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 most well-known poem, "On Being Brought from Africa to America," is an eight-line poem that addresses the hypocrisy of so-called Christian people incorrectly believing that those of African heritage cannot be educated and incorrectly believing that they are lesser human beings. In this lesson, students will. By the time Wheatley had been in America for 16 months, she was reading the Bible, classics in Greek and Latin, and British literature. Also supplied are tailor-made skill lessons, activities, and poetry writing prompts; the . 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. Although her intended audience is not black, she still refers to "our sable race." This is a reference to the biblical Book of Genesis and the two sons of Adam. In fact, the discussions of religious and political freedom go hand in hand in the poem. In the first four lines, the tone is calm and grateful, with the speaker saying that her soul is "benighted" and mentioning "redemption" and the existence of a "Saviour." Alliteration occurs with diabolic dye and there is an allusion to the old testament character Cain, son of Adam and Eve. In the last line of this poem, she asserts that the black race may, like any other branch of humanity, be saved and rise to a heavenly fate. Wheatley's poetry was heavily influenced by the poets she had studied, such as Alexander Pope and Thomas Gray. Because each style has its own formatting nuances that evolve over time and not all information is available for every reference entry or article, Encyclopedia.com cannot guarantee each citation it generates. 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. For example, "History is the long and tragic story . She addresses Christians, which in her day would have included most important people in America, in government, education, and the clergy. The debate continues, and it has become more informed, as based on the complete collections of Wheatley's writings and on more scholarly investigations of her background. She believes that her discovery of God, after being forcibly enslaved in America, was the best thing that couldve happened to her. Phillis Wheatley - Poems by the Famous Poet - All Poetry ." To the University of Cambridge, in New England. 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 simple and consistent pattern makes sense for Wheatley's straightforward message. In the following essay on "On Being Brought from Africa to America," she focuses on Phillis Wheatley's self-styled personaand its relation to American history, as well as to popular perceptions of the poet herself. 1 Phillis Wheatley, "On Being Brought from Africa to America," in Call and Response: The Riverside Anthology of the African American Literary Tradition, ed. 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. "Taught my benighted soul to understand" (Line 2) "Once I redemption neither sought nor knew." (Line 4) "'Their colour is a diabolic die.'" (Line 6) "May be refin'd, and join th' angelic train." (Line 8) Report Quiz. By Phillis Wheatley. Some view our sable race with scornful eye, The early reviews, often written by people who had met her, refer to her as a genius. Her benighted, or troubled soul was saved in the process. She thus makes clear that she has praised God rather than the people or country of America for her good fortune. Explore "On Being Brought from Africa to America" by Phillis Wheatley. An online version of Wheatley's poetry collection, including "On Being Brought from Africa to America.". She does more here than remark that representatives of the black race may be refined into angelic mattermade, as it were, spiritually white through redemptive Christianizing. Phillis Wheatley was born in Africa in 1753 and enslaved in America. The word Some also introduces a more critical tone on the part of the speaker, as does the word Remember, which becomes an admonition to those who call themselves "Christians" but do not act as such. Please continue to help us support the fight against dementia with Alzheimer's Research Charity. Figurative language is used in literature like poetry, drama, prose and even speeches. Gates, Henry Louis, Jr., "Phillis Wheatley and the Nature of the Negro," in Critical Essays on Phillis Wheatley, edited by William H. Robinson, G. K. Hall, 1982, pp. The darker races are looked down upon. 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. The resulting verse sounds pompous and inauthentic to the modern ear, one of the problems that Wheatley has among modern audiences. Then, copy and paste the text into your bibliography or works cited list. 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. 7Remember, Christians, Negros, black as Cain. The Impact of the Early Years AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY The members of this group are not only guilty of the sin of reviling others (which Wheatley addressed in the Harvard poem) but also guilty for failing to acknowledge God's work in saving "Negroes." Robinson, William H., Phillis Wheatley and Her Writings, Garland, 1984, pp. The audience must therefore make a decision: Be part of the group that acknowledges the Christianity of blacks, including the speaker of the poem, or be part of the anonymous "some" who refuse to acknowledge a portion of God's creation. Phillis Wheatley. In "On Being Brought from Africa to America" Wheatley alludes twice to Isaiah to refute stereotypical readings of skin color; she interprets these passages to refer to the mutual spiritual benightedness of both races, as equal diabolically-dyed descendants of Cain. Poet and World Traveler Phillis Wheatley Poems & Facts | What Was Phillis Wheatley Known For? She did not mingle with the other servants but with Boston society, and the Wheatley daughter tutored her in English, Latin, and the Bible. 