Clifton, Lucille 1936 Abolitionists like Rush used Wheatley as proof for the argument of black humanity, an issue then debated by philosophers. "Their colour is a diabolic die.". The poem consists of: A single stanza of eight lines, with full rhyme and classic iambic pentameter beat, it basically says that black people can become Christian believers and in this respect are just the same as everyone else. The opening sentiments would have been easily appreciated by Wheatley's contemporary white audience, but the last four lines exhorted them to reflect on their assumptions about the black race. Following the poem (from Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral, 1773), are some observations about its treatment of the theme of . The pair of ten-syllable rhymesthe heroic coupletwas thought to be the closest English equivalent to classical meter. 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. To the University of Cambridge, in New England, Instant downloads of all 1699 LitChart PDFs Shuffelton also surmises why Native American cultural production was prized while black cultural objects were not. Patricia Liggins Hill, et. Publication of Wheatley's poem, "An Elegiac Poem, on the Death of the Celebrated Divine George Whitefield," in 1770 made her a household name. By writing the poem in couplets, Wheatley helps the reader assimilate one idea at a time. Here Wheatley seems to agree with the point of view of her captors that Africa is pagan and ignorant of truth and that she was better off leaving there (though in a poem to the Earl of Dartmouth she laments that she was abducted from her sorrowing parents). She was born in West Africa circa 1753, and thus she was only a few years younger than James Madison. Richard Abcarian (PhD, University of California, Berkeley) is a professor of English emeritus at California State University, Northridge, where he taught for thirty-seven years. the English people have a tremendous hatred for God. Some view our sable race with scornful eye. The difficulties she may have encountered in America are nothing to her, compared to possibly having remained unsaved. The darker races are looked down upon. Some of her poems and letters are lost, but several of the unpublished poems survived and were later found. Metaphor. One of the first things a reader will notice about this poem is the rhyme scheme, which is AABBCCDD. Notably, it was likely that Wheatley, like many slaves, had been sold by her own countrymen. No one is excluded from the Savior's tender mercynot the worst people whites can think ofnot Cain, not blacks. Figurative language is used in literature like poetry, drama, prose and even speeches. In fact, Wheatley's poems and their religious nature were used by abolitionists as proof that Africans were spiritual human beings and should not be treated as cattle. Anne Bradstreet Poems, Biography & Facts | Who is Anne Bradstreet? But another approach is also possible. 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. That this self-validating woman was a black slave makes this confiscation of ministerial role even more singular. Detailed explanations, analysis, and citation info for every important quote on LitCharts. 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. The poem is known as a superb literary piece written about a ship or a frigate. It is about a slave who cannot eat at the so-called "dinner table" because of the color of his skin. Wheatley is saying that her being brought to America is divinely ordained and a blessing because now she knows that there is a savior and she needs to be redeemed. The line leads the reader to reflect that Wheatley was not as naive, or as shielded from prejudice, as some have thought. Line 5 boldly brings out the fact of racial prejudice in America. (read the full definition & explanation with examples). It was dedicated to the Countess of Huntingdon, a known abolitionist, and it made Phillis a sensation all over Europe. 19, No. Specifically, Wheatley deftly manages two biblical allusions in her last line, both to Isaiah. Imperative language shows up in this poem in the last two lines. 2002 Provides readers with strategies for facilitating language learning and literacy learning. 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). 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. Given this challenge, Wheatley managed, Erkkila points out, to "merge" the vocabularies of various strands of her experiencefrom the biblical and Protestant Evangelical to the revolutionary political ideas of the dayconsequently creating "a visionary poetics that imagines the deliverance of her people" in the total change that was happening in the world. She separates herself from the audience of white readers as a black person, calling attention to the difference. Wheatley's verse generally reveals this conscious concern with poetic grace, particularly in terms of certain eighteenth-century models (Davis; Scruggs). She had been enslaved for most of her life at this point, and upon her return to America and close to the deaths of her owners, she was freed from slavery. In effect, both poems serve as litmus tests for true Christianity while purporting to affirm her redemption. Wheatley's first name, Phillis, comes from the name of the ship that brought her to America. 