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The Poems of Phillis Wheatley: With Letters and a Memoir
Born in Africa in 1753, Phillis Wheatley was kidnapped at the age of seven and sold into slavery. At nineteen, she became the first black American poet to publish a book, Poems on Various Religious and Moral, on which this volume is based. Wheatley's poetry created a sensation throughout the English-speaking world, and the young poet read her work in aristocratic drawing rooms on both sides of the Atlantic. The London Chronicle went so far as to declare her "perhaps one of the greatest instances of pure, unassisted genius that the world ever produced." Wheatley's elegies and odes offer fascinating glimpses into the origins of African-American literary traditions. Most of the poems express the effects of her religious and classical New England education, consisting of elegies for the departed and odes to Christian salvation. This edition of Wheatley's historic works includes letters and a biographical note written by one of the poet's descendants. Includes a selection from the Common Core State Standards "On Being Brought from Africa to America."
96 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 14, 2010
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About the author
Phillis Wheatley
59 books112 followersPhillis Wheatley (1753 – December 5, 1784?) was the first professional African American poet and the first African-American woman whose writings were published. Born in Gambia, Senegal, she was enslaved at age eight. She was purchased by the Wheatley family of Boston, who taught her to read and write, and helped encourage her poetry.
Born about 1753 in West Africa, she was kidnapped in 1763 and taken to America on a slave ship called The Phillis (this is where she got her name). She was purchased in Boston by John Wheatley. Wheatley and his wife Mary instructed the young girl and encouraged her education including study of Latin and history. Mrs.Wheatley arranged for Phillis to work around the house and allowed Mary Wheatley to tutor Phillis. Mary Wheatley taught Phillis science, geography, and history. Phillis was also taught English and studied the American Bible extensively. Within 2 ½ years of joining the Wheatley family, Phillis was fully literate. At the age of 12 she was reading the Greek and Latin classics, and passages from the Bible. This amazed the Wheatleys. Phillis was encouraged to continue to learn and was allowed to express herself, so much so she was also provided pen and paper on her nightstand in case she was inspired to write during the night.
In 1773, Phillis Wheatley was sent to London with Nathaniel Wheatley. However Wheatley’s visit did not go unnoticed. She held an audience with the Lord Mayor of London, she was also scheduled to have a session where she recited a poem to George III was arranged, but Phillis returned home before expected. A collection of her poetry was also published in London during this visit. Wheatley was free of slavery, but not given the full rights of a free woman. On October 18, 1773 she was given this "freedom" as a result of her popularity and influence as a poet.
In 1775, she published a poem celebrating George Washington entitled, “To his Excellency General Washington.” In 1776, Washington invited Wheatley to his home as thanks for the poem. Wheatley was a supporter of the American Revolution, but the war hurt the publication of her poetry because readers were swept up in the war and seemingly uninterested in poetry.
In 1778, Phillis was legally freed when her master John Wheatley died. Three months later, Phillis married John Peters, a free black grocer. Wheatley was unable to publish another volume of her poetry. Wheatley’s husband, John Peters, was imprisoned for debt in 1784, leaving an impoverished Wheatley behind with a sickly infant daughter, Eliza. Wheatley became a scullery maid at a boarding house, forced into domestic labor that she had avoided earlier in life while enslaved. Wheatley died alone on December 5, 1784, at age 31.
Phillis Wheatley, like most authors, wrote about what she knew or experienced. She believed that the power of poetry is immeasurable.
Born about 1753 in West Africa, she was kidnapped in 1763 and taken to America on a slave ship called The Phillis (this is where she got her name). She was purchased in Boston by John Wheatley. Wheatley and his wife Mary instructed the young girl and encouraged her education including study of Latin and history. Mrs.Wheatley arranged for Phillis to work around the house and allowed Mary Wheatley to tutor Phillis. Mary Wheatley taught Phillis science, geography, and history. Phillis was also taught English and studied the American Bible extensively. Within 2 ½ years of joining the Wheatley family, Phillis was fully literate. At the age of 12 she was reading the Greek and Latin classics, and passages from the Bible. This amazed the Wheatleys. Phillis was encouraged to continue to learn and was allowed to express herself, so much so she was also provided pen and paper on her nightstand in case she was inspired to write during the night.
