to participate fully in Wheatley's rhetorical performance. The poem was a tribute to the eighteen-century frigate USS Constitution. POEM SUMMARY It was written by a black woman who was enslaved. Erin Marsh has a bachelor's degree in English from the College of Saint Benedict and an MFA in Creative Writing from Lesley University's Low Residency program. Definitions and examples of 136 literary terms and devices. Her poems have the familiar invocations to the muses (the goddesses of inspiration), references to Greek and Roman gods and stories, like the tragedy of Niobe, and place names like Olympus and Parnassus. Every single person that visits Poem Analysis has helped contribute, so thank you for your support. Albeit grammatically correct, this comma creates a trace of syntactic ambiguity that quietly instates both Christians and Negroes as the mutual offspring of Cain who are subject to refinement by divine grace. When we consider how Wheatley manages these biblical allusions, particularly how she interprets them, we witness the extent to which she has become self-authorized as a result of her training and refinement. As her poem indicates, with the help of God, she has overcome, and she exhorts others that they may do the same. This is followed by an interview with drama professor, scholar and performer Sharrell Luckett, author of the books Black Acting Methods: Critical Approaches and African American Arts: Activism, Aesthetics, and Futurity. Publication of Wheatley's poem, "An Elegiac Poem, on the Death of the Celebrated Divine George Whitefield," in 1770 made her a household name. 7Remember, Christians, Negros, black as Cain. 372-73. While it is true that her very ability to write such a poem defended her race against Jefferson's charge that black people were not intelligent enough to create poetry, an even worse charge for Wheatley would have been the association of the black race with unredeemable evilthe charge that the black race had no souls to save. HISTORICAL CONTEXT Wheatley's revision of this myth possibly emerges in part as a result of her indicative use of italics, which equates Christians, Negros, and Cain (Levernier, "Wheatley's"); it is even more likely that this revisionary sense emerges as a result of the positioning of the comma after the word Negros. . In these ways, then, the biblical and aesthetic subtleties of Wheatley's poem make her case about refinement. According to Robinson, the Gentleman's Magazine of London and the London Monthly Review disagreed on the quality of the poems but agreed on the ingeniousness of the author, pointing out the shame that she was a slave in a freedom-loving city like Boston. Major Themes in "On Being Brought from Africa to America": Mercy, racism and divinity are the major themes of this poem. Following the poem (from Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral, 1773), are some observations about its treatment of the theme of . They can join th angelic train. 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. John Peters eventually abandoned Wheatley and she lived in abject poverty, working in a boardinghouse, until her death on December 5, 1784. Betsy Erkkila describes this strategy as "a form of mimesis that mimics and mocks in the act of repeating" ("Revolutionary" 206). Phillis Wheatley was taken from what she describes as her pagan homeland of Africa as a young child and enslaved upon her arrival in America. This was the legacy of philosophers such as John Locke who argued against absolute monarchy, saying that government should be a social contract with the people; if the people are not being served, they have a right to rebel. It is the racist posing as a Christian who has become diabolical. . A great example of figurative language is a metaphor. 12th Grade English: Homework Help Resource, Works by African American Writers: Homework Help, Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison: Summary & Characters, Psychological Research & Experimental Design, All Teacher Certification Test Prep Courses, "On Being Brought from Africa to America" by Phillis Wheatley, "On Being Brought from Africa to America" Summary, "On Being Brought from Africa to America" Analysis, British Prose for 12th Grade: Homework Help, British Poetry for 12th Grade: Homework Help, British Plays for 12th Grade: Homework Help, The Harlem Renaissance: Novels and Poetry from the Jazz Age, W.E.B. LitCharts Teacher Editions. If it is not, one cannot enter eternal bliss in heaven. As cited by Robinson, he wonders, "What white person upon this continent has written more beautiful lines?". Nor does Wheatley construct this group as specifically white, so that once again she resists antagonizing her white readers. According to "The American Crisis", God will aid the colonists and not aid the king of England because. Read more of Wheatley's poems and write a paper comparing her work to some of the poems of her eighteenth-century model. Postmodernism, bell hooks & Systems of Oppression, Introduction to Gerard Manley Hopkins: Devout Catholicism and Sprung Rhythm, Leslie Marmon Silko | Biography, Poems, & Books, My Bondage and My Freedom by Frederick Douglass | Summary & Analysis, George Eliot's Silly Novels by Lady Novelists: Summary & Analysis, The Author to Her Book by Anne Bradstreet | Summary & Analysis, Ruined by Lynn Nottage | Play, Characters, and Analysis, Neuromancer by William Gibson | Summary, Characters & Analysis, The Circular Ruins by Jorge Luis Borges | Summary & Analysis. The European colonization of the Americas inspired a desire for cheap labor for the development of the land. Today, a handful of her poems are widely anthologized, but her place in American letters and black studies is still debated. Another thing that a reader will notice is the meter of this poem. Nevertheless, in her association of spiritual and aesthetic refinement, she also participates in an extensive tradition of religious poets, like George Herbert and Edward Taylor, who fantasized about the correspondence between their spiritual reconstruction and the aesthetic grace of their poetry. Wheatley's verse generally reveals this conscious concern with poetic grace, particularly in terms of certain eighteenth-century models (Davis; Scruggs). She demonstrates in the course of her art that she is no barbarian from a "Pagan land" who raises Cain (in the double sense of transgressing God and humanity). The material has been carefully compared 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. One critical problem has been an incomplete collection of Wheatley's work. Poetic devices are thin on the ground in this short poem but note the thread of silent consonants brought/Taught/benighted/sought and the hard consonants scornful/diabolic/black/th'angelic which bring texture and contrast to the sound. Wheatley, Phillis, Complete Writings, edited by Vincent Carretta, Penguin Books, 2001. , ed., Critical Essays on Phillis Wheatley, G. K. Hall, 1982, pp. This poem also uses imperative language, which is language used to command or to tell another character or the reader what to do. Henry Louis Gates, Jr., in The Trials of Phillis Wheatley: America's First Black Poet and Her Encounters with the Founding Fathers (2003), contends that Wheatley's reputation as a whitewashed black poet rests almost entirely on interpretations of "On Being Brought from Africa to America," which he calls "the most reviled poem in African-American literature." She was unusually precocious, and the family that enslaved her decided to give her an education, which was uncommon for an enslaved person. Elvis made white noise while disrupting conventional ideas with his sexual appeal in performances. Wheatley does not reflect on this complicity except to see Africa as a land, however beautiful and Eden-like, devoid of the truth. for the Use of Schools. Erkkila's insight into Wheatley's dualistic voice, which allowed her to blend various points of view, is validated both by a reading of her complete works and by the contemporary model of early transatlantic black literature, which enlarges the boundaries of reference for her achievement. Baker, Houston A., Jr., Workings of the Spirit: The Poetics of Afro-American Women's Writing, University of Chicago Press, 1991. Also supplied are tailor-made skill lessons, activities, and poetry writing prompts; the . Try refreshing the page, or contact customer support. Into this arena Phillis Wheatley appeared with her proposal to publish her book of poems, at the encouragement of her mistress, Susanna Wheatley. And she must have had in mind her subtle use of biblical allusions, which may also contain aesthetic allusions. One of the first things a reader will notice about this poem is the rhyme scheme, which is AABBCCDD. She was the first African American woman to publish a book of poetry and was brought to America and enslaved in 1761.