From the start, critics have had difficulty disentangling the racial and literary issues. During the war in Iraq, black recruitment falls off, in part due to the many more civil career options open to young blacks. Levernier considers Wheatley predominantly in view of her unique position as a black poet in Revolutionary white America. (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1998), p.98. Betsy Erkkila describes this strategy as "a form of mimesis that mimics and mocks in the act of repeating" ("Revolutionary" 206). Taught my benighted soul to understand Wheatley gave birth to three children, all of whom died. Phillis Wheatley was born in Gambia, Africa, in 1753. In Jackson State Review, the African American author and feminist Alice Walker makes a similar remark about her own mother, and about the creative black woman in general: "Whatever rocky soil she landed on, she turned into a garden.". How is it that she was saved? 8May be refin'd, and join th' angelic train. Cain There was no precedent for it. 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. One may wonder, then, why she would be glad to be in such a country that rejects her people. 15 chapters | Parks, Carole A., "Phillis Wheatley Comes Home," in Black World, Vo. Despite what might first come to someones mind who knows anything about slavery in the United States, she saw it as an act of kindness. Detailed explanations, analysis, and citation info for every important quote on LitCharts. A resurgence of interest in Wheatley during the 1960s and 1970s, with the rise of African American studies, led again to mixed opinions, this time among black readers. "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. That same year, an elegy that she wrote upon the death of the Methodist preacher George Whitefield made her famous both in America and in England. Line 7 is one of the difficult lines in the poem. God punished him with the fugitive and vagabond and yieldless crop curse. She was unusually precocious, and the family that enslaved her decided to give her an education, which was uncommon for an enslaved person. Wheatley may also cleverly suggest that the slaves' affliction includes their work in making dyes and in refining sugarcane (Levernier, "Wheatley's"), but in any event her biblical allusion subtly validates her argument against those individuals who attribute the notion of a "diabolic die" to Africans only. Began Simple, Curse Robinson, William H., Phillis Wheatley and Her Writings, Garland, 1984, pp. 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. While it is a short poem a lot of information can be taken away from it. The poem is more complicated that it initially appears. Phillis Wheatley: Complete Writings (2001), which includes "On Being Brought from Africa to America," finally gives readers a chance to form their own opinions, as they may consider this poem against the whole body of Wheatley's poems and letters. HISTORY of the CHRISTIAN CHURCH 1 1 Schaff, Philip, History of the Christian Church, (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.) 1997. The need for a postcolonial criticism arose in the twentieth century, as centuries of European political domination of foreign lands were coming to a close. 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 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. by Phillis Wheatley. , black as 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. window.__mirage2 = {petok:"cajhZ6VFWaUJG3veQ.det3ab.5UanemT4_W4vp5lfYs-86400-0"}; Some view our sable race with scornful eye, We sense it in two ways. As Christian people, they are supposed to be "refin'd," or to behave in a blessed and educated manner. This poem is a real-life account of Wheatleys experiences. The poem consists of: Phillis Wheatley was abducted from her home in Africa at the age of 7 (in 1753) and taken by ship to America, where she ended up as the property of one John Wheatley, of Boston. Henry Louis Gates, Jr., claims in The Trials of Phillis Wheatley that Boston contained about a thousand African Americans out of a population of 15,520. She begin the poem with establishing her experience with slavery as a beneficial thing to her life. These documents are often anthologized along with the Declaration of Independence as proof, as Wheatley herself said to the Native American preacher Samson Occom, that freedom is an innate right. Nevertheless, Wheatley was a legitimate woman of learning and letters who consciously participated in the public discussion of the day, in a voice representing the living truth of what America claimed it stood forwhether or not the slave-owning citizens were prepared to accept it. This article seeks to analyze two works of black poetry, On Being Brought from Africa to America by Phillis Wheatley and I, too, Sing . Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral PART B: Which phrase from the text best supports the answer to Part A? 814 Words. Among her tests for aesthetic refinement, Wheatley doubtless had in mind her careful management of metrics and rhyme in "On Being Brought from Africa to America." She was taught theology, English, Latin, Greek, mythology, literature, geography, and astronomy. She adds that in case he wonders why she loves freedom, it is because she was kidnapped from her native Africa and thinks of the suffering of her parents. Even before the Revolution, black slaves in Massachusetts were making legal petitions for their freedom on the basis of their natural rights. Wheatley reminded her readers that all people, regardless of race, are able to obtain salvation. Although her intended audience is not black, she still refers to "our sable race." Thomas Paine | Common Sense Quotes & History, Wallace Stevens's 'Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird': Summary & Analysis, Letters from an American Farmer by St. Jean de Crevecoeur | Summary & Themes, Mulatto by Langston Hughes: Poem & Analysis, The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner by Randall Jarrell | Summary & Analysis, Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut | Summary & Chronology. The brief poem Harlem introduces themes that run throughout Langston Hughess volume Montage of a Dream Deferred and throughout his, Langston Hughes 19021967 The poem describes Wheatley's experience as a young girl who was enslaved and brought to the American colonies in 1761. 