In 1773, Phillis Wheatley was sent to London with Nathaniel Wheatley. However Wheatley’s visit did not go unnoticed. She held an audience with the Lord Mayor of London, she was also scheduled to have a session where she recited a poem to George III was arranged, but Phillis returned home before expected. A collection of her poetry was also published in London during this visit. Wheatley was free of slavery, but not given the full rights of a free woman. On October 18, 1773 she was given this "freedom" as a result of her popularity and influence as a poet.
In 1775, she published a poem celebrating George Washington entitled, “To his Excellency General Washington.” In 1776, Washington invited Wheatley to his home as thanks for the poem. Wheatley was a supporter of the American Revolution, but the war hurt the publication of her poetry because readers were swept up in the war and seemingly uninterested in poetry.
In 1778, Phillis was legally freed when her master John Wheatley died. Three months later, Phillis married John Peters, a free black grocer. Wheatley was unable to publish another volume of her poetry. Wheatley’s husband, John Peters, was imprisoned for debt in 1784, leaving an impoverished Wheatley behind with a sickly infant daughter, Eliza. Wheatley became a scullery maid at a boarding house, forced into domestic labor that she had avoided earlier in life while enslaved. Wheatley died alone on December 5, 1784, at age 31.
Phillis Wheatley, like most authors, wrote about what she knew or experienced. She believed that the power of poetry is immeasurable.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
December 30, 2020
If you read this and get tired of all the “To x on the Death of y” poems make sure you don’t miss the memoir at the back. It was mentioned that she never refused to try and compose a poem when someone asked her and that was why there were so many regarding the death of people.
The memoir also really made me think about what it takes for a “creative life” in different people. It seems to often be born out of adversity, but then there are some adversities that just seem to beat down and degrade the soil beyond the point of creativity....
The memoir also really made me think about what it takes for a “creative life” in different people. It seems to often be born out of adversity, but then there are some adversities that just seem to beat down and degrade the soil beyond the point of creativity....
November 18, 2021
The story behind this collection of poems is heart breaking, not only because Phillis Wheatley was ripped from her homeland and sold into slavery, but because it can only be imagined what she might have achieved had she not ended up married to the man she married, lost three children, and died young, in poverty. She burned fast and bright.
This collection was originally published fifty years after her death in 1834. One of the things that strikes you immediately upon reading is the Attestation at the front signed by sixteen important men (one of whom was the son of Cotton Mather), stating that the poems were written by Phillis. Many people believe a “young Negro girl” (p.xi), was incapable of writing them. Just to make doubly sure of their authenticity, a copy of a letter from George Washington dated Feb 28, 1776, is included in the publication where he send his thanks to her for writing a poem for him.
By all accounts, Phillis Wheatley had a voracious thirst for knowledge. This is clear in many of her poems. They are very much based on the English Augustan poetic style. I can imagine her being inspired or influenced by Milton, Pope, Dryden, for example. You can tell the poems are written by someone who was either self-taught or unpolished. There is a fair bit of repetition and reliance on certain words and rhymes. Her later poems show growth in her style and confidence.
At the end of the collection is a Memoir penned by Margaretta Matilda Odell, who was a descendant of the Wheatley family. She is quick to credit her ancestor with saving Phillis and making her what she was. The memoir also stresses how grateful Phillis was to have had the opportunity to learn and write, and her poetry illustrates how thankful she was to the Wheatleys for saving her from a heathen existence and bringing her into the love of God and righteous Christian glory – or some such thing.
Yeah - Margaretta Matilda Odell clearly did not read Phillis Wheatley’s poetry in any great depth. I am sure Phillis was glad to have a roof over her head and food in her stomach while she was with the Wheatley’s, but she was still a slave, someone’s property. Odell believes Phillis was grateful for this. However, if you read her poems without preconception, there are themes of equality - being a ‘human’ or part of the race of ‘Man’, freedom, escape from bondage – even at the hand of death, and it isn’t even disguised. She knows full well she is owned and at the mercy of a white family’s whims no matter how silken her fetters might be. She is required to perform, to write for others, a curio for the wealthy, paraded - an example that ‘the Negro’ can be educated under a steady white hand. That is oppressive. The Wheatley’s were not ‘benefactors’, though they would have been seen that way in the 1770s.
