Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral

By Phillis Wheatley

Born in West Africa in approximately 1753, Wheatley was sold into slavery as a child and transported to the American colonies in 1761. She was bought by a wealthy Boston merchant named John Wheatley to serve as a servant to his family. They gave the young girl the name Phillis, after the ship that had transported her to America. The Wheatley family soon recognized her amazing intellect and talent and started giving her an education very unusual for a slave at that time. Wheatley was taught Greek, Latin, classic literature, and the Bible and began writing poetry at age 14. In 1773, when she was 20 years-old, Wheatley traveled to London with her owner’s son and it was there that she published her first collection of poems, “Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral”. Her work was an instant success and the Wheatley family subsequently freed her from slavery. Wheatley’s work reflects her African heritage, religious faith, and her classical education. Her elegant and contemplative odes and elegies are some of the most beautiful poems in early American literature.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Digireads.com Publishing
• Release date: Sep 24, 2020
• ISBN: 9781420970913

Phillis Wheatley

Phillis Wheatley (1753-1784) was an African American poet. Born in West Africa, she was stolen into slavery as a young girl and purchased by the Wheatley family of Boston. Raised to work as a servant for Susanna Wheatley, she was tutored by the Wheatley children in reading and writing, learning Greek and Latin by the age of twelve and writing her first poem at fourteen. Recognizing her talent, the Wheatley family sought publication for her work, eventually moving Phillis to London at the age of twenty in search of wealthy patrons. In 1773, her Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral became the first book of poetry ever published by an African American author, earning her worldwide fame and the acclaim of such figures as George Washington, Jupiter Hammon, Voltaire, and John Paul Jones. That same year, she was emancipated by the Wheatleys, and in 1778 she married a free black businessman named John Peters. Her final years were plagued with illness, debt, and manual labor; her death at the age of thirty-one cut short the improbable life of a true pioneer of American literature.

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POEMS ON VARIOUS SUBJECTS, RELIGIOUS AND MORAL

By PHILLIS WHEATLEY

Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral

By Phillis Wheatley

Print ISBN 13: 978-1-4209-7090-6

eBook ISBN 13: 978-1-4209-7091-3

This edition copyright © 2020. Digireads.com Publishing.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

Cover Image: a detail of an engraved portrait of Phillis Wheatley, c. 18th century / Peter Newark American Pictures / Bridgeman Images.

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CONTENTS

PREFACE.

TO THE PUBLIC.

POEMS

TO MÆCENAS.

ON VIRTUE.

ON BEING BROUGHT FROM AFRICA TO AMERICA.

TO THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE, IN NEW-ENGLAND.

TO THE KING’S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY.—1768.

ON THE DEATH OF THE REV. DR. SEWELL.—1769.

ON THE DEATH OF THE REV. MR. GEORGE WHITEFIELD.—1770.

ON THE DEATH OF A YOUNG LADY OF FIVE YEARS OF AGE.

ON THE DEATH OF A YOUNG GENTLEMAN.

TO A LADY ON THE DEATH OF HER HUSBAND.

GOLIATH OF GATH.

THOUGHTS ON THE WORKS OF PROVIDENCE.

TO A LADY ON THE DEATH OF THREE RELATIONS.

TO A CLERGYMAN ON THE DEATH OF HIS LADY.

HYMN TO THE MORNING.

HYMN TO THE EVENING.

ISAIAH—36d Chap. 1st and 8th Verses.

ON RECOLLECTION.

ON IMAGINATION.

A FUNERAL POEM ON THE DEATH OF C. E. AN INFANT OF TWELVE MONTHS.

TO CAPTAIN H——D,

TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE WILLIAM, EARL OF DARTMOUTH.

ODE TO NEPTUNE.

TO A LADY,

TO A LADY,

TO A LADY AND HER CHILDREN,

TO A GENTLEMAN AND LADY,

ON THE DEATH OF DR. SAMUEL MARSHALL.—1771.

TO A GENTLEMAN,

TO THE REV. DR. THOMAS AMORY,

ON THE DEATH OF J. C.