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. There are many themes explored in this poem. Jefferson, a Founding Father and thinker of the new Republic, felt that blacks were too inferior to be citizens. It is important to pay attention to the rhyming end words, as often this can elucidate the meaning of the poem. To a Christian, it would seem that the hand of divine Providence led to her deliverance; God lifted her forcibly and dramatically out of that ignorance. Wheatley continued to write throughout her life and there was some effort to publish a second book, which ultimately failed. To the extent that the audience responds affirmatively to the statements and situations Wheatley has set forth in the poem, that is the extent to which they are authorized to use the classification "Christian." She describes Africa as a "Pagan land." Retrieved February 23, 2023 from Encyclopedia.com: https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/educational-magazines/being-brought-africa-america. 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. Poem Solutions Limited International House, 24 Holborn Viaduct,London, EC1A 2BN, United Kingdom, Discover and learn about the greatest poetry ever straight to your inbox, Discover and learn about the greatest poetry, straight to your inbox. Wheatley was a member of the Old South Congregational Church of Boston. Taking Offense Religion, Art, and Visual Culture in Plural Configurations 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. al. Shockley, Ann Allen, Afro-American Women Writers, 1746-1933: An Anthology and Critical Guide, G. K. Hall, 1988. She does not, however, stipulate exactly whose act of mercy it was that saved her, God's or man's. Wheatley proudly offers herself as proof of that miracle. . Q. Over a third of her poems in the 1773 volume were elegies, or consolations for the death of a loved one. Wheatleys most prominent themes in this piece are religion, freedom, and equality. The speaker's declared salvation and the righteous anger that seems barely contained in her "reprimand" in the penultimate line are reminiscent of the rhetoric of revivalist preachers. If Wheatley's image of "angelic train" participates in the heritage of such poetic discourse, then it also suggests her integration of aesthetic authority and biblical authority at this final moment of her poem. A great example of figurative language is a metaphor. "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. During her time with the Wheatley family, Phillis showed a keen talent for learning and was soon proficient in English. John Hancock, one of Wheatley's examiners in her trial of literacy and one of the founders of the United States, was also a slaveholder, as were Washington and Jefferson. This is a metaphor. 372-73. Detailed quotes explanations with page numbers for every important quote on the site. This voice is an important feature of her poem. On Being Brought from Africa to America In fact, the whole thrust of the poem is to prove the paradox that in being enslaved, she was set free in a spiritual sense. Figurative language is used in this poem. Suddenly, the audience is given an opportunity to view racism from a new perspective, and to either accept or reject this new ideological position. 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). Therefore, be sure to refer to those guidelines when editing your bibliography or works cited list. The reversal of inside and outside, black and white has further significance because the unredeemed have also become the enslaved, although they are slaves to sin rather than to an earthly master. 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). Born c. 1753 She ends the poem by saying that all people, regardless of race, are able to be saved and make it to Heaven. Wheatley may also be using the rhetorical device of bringing up the opponent's worst criticism in order to defuse it. Even before the Revolution, black slaves in Massachusetts were making legal petitions for their freedom on the basis of their natural rights. Recently, critics like James Levernier have tried to provide a more balanced view of Wheatley's achievement by studying her style within its historical context. Line 5 does represent a shift in the mood/tone of the poem. She addresses Christians, which in her day would have included most important people in America, in government, education, and the clergy. both answers. 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. 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. English is the single most important language in the world, being the official or de facto . This means that each line, with only a couple of questionable examples, is made up of five sets of two beats. She was thus part of the emerging dialogue of the new republic, and her poems to leading public figures in neoclassical couplets, the English version of the heroic meters of the ancient Greek poet Homer, were hailed as masterpieces. Wheatley explains her humble origins in "On Being Brought from Africa to America" and then promptly turns around to exhort her audience to accept African equality in the realm of spiritual matters, and by implication, in intellectual matters (the poem being in the form of neoclassical couplets). Just as she included a typical racial sneer, she includes the myth of blacks springing from Cain. He deserted Phillis after their third child was born. Crowds came to hear him speak, crowds erotically charged, the masses he once called his only bride. 