Phillis writes:
Ye blooming plants of human race divine, p4
-
A monarch’s smile can set his subject free. p5
-
Come, let all with the same vigor rise. p6
-
Freed from a world of sin, and snares, and pain,
Why would you wish your daughter back again? p9
-
…millions die the vasal of thy sway: p11
-
Closed are his eyes, and heavy fetters keep
His senses bound… p11
-
For he who wins, in triumph may demand
Perpetual service from the vanquished land: p13
-
Goliath’s sword then laid its master dead,
And from the body hewed the ghastly head; p17
(I think the visceral elements of this are particularly telling regarding how Phillis thought).
-
Arise my soul; on wings enraptured, rise, p19
-
As clear as in the noble frame of man,
All lovely copies of the Maker’s plan. p21
-
From bondage freed, the exulting spirit flies p23
-
Silken fetters… p30
-
The frozen deeps may burst their iron bands, p30
-
…silken pinions… p31
-
No longer shall thou dread the iron chain
Which wanton tyranny, with lawless hand,
Has made, and with it meant t’enslave the land. p34
And on and on it goes. A reader would have to be blind not to see it, but I suppose a bunch of well-off white people in 1770s Boston were.
Overall, I enjoyed these poems. If I could travel back in time, Phillis is certainly someone I’d like to sit down and have a long conversation with. Highly recommend.
This collection was originally published fifty years after her death in 1834. One of the things that strikes you immediately upon reading is the Attestation at the front signed by sixteen important men (one of whom was the son of Cotton Mather), stating that the poems were written by Phillis. Many people believe a “young Negro girl” (p.xi), was incapable of writing them. Just to make doubly sure of their authenticity, a copy of a letter from George Washington dated Feb 28, 1776, is included in the publication where he send his thanks to her for writing a poem for him.
By all accounts, Phillis Wheatley had a voracious thirst for knowledge. This is clear in many of her poems. They are very much based on the English Augustan poetic style. I can imagine her being inspired or influenced by Milton, Pope, Dryden, for example. You can tell the poems are written by someone who was either self-taught or unpolished. There is a fair bit of repetition and reliance on certain words and rhymes. Her later poems show growth in her style and confidence.
At the end of the collection is a Memoir penned by Margaretta Matilda Odell, who was a descendant of the Wheatley family. She is quick to credit her ancestor with saving Phillis and making her what she was. The memoir also stresses how grateful Phillis was to have had the opportunity to learn and write, and her poetry illustrates how thankful she was to the Wheatleys for saving her from a heathen existence and bringing her into the love of God and righteous Christian glory – or some such thing.
Yeah - Margaretta Matilda Odell clearly did not read Phillis Wheatley’s poetry in any great depth. I am sure Phillis was glad to have a roof over her head and food in her stomach while she was with the Wheatley’s, but she was still a slave, someone’s property. Odell believes Phillis was grateful for this. However, if you read her poems without preconception, there are themes of equality - being a ‘human’ or part of the race of ‘Man’, freedom, escape from bondage – even at the hand of death, and it isn’t even disguised. She knows full well she is owned and at the mercy of a white family’s whims no matter how silken her fetters might be. She is required to perform, to write for others, a curio for the wealthy, paraded - an example that ‘the Negro’ can be educated under a steady white hand. That is oppressive. The Wheatley’s were not ‘benefactors’, though they would have been seen that way in the 1770s.
Phillis writes:
Ye blooming plants of human race divine, p4
-
A monarch’s smile can set his subject free. p5
-
Come, let all with the same vigor rise. p6
-
Freed from a world of sin, and snares, and pain,
Why would you wish your daughter back again? p9
-
…millions die the vasal of thy sway: p11
-
Closed are his eyes, and heavy fetters keep
His senses bound… p11
-
For he who wins, in triumph may demand
Perpetual service from the vanquished land: p13
-
Goliath’s sword then laid its master dead,
And from the body hewed the ghastly head; p17
(I think the visceral elements of this are particularly telling regarding how Phillis thought).