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 poem uses the principles of Protestant meditation, which include contemplating various Christian themes like one's own death or salvation. INTRODUCTION The "allusion" is a passing comment on the subject. Despite the hardships endured and the terrible injustices suffered there is a dignified approach to the situation. The use of th and refind rather than the and refined in this line is an example of syncope. The effect is to place the "some" in a degraded position, one they have created for themselves through their un-Christian hypocrisy. Sophia has taught college French and composition. Poetry for Students. land. Wheatley calls herself an adventurous Afric, and so she was, mastering the materials given to her to create with. Question 14. She is both in America and actively seeking redemption because God himself has willed it. 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. On Being Brought from Africa to America Summary & Analysis. Phillis Wheatley Peters was one of the best-known poets in pre-19th century America. The first episode in a special series on the womens movement. themes in this piece are religion, freedom, and equality, https://poemanalysis.com/phillis-wheatley/on-being-brought-from-africa-to-america/, Poems covered in the Educational Syllabus. "May be refined" can be read either as synonymous for can or as a warning: No one, neither Christians nor Negroes, should take salvation for granted. The Puritan attitude toward slaves was somewhat liberal, as slaves were considered part of the family and were often educated so that they could be converted to Christianity. Like them (the line seems to suggest), "Once I redemption neither sought nor knew" (4; my emphasis). In this verse, however, Wheatley has adeptly managed biblical allusions to do more than serve as authorizations for her writing; as finally managed in her poem, these allusions also become sites where this license is transformed into an artistry that in effect becomes exemplarily self-authorized. She then talks about how "some" people view those with darker skin and African heritage, "Negros black as Cain," scornfully. The European colonization of the Americas inspired a desire for cheap labor for the development of the land. Figures of speech are literary devices that are also used throughout our society and help relay important ideas in a meaningful way. On the other hand, Gilbert Imlay, a writer and diplomat, disagreed with Jefferson, holding Wheatley's genius to be superior to Jefferson's. Publication of Wheatley's poem, "An Elegiac Poem, on the Death of the Celebrated Divine George Whitefield," in 1770 made her a household name. Derived from the surface of Wheatley's work, this appropriate reading has generally been sensitive to her political message and, at the same time, critically negligent concerning her artistic embodiment of this message in the language and execution of her poem. In fact, the discussions of religious and political freedom go hand in hand in the poem. 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. Phillis Wheatley was born in Gambia, Africa, in 1753. Such couplets were usually closed and full sentences, with parallel structure for both halves. Saying it feels like saying "disperse." At the same time, our ordinary response to hearing it is in the mind's eye; we see it - the scattering of one thing into many. Wheatley proudly offers herself as proof of that miracle. , ed., Critical Essays on Phillis Wheatley, G. K. Hall, 1982, pp. In the first lines of On Being Brought from Africa to America, Wheatley states that it was mercy that brought her to America from her Pagan land, Africa. Teacher Editions with classroom activities for all 1699 titles we cover. It is the racist posing as a Christian who has become diabolical. One critical problem has been an incomplete collection of Wheatley's work. Mr. George Whitefield . Analysis Of The Poem ' Phillis Wheatley '. Wheatley was freed from slavery when she returned home from London, which was near the end of her owners' lives. 1753-1784. The title of one Wheatley's most (in)famous poems, "On being brought from AFRICA to AMERICA" alludes to the experiences of many Africans who became subject to the transatlantic slave trade.Wheatley uses biblical references and direct address to appeal to a Christian audience, while also defending the ability of her "sable race" to become . Accordingly, Wheatley's persona in "On Being Brought from Africa to America" qualifies the critical complaints that her poetry is imitative, inadequate, and unmilitant (e.g., Collins; Richmond 54-66); her persona resists the conclusion that her poetry shows a resort to scripture in lieu of imagination (Ogude); and her persona suggests that her religious poetry may be compatible with her political writings (e.g., Akers; Burroughs). Illustrated Works Spelling and grammar is mostly accurate. Black people, who were enslaved and thought of as evil by some people, can be of Christian faith and go to Heaven. Chosen by Him, the speaker is again thrust into the role of preacher, one with a mission to save others. In fact, it might end up being desirable, spiritually, morally, one day. "The Privileged and Impoverished Life of Phillis Wheatley" Shockley, Ann Allen, Afro-American Women Writers, 1746-1933: An Anthology and Critical Guide, G. K. Hall, 1988. Had the speaker stayed in Africa, she would have never encountered