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. She published her first poem in 1767, later becoming a household name. 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. Source: Susan Andersen, Critical Essay on "On Being Brought from Africa to America," in Poetry for Students, Gale, Cengage Learning, 2009. Racial Equality: The speaker points out to the audience, mostly consisting of white people, that all people, regardless of race, can be saved and brought to Heaven. INTRODUCTION Major Themes in "On Being Brought from Africa to America": Mercy, racism and divinity are the major themes of this poem. She wants them all to know that she was brought by mercy to America and to religion. The speaker begins by declaring that it was a blessing, a free act of God's compassion that brought her out of Africa, a pagan land. By Phillis Wheatley. Dr. Sewell", "On the Death of the Rev. Wheatley gave birth to three children, all of whom died. One of the first things a reader will notice about this poem is the rhyme scheme, which is AABBCCDD. Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral Both black and white critics have wrestled with placing her properly in either American studies or African American studies. Phillis Wheatley | Poetry Foundation This poem is more about the power of God than it is about equal rights, but it is still touched on. The material has been carefully compared Figurative language is used in this poem. How do her concerns differ or converge with other black authors? 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. Phillis Wheatley became famous in her time for her elegant poetry with Christian themes of redemption. In effect, both poems serve as litmus tests for true Christianity while purporting to affirm her redemption. Proof consisted in their inability to understand mathematics or philosophy or to produce art. 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. Because Wheatley stands at the beginning of a long tradition of African-American poetry, we thought we'd offer some . She was in a sinful and ignorant state, not knowing God or Christ. Phillis Wheatley is all about change. She also means the aesthetic refinement that likewise (evidently in her mind at least) may accompany spiritual refinement. Examples Of Figurative Language In Letters To Birmingham 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. An overview of Wheatley's life and work. They must also accede to the equality of black Christians and their own sinful nature. By tapping into the common humanity that lies at the heart of Christian doctrine, Wheatley poses a gentle but powerful challenge to racism in America. THEMES Therein, she implores him to right America's wrongs and be a just administrator. "On Being Brought from Africa to America" (1773) has been read as Phillis Wheatley's repudiation of her African heritage of paganism, but not necessarily of her African identity as a member of the black race (e.g., Isani 65). Had the speaker stayed in Africa, she would have never encountered Christianity. From the start, critics have had difficulty disentangling the racial and literary issues. We respond to all comments too, giving you the answers you need. "On Being Brought from Africa to America" is written in iambic pentameter, which means that each line contains ten syllables, with every other syllable being stressed. Some view our sable race with scornful eye. There is no mention of forgiveness or of wrongdoing. This view sees the slave girl as completely brainwashed by the colonial captors and made to confess her inferiority in order to be accepted. For Wheatley's management of the concept of refinement is doubly nuanced in her poem. 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. If the "angelic train" of her song actually enacts or performs her argumentthat an African-American can be trained (taught to understand) the refinements of religion and artit carries a still more subtle suggestion of self-authorization. In thusly alluding to Isaiah, Wheatley initially seems to defer to scriptural authority, then transforms this legitimation into a form of artistic self-empowerment, and finally appropriates this biblical authority through an interpreting ministerial voice. 233, 237. Redemption and Salvation: The speaker states that had she not been taken from her homeland and brought to America, she would never have known that there was a God and that she needed saving. But the women are on the march. Encyclopedia.com. By writing the poem in couplets, Wheatley helps the reader assimilate one idea at a time. Slave, poet Baker offers readings of such authors as Zora Neale Hurston, Toni Morrison, and Ntozake Shange as examples of his theoretical framework, explaining that African American women's literature is concerned with a search for spiritual identity. She grew increasingly critical of slavery and wrote several letters in opposition to it. of the - ccel.org 'Twas mercy brought me from my Soon as the sun forsook the eastern main. Importantly, she mentions that the act of understanding God and Savior comes from the soul. 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. Her published book, Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral (1773), might have propelled her to greater prominence, but the Revolutionary War interrupted her momentum, and Wheatley, set free by her master, suddenly had to support herself. , "On Being Brought from Africa to America," in The Norton Anthology of American Literature, Vol. It was written by a black woman who was enslaved. Thus, in order to participate fully in the meaning of the poem, the audience must reject the false authority of the "some," an authority now associated with racism and hypocrisy, and accept instead the authority that the speaker represents, an authority based on the tenets of Christianity. Create your account. 