-
Arise my soul; on wings enraptured, rise, p19
-
As clear as in the noble frame of man,
All lovely copies of the Maker’s plan. p21
-
From bondage freed, the exulting spirit flies p23
-
Silken fetters… p30
-
The frozen deeps may burst their iron bands, p30
-
…silken pinions… p31
-
No longer shall thou dread the iron chain
Which wanton tyranny, with lawless hand,
Has made, and with it meant t’enslave the land. p34
And on and on it goes. A reader would have to be blind not to see it, but I suppose a bunch of well-off white people in 1770s Boston were.
Overall, I enjoyed these poems. If I could travel back in time, Phillis is certainly someone I’d like to sit down and have a long conversation with. Highly recommend.
September 30, 2020
Phyllis Wheatley gets five stars. The publisher gets zero.
The poetry in this book is beautiful, lyrical, incredible. It held my attention so much more deeply than any other poetry of the period. So many bits I highlighted and tattooed on my heart. The letters at the beginning also provided interesting historical context.
It would be 5 stars for Phyllis Wheatley’s sheer talent.
BUT.
That “memoir” at the end is not a memoir, but a biography written by her oppressors. It is offensive that the publisher would even include the words of two white relative of her former masters, much less allow them to tell the story of Phyllis’s life. There was so much in that “memoir” that was just... wrong. They said she was blessed by a bad memory that kept her from remembering Africa, even though she had a demonstrably incredible memory in life. Likely, Phyllis remembered Africa, having been seven when she left and having the separation from her mother be fairly traumatic. My guess is SHE JUST DIDN’T WANT TO DISCUSS HER TRAUMA WITH HER OPPRESSORS. They owned her body, yes, but she wouldn’t give them freely if the secret parts of her soul.
Even if I’m wrong in that, to have white relatives of the people who ENSLAVED her write the story of her life and then to call it a “memoir” to imply that it’s the same as if she herself has written it is gross. Zero stars to the publishers who thought that was a good idea.
The poetry in this book is beautiful, lyrical, incredible. It held my attention so much more deeply than any other poetry of the period. So many bits I highlighted and tattooed on my heart. The letters at the beginning also provided interesting historical context.
It would be 5 stars for Phyllis Wheatley’s sheer talent.
BUT.
That “memoir” at the end is not a memoir, but a biography written by her oppressors. It is offensive that the publisher would even include the words of two white relative of her former masters, much less allow them to tell the story of Phyllis’s life. There was so much in that “memoir” that was just... wrong. They said she was blessed by a bad memory that kept her from remembering Africa, even though she had a demonstrably incredible memory in life. Likely, Phyllis remembered Africa, having been seven when she left and having the separation from her mother be fairly traumatic. My guess is SHE JUST DIDN’T WANT TO DISCUSS HER TRAUMA WITH HER OPPRESSORS. They owned her body, yes, but she wouldn’t give them freely if the secret parts of her soul.
Even if I’m wrong in that, to have white relatives of the people who ENSLAVED her write the story of her life and then to call it a “memoir” to imply that it’s the same as if she herself has written it is gross. Zero stars to the publishers who thought that was a good idea.
February 17, 2024
Regarding her poems: Incredible writing from the first Black poet to publish a book. As other reviewers have mentioned, I would give her poetry 5 stars, even though some of the topics aren’t my taste. Her words are intentional, moving, and emotional. She was incredibly gifted.
However, I found the “memoir” at the end to be cringey and distasteful. It’s not a memoir, and was not written by Phillis, but was written by a descendant of Phillis’s oppressors, Margaretta Matilda Odell, who claims to have “been familiar with the name and fame of Phillis from her childhood.” Seems like Odell tried her best to put a “white savior” spin on what happened, portraying the family to have taken Phillis in, that they did her a favor and gave her all sorts of opportunities: “…had Phillis fallen into less generous and affectionate hands, she would speedily have perished under the privations and exertions of common servitude.” Mr. John Wheatley is described as a “respectable citizen of Boston, a gentleman.” …oh yeah, and an enslaver. That fact is slipped in as if it doesn’t matter. She was taken from her homeland and bought by this white family when she was 7. This family enslaved Phillis. They shouldn’t get to tell her story from their privileged and oppressive stance.
