The Poetry Of Phyllis Wheatley: “Through thickest gloom look back, immortal shade, On that confusion which thy death has made.”

By Phyllis Wheatley

Phillis Wheatley was the first published African American poet. Her writings have helped African American to be more universally recognised. Born in Gambia, West Africa she was made a slave at age seven. She was purchased by the Wheatley family of Boston, who taught her to read and write, and helped encourage her poetry.  Her 1773 publication of Wheatley's “Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral” brought her fame, with figures such as George Washington praising her work. After its release she was emancipated by her owners but chose to stay with them until the death of her former master and the breakup of his family. She appeared before General George Washington at a poetry reading in March, 1776. She was a strong supporter of American independence, reflected in both the poems and plays she wrote during the Revolutionary War. She married a free black grocer, John Peters, their two children died as infants. In 1784 whilst again pregnant he abandoned her. Thereafter she struggled to support herself but finished a second volume of poetry but interest in it was not to be found then.  Phillis Wheatley died from complications of childbirth at the age of 31. Her newborn infant died several hours later. By then she was living in poverty.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Copyright Group
• Release date: Dec 10, 2013
• ISBN: 9781783946396

Book preview

The Poetry Of Phillis Wheatley

Phillis Wheatley was the first published African American poet.  Her writings have helped African American to be more universally recognised. 

Born in Gambia, West Africa she was made a slave at age seven. She was Purchased by the Wheatley family of Boston, who taught her to read and write, and helped encourage her poetry. 

Her 1773 publication of Wheatley's Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral brought her fame, with figures such as George Washington praising her work. After its release she was emancipated by her owners but chose to stay with them until the death of her former master and the breakup of his family. 

She appeared before General George Washington at a poetry reading in March, 1776. She was a strong supporter of American independence, reflected in both the poems and plays she wrote during the Revolutionary War. 

She married a free black grocer, John Peters, their two children died as infants.  In 1784 whilst again pregnant he abandoned her. Thereafter she struggled to support herself but finished a second volume of poetry but interest in it was not to be found then. 

Phillis Wheatley died from complications of childbirth at the age of 31. Her newborn infant died several hours later. By then she was living in poverty. 

Interestingly and as a further reminder of the hardships of those colonial times, many white Americans of the time found it hard to believe that an African woman could write poetry.  Wheatley had to defend her literary ability in court in 1772. She was examined by a group of Boston luminaries, including John Erving, Reverend Charles Chauncey, John Hancock, Thomas Hutchinson, the governor of Massachusetts, and his lieutenant governor Andrew Oliver. They concluded she had written the poems ascribed to her and signed an attestation which was published in the preface to her book Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral published in Aldgate, London in 1773. As a further hurdle the book was published in London because publishers in Boston had refused to publish the text.

Index Of Poems

An Hymn To The Morning

His Excellency General Washington

An Hymn To The Evening

An Hymn to Humanity

On Being Brought from Africa to America

On Imagination

Thoughts On The Works Of Providence

To Maecenas

To S. M. A Young African Painter, On Seeing His Works

To the Rt. Hon. William, Earl of Dartmouth

To The King's Most Excellent Majesty 1768

Isaiah LXIII

To The Right Honourable William, Earl Of Dartmouth, His Majesty's Principal Secretary Of The State For North-America,

Niobe In Distress For Her Children Slain By Apollo, From Ovid's Metamorphoses, Book VI. And From A View Of The Painting Of Mr. Richard Wilson

On Recollection

To the University of Cambridge

Ode To Neptune

On the Death of J.C. an Infant

To A Gentleman And Lady On The Death Of The Lady's Brother And Sister, And A Child Of The Name Of Avis, Aged One Year

On The Death Of A Young Lady Of Five Years Of Age

On The Death Of A Young Gentleman

To A Clergyman On The Death Of His Lady

On The Death Of Rev. Mr. George Whitefield

On the Death of the Rev. Dr. Sewell, 1769

On The Death Of Dr. Samuel Marshall

A Farewel To America to Mrs. S. W.

A Funeral Poem On The Death Of C. E. An Infant Of Twelve Months

To A Gentleman On His Voyage To Great-Britain For The Recovery Of His Health

To a Lady and Her Children

A Rebus

An Answer To The Rebus, By The Author Of These Poems

To A Lady On Her Coming To North-America With Her Son, For The Recovery Of Her Health

Goliath Of Gath

To A Lady On The Death Of Her Husband

To a Lady on the Death of Three Relations

To His Honour The Lieutenant-Governor, On The Death Of His Lady March 24, 1773

On Virtue

To A Lady On Her Remarkable Preservation In A Hurricane In North-Carolina

To The Rev. Dr. Thomas Amory, On Reading His Sermons On Daily Devotion, In Which that Duty Is Recommended And Assisted

An Hymn To The Morning

Attend my lays, ye ever honour'd nine,

Assist my labours, and my strains refine;

In smoothest numbers pour the notes along,

For bright Aurora now demands my song.

Aurora hail, and all