172-93. "On Being Brought from Africa to America" is really about the irony of Christian people who treat Black people as inferior. For the unenlightened reader, the poems may well seem to be hackneyed and pedestrian pleas for acceptance; for the true Christian, they become a validation of one's status as a member of the elect, regardless of race . "On Being Brought from Africa to America" finally changes from a meditation to a sermon when Wheatley addresses an audience in her exhortation in the last two lines. That theres a God, that theres a Saviour too: Once I redemption neither sought nor knew. to America") was published by Archibald Bell of London. Barbara Evans. Do you think that the judgment in the 1970s by black educators that Wheatley does not teach values that are good for African American students has merit today? 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. At this point, the poem displaces its biblical legitimation by drawing attention to its own achievement, as inherent testimony to its argument. The first time Wheatley uses this is in line 1 where the speaker describes her "land," or Africa, as "pagan" or ungodly. However, they're all part of the 313 words newly added to Dictionary . All other trademarks and copyrights are the property of their respective owners. In this poem, Wheatley posits that all people, from all races, can be saved by Christianity. Read about the poet, see her poem's summary and analysis, and study its meaning and themes. Her religion has changed her life entirely and, clearly, she believes the same can happen for anyone else. She was about twenty years old, black, and a woman. Create your account. In 1773, Poems of Various Subjects, Religious and Moral appeared. Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography. As Christian people, they are supposed to be "refin'd," or to behave in a blessed and educated manner. Wheatley continues her stratagem by reminding the audience of more universal truths than those uttered by the "some." 422. Soon as the sun forsook the eastern main. "Mercy" is defined as "a blessing that is an act of divine favor or compassion" and indicates that it was ordained by God that she was taken from Africa. In the shadow of the Harem Turkey has opened a school for girls. Washington was pleased and replied to her. The Wheatleys had to flee Boston when the British occupied the city. The justification was given that the participants in a republican government must possess the faculty of reason, and it was widely believed that Africans were not fully human or in possession of adequate reason. How do her concerns differ or converge with other black authors? Explore "On Being Brought from Africa to America" by Phillis Wheatley. Through all the heav'ns what beauteous dies are . The poet glorifies the warship in this poem that battled the war of 1812. Source: William J. Scheick, "Phillis Wheatley's Appropriation of Isaiah," in Early American Literature, Vol. Form two groups and hold a debate on the topic. More on Wheatley's work from PBS, including illustrations of her poems and a portraitof the poet herself. lessons in math, English, science, history, and more. "On Being Brought from Africa to America" is a poem by Phillis Wheatley, who has the distinction of being the first African American person to publish a book of poetry. ." Plus, get practice tests, quizzes, and personalized coaching to help you They signed their names to a document, and on that basis Wheatley was able to publish in London, though not in Boston. To the University of Cambridge, in New England. 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. As did "To the University of Cambridge," this poem begins with the sentiment that the speaker's removal from Africa was an act of "mercy," but in this context it becomes Wheatley's version of the "fortunate fall"; the speaker's removal to the colonies, despite the circumstances, is perceived as a blessing. This word functions not only as a biblical allusion, but also as an echo of the opening two lines of the poem: "'Twas mercy brought me from my Pagan land, / Taught my benighted soul to understand." Gates documents the history of the critique of her poetry, noting that African Americans in the nineteenth century, following the trends of Frederick Douglass and the numerous slave narratives, created a different trajectory for black literature, separate from the white tradition that Wheatley emulated; even before the twentieth century, then, she was being scorned by other black writers for not mirroring black experience in her poems. 1753-1784. She did not seek redemption and did not even know that she needed it. Stock illustration from Getty Images. 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 is guiding her readers to ask: How could good Christian people treat other human beings in such a horrific way?