AN HYMN TO HUMANITY.

TO THE HONOURABLE T. H. ESQ;

NIOBE IN DISTRESS FOR HER CHILDREN SLAIN BY APOLLO,

TO S. M. A YOUNG AFRICAN PAINTER,

TO HIS HONOUR THE LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR,

A FAREWELL TO AMERICA.

A REBUS,

AN ANSWER TO THE REBUS.

DEDICATION

To the Right Honourable the

COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON

The following

POEMS

Are most respectfully inscribed, by her much

obliged, very humble and

devoted servant.

PHILLIS WHEATLEY.

Boston, June 12, 1773.

Preface.

The following Poems were written originally for the Amusement of the Author, as they were the Products of her leisure Moments. She had no Intention ever to have published them; nor would they now have made their Appearance, but at the Importunity of many of her best, and most generous Friends; to whom she considers herself, as under the greatest Obligations.

As her Attempts in Poetry are now sent into the World, it is hoped the Critic will not severely censure their Defects; and we presume they have too much Merit to be cast aside with Contempt, as worthless and trifling Effusions.

As to the Disadvantages she has laboured under, with Regard to Learning, nothing needs to be offered, as her Master’s Letter in the following Page will sufficiently show the Difficulties in this Respect she had to encounter.

With all their Imperfections, the Poems are now humbly submitted to the Perusal of the Public.

The following is a Copy of a Letter sent by the Author’s Master to the Publisher.

Phillis was brought from Africa to America, in the Year 1761, between seven and eight Years of Age. Without any Assistance from School Education, and by only what she was taught in the Family, she, in sixteen Months Time from her Arrival, attained the English language, to which she was an utter Stranger before, to such a degree, as to read any, the most difficult Parts of the Sacred Writings, to the great Astonishment of all who heard her.

As to her Writing, her own Curiosity led her to it; and this she learnt in so short a Time, that in the Year 1765, she wrote a Letter to the Rev. Mr. Occom, the Indian Minister, while in England.

She has a great Inclination to learn the Latin Tongue, and has made some Progress in it. This Relation is given by her Master who bought her, and with whom she now lives.

JOHN WHEATLEY.

Boston, Nov. 14, 1772.

To the Public.

AS it has

Reviews for Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral

[steller0707 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Should you, my lord, while you peruse my song, Wonder from whence my love of Freedom sprung, Whence flow these wishes for the common good, By feeling hearts alone best understood, I, young in life, by seeming cruel fate Was snatch'd from Afric's fancy'd happy seat: What pangs excruciating must molest, What sorrows labour in my parent's breast? Steel'd was that soul and by no misery mov'd That from a father seiz'd his babe belov'd: Such, such my case. And can I then but pray Others may never feel tyrannic sway?Brought as a slave from Africa to America in 1761, Wheatley’s only schooling was in the family she served. Yet within twelve years she had begun writing these poems. The subjects vary from nature to the re-telling of a myth; many are written as memorials to people who have died. Though not of high literary value, they are historically significant.

[dasam-5 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Derivative but all American poetry was then

The poems of Wheatley are as good as anything being written in the colonies at the time, and no worse than much British poetry of the 18th Century written by the average poet. That she was a slave and English her second language makes the quality if her writing exceptional. But I am not a big fan of the Classically allusive pomposity of much written at this time, so I cannot rate this collection more than okay.

As evidence of the racial brainwashing, this is an historical artifact worth reading.

[librarycatnip · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I surprised myself by liking this one. I like her iambic pentameter, and her use of heroic couplets, and when she chooses not to do these things. Her poems are sprinkled throughout with mythological allusions, and, frankly, read more like renaissance poetry to me than 18th C. And I like renaissance poetry.

[raselyem7 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I surprised myself by liking this one. I like her iambic pentameter, and her use of heroic couplets, and when she chooses not to do these things. Her poems are sprinkled throughout with mythological allusions, and, frankly, read more like renaissance poetry to me than 18th C. And I like renaissance poetry.