However, I found the “memoir” at the end to be cringey and distasteful. It’s not a memoir, and was not written by Phillis, but was written by a descendant of Phillis’s oppressors, Margaretta Matilda Odell, who claims to have “been familiar with the name and fame of Phillis from her childhood.” Seems like Odell tried her best to put a “white savior” spin on what happened, portraying the family to have taken Phillis in, that they did her a favor and gave her all sorts of opportunities: “…had Phillis fallen into less generous and affectionate hands, she would speedily have perished under the privations and exertions of common servitude.” Mr. John Wheatley is described as a “respectable citizen of Boston, a gentleman.” …oh yeah, and an enslaver. That fact is slipped in as if it doesn’t matter. She was taken from her homeland and bought by this white family when she was 7. This family enslaved Phillis. They shouldn’t get to tell her story from their privileged and oppressive stance.
July 27, 2022
The first book ever published by an African American. Wheatley’s technically brilliant, but considering the appalling state of 18th Century English poetry, is ham-strung by her models. The book’s more interesting as a historical document than as poetry. The 1834 edition (and its reprints) has a very useful memoir of her.
Briefly, she was stolen in Africa and exported to New England where she was bought by the Wheatleys. When they realised she was clever, Mrs Wheatley had her educated and kept as a sort of pet. She appears to have used Wheatley’s poetic ability for social clout, taking her round to people’s parties and having her perform her tricks. The son appears to have used her in a similar way, taking her to England with him when he was looking for a wife.
Reading around a bit online I found the suggestion that because she was kept segregated from the other slaves she may not have understood the true nature of the situation she was in. I’m not convinced by this theory. I think the poetry reveals a very clever young lady who knew her audience very well and knew how to tell them what they wanted to hear. See for example the opening line of ‘On Being Brought From Africa to America’: “’T was mercy brought me from my pagan land”. Most of the poems have a religious element to them and she hardly ever tells us anything personal about herself. Though I might point out that one of the longest poems is a retelling of David and Goliath, the triumph of the underdog. Her stock-in-trade is elegies on the recently deceased, presumably written on request. In these she frequently presents herself as some sort of psychopomp. The Europeans must have thought there to be something unnatural about her, and many did not believe her existence to be within the bounds of reality. I think that she tried to use these poems to secure her position in white society as some sort of psychic figure. She didn’t have a good hand, but she played it as well as she could.
She puts me in mind of a real life version of Pamphila from Terence’s play The Eunuch. Of course, this is a tragedy. Despite professing to like her so much, when Mrs Wheatley died she had not taken the opportunity to formally manumit her and had made absolutely no provision for her in her will. What kind of a person buys a trafficked child, uses them like that and then abandons them? Without an owner to take her into white peoples homes she no longer had access to her market. Wheatley died a few years later in squalor and poverty, having seen the death of her children. Have a good day.
Briefly, she was stolen in Africa and exported to New England where she was bought by the Wheatleys. When they realised she was clever, Mrs Wheatley had her educated and kept as a sort of pet. She appears to have used Wheatley’s poetic ability for social clout, taking her round to people’s parties and having her perform her tricks. The son appears to have used her in a similar way, taking her to England with him when he was looking for a wife.
Reading around a bit online I found the suggestion that because she was kept segregated from the other slaves she may not have understood the true nature of the situation she was in. I’m not convinced by this theory. I think the poetry reveals a very clever young lady who knew her audience very well and knew how to tell them what they wanted to hear. See for example the opening line of ‘On Being Brought From Africa to America’: “’T was mercy brought me from my pagan land”. Most of the poems have a religious element to them and she hardly ever tells us anything personal about herself. Though I might point out that one of the longest poems is a retelling of David and Goliath, the triumph of the underdog. Her stock-in-trade is elegies on the recently deceased, presumably written on request. In these she frequently presents herself as some sort of psychopomp. The Europeans must have thought there to be something unnatural about her, and many did not believe her existence to be within the bounds of reality. I think that she tried to use these poems to secure her position in white society as some sort of psychic figure. She didn’t have a good hand, but she played it as well as she could.