43, No. Wheatley was bought as a starving child and transformed into a prodigy in a few short years of training. Her poems thus typically move dramatically in the same direction, from an extreme point of sadness (here, the darkness of the lost soul and the outcast, Cain) to the certainty of the saved joining the angelic host (regardless of the color of their skin). Today: African Americans are educated and hold political office, even becoming serious contenders for the office of president of the United States. Carole A. LitCharts Teacher Editions. As Wheatley pertinently wrote in "On Imagination" (1773), which similarly mingles religious and aesthetic refinements, she aimed to embody "blooming graces" in the "triumph of [her] song" (Mason 78). Wheatley's mistress encouraged her writing and helped her publish her first pieces in newspapers and pamphlets. Into this arena Phillis Wheatley appeared with her proposal to publish her book of poems, at the encouragement of her mistress, Susanna Wheatley. Wheatley's first name, Phillis, comes from the name of the ship that brought her to America. "On Being Brought from Africa to America Like them (the line seems to suggest), "Once I redemption neither sought nor knew" (4; my emphasis). Carretta and Gould note the problems of being a literate black in the eighteenth century, having more than one culture or language. It seems most likely that Wheatley refers to the sinful quality of any person who has not seen the light of God. From the zephyr's wing, Exhales the incense of the blooming spring. On the other hand, by bringing up Cain, she confronts the popular European idea that the black race sprang from Cain, who murdered his brother Abel and was punished by having a mark put on him as an outcast. Educated and enslaved in the household of prominent Boston commercialist John Wheatley, lionized in New England and England, with presses in both places publishing her poems,. The image of night is used here primarily in a Christian sense to convey ignorance or sin, but it might also suggest skin color, as some readers feel. She belonged to a revolutionary family and their circle, and although she had English friends, when the Revolution began, she was on the side of the colonists, reflecting, of course, on the hope of future liberty for her fellow slaves as well. On Being Brought from Africa to America - Poetry Foundation 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. Barbara Evans. 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. Line 7 is one of the difficult lines in the poem. 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. The liberty she takes here exceeds her additions to the biblical narrative paraphrased in her verse "Isaiah LXIII. Poem Analysis, https://poemanalysis.com/phillis-wheatley/on-being-brought-from-africa-to-america/. Many of her elegies meditate on the soul in heaven, as she does briefly here in line 8. 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." Line 5 does represent a shift in the mood/tone of the poem. This article seeks to analyze two works of black poetry, On Being Brought from Africa to America by Phillis Wheatley and I, too, Sing . Nor does Wheatley construct this group as specifically white, so that once again she resists antagonizing her white readers. William Robinson provides the diverse early. 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. 36, No. This is all due to the fact that she was able to learn about God and Christianity. 120 seconds. She wrote and published verses to George Washington, the general of the Revolutionary army, saying that he was sure to win with virtue on his side. In "On Being Brought from Africa to America," Wheatley identifies herself first and foremost as a Christian, rather than as African or American, and asserts everyone's equality in God's sight. Therefore, its best to use Encyclopedia.com citations as a starting point before checking the style against your school or publications requirements and the most-recent information available at these sites: http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html. The difficulties she may have encountered in America are nothing to her, compared to possibly having remained unsaved. The brief poem Harlem introduces themes that run throughout Langston Hughess volume Montage of a Dream Deferred and throughout his, Langston Hughes 19021967 It is also pointed out that Wheatley perhaps did not complain of slavery because she was a pampered house servant. 235 lessons. The pealing thunder shook the heav'nly plain; Majestic grandeur! Such couplets were usually closed and full sentences, with parallel structure for both halves. 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). On Being Brought from Africa to America by Phillis Wheatley is a short, eight-line poem that is structured with a rhyme scheme of AABBCCDD. 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. 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. This could be a reference to anything, including but not limited to an idea, theme, concept, or even another work of literature. How is it that she was saved? "On Being Brought From Africa to America" by Phillis Wheatley. Stock illustration from Getty Images. 3, 1974, pp. According to Merriam-Webster, benighted has two definitions. 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.