Christianity. As such, though she inherited the Puritan sense of original sin and resignation in death, she focuses on the element of comfort for the bereaved. This legitimation is implied when in the last line of the poem Wheatley tells her readers to remember that sinners "May be refin'd and join th' angelic train." Like many Christian poets before her, Wheatley's poem also conducts its religious argument through its aesthetic attainment. (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1998), p.98. assessments in his edited volume Critical Essays on Phillis Wheatley. By making religion a matter between God and the individual soul, an Evangelical belief, she removes the discussion from social opinion or reference. These miracles continue still with Phillis's figurative children, black . The poet needs some extrinsic warrant for making this point in the artistic maneuvers of her verse. Have a specific question about this poem? On Being Brought from Africa to America. Wheatley's poetry was heavily influenced by the poets she had studied, such as Alexander Pope and Thomas Gray. I feel like its a lifeline. Trauma dumping, digital nomad, nearlywed, petfluencer and antifragile. The last two lines of the poem make use of imperative language, which is language that gives a command or tells the reader what to do. The original text plus a side-by-side modern translation of. Recent critics looking at the whole body of her work have favorably established the literary quality of her poems and her unique historical achievement. Personification. To S. M., a Young African Painter, on Seeing His Works. From this perspective, Africans were living in darkness. 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. Began Writing at an Early Age Gates, Henry Louis, Jr., The Trials of Phillis Wheatley: America's First Black Poet and Her Encounters with the Founding Fathers, Basic Civitas Books, 2003, pp. Text is very difficult to understand. We respond to all comments too, giving you the answers you need. 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. . CRITICISM Wheatley wrote in neoclassical couplets of iambic pentameter, following the example of the most popular English poet of the times, Alexander Pope. The material has been carefully compared On Being Brought from Africa to America Even Washington was reluctant to use black soldiers, as William H. Robinson points out in Phillis Wheatley and Her Writings. Wheatley does not reflect on this complicity except to see Africa as a land, however beautiful and Eden-like, devoid of the truth. This is a reference to the biblical Book of Genesis and the two sons of Adam. Some view our sable race with scornful eye. Speaking of one of his visions, the prophet observes, "I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple" (Isaiah 6:1). , Won Pulitzer Prize Read more of Wheatley's poems and write a paper comparing her work to some of the poems of her eighteenth-century model. Phillis Wheatley became famous in her time for her elegant poetry with Christian themes of redemption. As a member, you'll also get unlimited access to over 88,000 ." Africans were brought over on slave ships, as was Wheatley, having been kidnapped or sold by other Africans, and were used for field labor or as household workers. 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. It is about a slave who cannot eat at the so-called "dinner table" because of the color of his skin. The poem was "On Being Brought from Africa to America," written by a 14-year-old Phillis in the late 18th century. 1 Phillis Wheatley, "On Being Brought from Africa to America," in Call and Response: The Riverside Anthology of the African American Literary Tradition, ed. Stock illustration from Getty Images. Author Wheatley continues her stratagem by reminding the audience of more universal truths than those uttered by the "some." On being brought from AFRICA to AMERICA The capitalization of AFRICA and AMERICA follows a norm of written language as codified in Joshua Bradley's 1815 text A Brief, Practical System of Punctuation To Which are added Rules Respecting the Uses of Capitals , Etc. She notes that the black skin color is thought to represent a connection to the devil. By rhyming this word with "angelic train," the author is connecting the ideas of pure evil and the goodness of Heaven, suggesting that what appears evil may, in fact, be worthy of Heaven. This appreciative attitude is a humble acknowledgment of the virtues of a Christian country like America. Being made a slave is one thing, but having white Christians call black a diabolic dye, suggesting that black people are black because they're evil, is something else entirely. That is, she applies the doctrine to the black race. Poems to integrate into your English Language Arts classroom. This same spirit in literature and philosophy gave rise to the revolutionary ideas of government through human reason, as popularized in the Declaration of Independence. Western notions of race were still evolving. Cite this article Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography. She meditates on her specific case of conversion in the first half of the poem and considers her conversion as a general example for her whole race in the second half. This quote sums up the rest of the poem and how it relates to Walter . No wonder, then, that thinkers as great as Jefferson professed to be puzzled by Wheatley's poetry. The typical funeral sermon delivered by this sect relied on portraits of the deceased and exhortations not to grieve, as well as meditations on salvation. The impact of the racial problems in Revolutionary America on Wheatley's reputation should not be underrated. 