She puts me in mind of a real life version of Pamphila from Terence’s play The Eunuch. Of course, this is a tragedy. Despite professing to like her so much, when Mrs Wheatley died she had not taken the opportunity to formally manumit her and had made absolutely no provision for her in her will. What kind of a person buys a trafficked child, uses them like that and then abandons them? Without an owner to take her into white peoples homes she no longer had access to her market. Wheatley died a few years later in squalor and poverty, having seen the death of her children. Have a good day.
April 6, 2023
Genius rising above circumstance. The poems here are from the first poetry book published by a Black American.
The little we know of Phillis’s life (some of which is related in a biography written by the descendants of Phillis’s enslavers) is horribly tragic. She was kidnapped and enslaved at the age of 7, by some miracle she learned to read, write, and compose celebrated poems, she earned her freedom at age 19 after the publishing of her book of poems, she married a free Black man, all of her children passed away as youngsters, and then she died at age 31 in absolute poverty.
In some of Phillis’s poems she alludes to her early life in ways that are hard to read. Since she would be so dependent on her patrons, she writes in the racist dichotomies of a heathen, pagan, unlearned Africa compared to the civilized, Christian, enlightened British colonies. Undoubtedly expected by the white citizens, I hope that Phillis never took such rhetoric to heart. The poem dedicated to the Earl of Dartmouth has lines that are the closest we get to framing slavery as tyranny, as the enemy to freedom.
I think most modern readers will grow bored of the poems on the subject of the recently deceased, but Phillis seems to have been regularly commissioned for such works. Any poet then would have relied on benefactors, and a young, enslaved African girl probably would have to take anything she could get. Most of the language is easily read by a modern audience, but there are some vocabulary more common to the time period as well as the allusions to Greek and Roman myth common then, which I know put off some modern readers. But really, it’s not hard to look up a few things and read some shorter poems, even on topics uninteresting or redundant to the reader.
Personally, I’m giving this a 7/10. I fully appreciate its place in literary and historical canons. I’m not sure if I would ever reread them except for historical purposes.
The little we know of Phillis’s life (some of which is related in a biography written by the descendants of Phillis’s enslavers) is horribly tragic. She was kidnapped and enslaved at the age of 7, by some miracle she learned to read, write, and compose celebrated poems, she earned her freedom at age 19 after the publishing of her book of poems, she married a free Black man, all of her children passed away as youngsters, and then she died at age 31 in absolute poverty.
In some of Phillis’s poems she alludes to her early life in ways that are hard to read. Since she would be so dependent on her patrons, she writes in the racist dichotomies of a heathen, pagan, unlearned Africa compared to the civilized, Christian, enlightened British colonies. Undoubtedly expected by the white citizens, I hope that Phillis never took such rhetoric to heart. The poem dedicated to the Earl of Dartmouth has lines that are the closest we get to framing slavery as tyranny, as the enemy to freedom.
I think most modern readers will grow bored of the poems on the subject of the recently deceased, but Phillis seems to have been regularly commissioned for such works. Any poet then would have relied on benefactors, and a young, enslaved African girl probably would have to take anything she could get. Most of the language is easily read by a modern audience, but there are some vocabulary more common to the time period as well as the allusions to Greek and Roman myth common then, which I know put off some modern readers. But really, it’s not hard to look up a few things and read some shorter poems, even on topics uninteresting or redundant to the reader.
Personally, I’m giving this a 7/10. I fully appreciate its place in literary and historical canons. I’m not sure if I would ever reread them except for historical purposes.