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. Just as she included a typical racial sneer, she includes the myth of blacks springing from Cain. Source: Susan Andersen, Critical Essay on "On Being Brought from Africa to America," in Poetry for Students, Gale, Cengage Learning, 2009. A discussionof Phillis Wheatley's controversial status within the African American community. However, they're all part of the 313 words newly added to Dictionary . One of the first things a reader will notice about this poem is the rhyme scheme, which is AABBCCDD. A Narrative of the Captivity by Mary Rowlandson | Summary, Analysis & Themes, 12th Grade English Curriculum Resource & Lesson Plans, ICAS English - Papers I & J: Test Prep & Practice, Common Core ELA - Literature Grades 9-10: Standards, College English Literature: Help and Review, Create an account to start this course today. 1, edited by Nina Baym, Norton, 1998, p. 825. As the first African American woman . Encyclopedia.com gives you the ability to cite reference entries and articles according to common styles from the Modern Language Association (MLA), The Chicago Manual of Style, and the American Psychological Association (APA). All other trademarks and copyrights are the property of their respective owners. That there's a God, that there's a Saviour too: Once I redemption neither sought nor knew. 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. CRITICAL OVERVIEW She grew increasingly critical of slavery and wrote several letters in opposition to it. 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. Adding insult to injury, Wheatley co-opts the rhetoric of this groupthose who say of blacks that "Their colour is a diabolic die" (6)using their own words against them. There are many themes explored in this poem. 372-73. succeed. Pagan is defined as "a person holding religious beliefs other than those of the main world religions." 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. "Some view our sable race with a scornful eye, "Their colour is a diabolic dye." Remember, Christians, Negros, black as Cain." Personification Simile Hyperbole Aphorism Encyclopedia.com. Whilst there is no mention of the physical voyage or abduction or emotional stress, the experience came about through the compassion of God. It is organized into four couplets, which are two rhymed lines of verse. Research the history of slavery in America and why it was an important topic for the founders in their planning for the country. The final and highly ironic demonstration of otherness, of course, would be one's failure to understand the very poem that enacts this strategy. What were their beliefs about slavery? A sensation in her own day, Wheatley was all but forgotten until scrutinized under the lens of African American studies in the twentieth century. Suddenly, the audience is given an opportunity to view racism from a new perspective, and to either accept or reject this new ideological position. While ostensibly about the fate of those black Christians who see the light and are saved, the final line in "On Being Brought From Africa to America" is also a reminder to the members of her audience about their own fate should they choose unwisely. "On Being Brought From Africa to America" by Phillis Wheatley. 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. Wheatley was in the midst of the historic American Revolution in the Boston of the 1770s. Wheatley lived in the middle of the passionate controversies of the times, herself a celebrated cause and mover of events. Slaves felt that Christianity validated their equality with their masters. The prosperous Wheatley family of Boston had several slaves, but the poet was treated from the beginning as a companion to the family and above the other servants. 'Twas mercy brought me from my Pagan land. Washington was pleased and replied to her. Here are 10 common figures of speech and some examples of the same figurative language in use: Simile. The narrator saying that "[He's] the darker brother" (Line 2). "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. This, she thinks, means that anyone, no matter their skin tone or where theyre from, can find God and salvation. In line 1 of "On Being Brought from Africa to America," as she does throughout her poems and letters, Wheatley praises the mercy of God for singling her out for redemption. 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. A great example of figurative language is a metaphor. . Phillis Wheatley read quite a lot of classical literature, mostly in translation (such as Pope's translations of Homer), but she also read some Latin herself. Arthur P. Davis, writing in Critical Essays on Phillis Wheatley, comments that far from avoiding her black identity, Wheatley uses that identity to advantage in her poems and letters through "racial underscoring," often referring to herself as an "Ethiop" or "Afric." //]]>. Andersen holds a PhD in literature and teaches literature and writing. More on Wheatley's work from PBS, including illustrations of her poems and a portraitof the poet herself. While in London to promote her poems, Wheatley also received treatment for chronic asthma. This poem also uses imperative language, which is language used to command or to tell another character or the reader what to do. also Observation on English Versification , Etc. An allusion is an indirect reference to, including but not limited to, an idea, event, or person. In the case of her readers, such failure is more likely the result of the erroneous belief that they have been saved already. The result is that those who would cast black Christians as other have now been placed in a like position. She notes that the poem is "split between Africa and America, embodying the poet's own split consciousness as African American." Negros This is a metaphor. Could the United States be a land of freedom and condone slavery? Line 6, in quotations, gives a typical jeer of a white person about black people. Give a report on the history of Quaker involvement in the antislavery movement. 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." 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.