September 8, 2020
I read this in tandem with the book The Trials of Phillis Wheatley: America's First Black Poet and Her Encounters with the Founding Fathers
I think I would have enjoyed these poems more if they were annotated or at least in chronological order. It was difficult to appreciate a few of them without knowing the story behind the people they were about. It was also difficult to follow any sort of creative progression since only a few of the poems were dated. The memoir at the back helped a little bit to understand how the family that bought her felt about her and her poetry. I enjoyed the Gates book about her and her experience a lot more though. Highly recommend that book if you are interested in learning about Phillis Wheatley and her experience.
I think I would have enjoyed these poems more if they were annotated or at least in chronological order. It was difficult to appreciate a few of them without knowing the story behind the people they were about. It was also difficult to follow any sort of creative progression since only a few of the poems were dated. The memoir at the back helped a little bit to understand how the family that bought her felt about her and her poetry. I enjoyed the Gates book about her and her experience a lot more though. Highly recommend that book if you are interested in learning about Phillis Wheatley and her experience.
May 8, 2025
It took me a while to figure out that the “Memoir” at the back of this book was written by Margaretta Matilda Odell, who apparently knew the Wheatley family, Phillis’ enslavers, and that the book was originally published in 1834, 50 years after Phillis’ death. Though the book says it includes letters, there are only two, one from George Washington to Phillis, and one from John Wheatley. All of the poems she published in her 1773 book are included. I found the “Memoir” very interesting, and it included information I hadn’t yet read about Phillis (not clear if it is all true or not). It isn’t a memoir as we would think of that word now, because it isn’t written by Phillis, and because it includes subjective information by its author. Nevertheless, I very much enjoyed this book.
June 26, 2020
Beautiful poetry and a lovely memoir at the end, written by Wheatley’s great-nieces. What a legacy she left them, living a life filled with grand experienced, but also devastating trauma. Coming in a slave ship at 7, she writes poetry about life, death, faith, religion, and America/England/ Africa. Her poetry will be a beautiful addition to AP LIT as the first African-American poet to be published.
“Indulgent Muse! my groveling mind inspire, and fill me bosom with celestial fore.”
“Overwhelming sorrow now demands my song: From death the overwhelming sorrow sprung.”
“Indulgent Muse! my groveling mind inspire, and fill me bosom with celestial fore.”
“Overwhelming sorrow now demands my song: From death the overwhelming sorrow sprung.”
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October 11, 2020I was interested in reading this after PW’s poetic work was referred to in Stamped from the Beginning. This book of poetry which opens with the statement of distinguished men of the time signing their approvals that these were indeed Phillis Wheatley’s poems is a marker of historical significance.
I also enjoyed the memoir attached to the ending. The memoir calls the poems a “production of early and happy days“ - Even though Phillis wrote many funeral poems. Although they are written from a hopeful perspective in my humble optic the collection carries with it an air of sorrow.
I also enjoyed the memoir attached to the ending. The memoir calls the poems a “production of early and happy days“ - Even though Phillis wrote many funeral poems. Although they are written from a hopeful perspective in my humble optic the collection carries with it an air of sorrow.
February 20, 2024
I enjoyed the constructed memoir of Phillis Wheatley's life at the end of the book better than her poetry, which to me were - well, a little boring. She was praised for being "meek" (and sickly I guess), and her authorships were sought by the white aristocracy. I wonder if they didn't embrace her because of her first few lines in the book ... "T was mercy brought me from my pagan land, Taught my benighted soul to understand that there's a God - and there's a Saviour too." I mean, of course they were happy to embrace a soul who defended their expectations and behavior as "mercy".
June 28, 2021
These poems are classic . This is the first published work of a slave. Recommend as a historical read to understand its contents and words
January 6, 2022
The story behind the poet and her poems is sadder and more fascinating than the safe fare she wrote for her audience at the time. The story alone, however, is why I return to this poet.
April 5, 2022
For the time and circumstance this is a remarkable work.
June 2, 2022
Adored it. The lasting quality of the work is impressive. Lots to contemplate here.
September 24, 2024
Highlight was Goliath. That one is going into top ten favorite poems.
June 3, 2015
Wheatley's poems provide insight, but were a bit repetitive. These poems showed how much empathy Wheatley had for others and how she tried to comfort them through their hardships.
June 18, 2022
3.5
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January 30, 2019Elana
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