"Another First"
Phillis Wheatley was born in Senegal in West Africa. She arrived in Boston, Massachusetts in 1761 on a slave ship.
John Wheatley bought her as his wife's personal servant. By custom, slaves took their master's last name. He educated her in theology, history, mythology, Latin, and Greek.
She then began writing poetry with her master's approval.
Check out Phllis Wheatley's story on America's Story from America's Library. Be sure you enlarge the pictures!
Wheatley wrote her first poem when she was twelve years old.
Her owner, Susanna Wheatley, helped publish her book of poems, Poems on Various Subjects, Religious, and Moral.
After Wheatley's success as a poet, her owners emancipated her in 1773. Did this make Wheatley an American, or do you believe she was already an American once she stepped foot on the soil?
Let's review several interesting facts about Phillis Wheatley.
Look at the words below. Choose the one word that doesn't fit in the category with the others.
Answer: China, all these places Wheatley visited, but she did not go to China.
Look at the words below. Choose the one year that doesn't fit in the category with the others.
Answer: 1786, All of these years are during Wheatley's lifetime, but she was not alive during 1786.
Look at the words below. Choose the one word that doesn't fit in the category with the others.
Answer: Doctor, Wheatley was a slave, and her ownders were John and Susanna Wheatley.
Diction, or choice of words, plays an important role in writing, especially poetry.
Look at this list of words.
Mercy
Benighted
Pagan
Black
Savior
Sable
Diabolic
Dye
If you don't know the meaning of any term, look up the definition in Merriam-Webster's dictionary.
Pay attention to these words while you are reading Wheatley's poem.
Phillis Wheatley used some of the same rhetorical devices that Anne Bradstreet used in her poetry: elevated style, iambic pentameter, and allusions.
Even though Puritans viewed plain style as the best form for writers, authors such as Wheatley and Bradstreet incorporated imagery and figurative language when appropriate.
Wheatley uses heroic couplets in the poem, "On Being Brought from Africa to America."
Read Wheatley's poem "On Being Brought from Africa to America."
"On Being Brought from Africa to America"
Answer the following questions.
Poem titles usually supply the reader with information. What clues does the title suggest about the poem?
Answer: The term 'brought' suggests that the speaker is led, carried, or caused to come along with one from Africa to America. Wheatley was kidnapped from her home when she was seven or eight. The word 'brought' has a more positve connotation than the word 'kidnapped.'
Who is the intended reader of the poem?
Answer: During that period of time, the primary readers would be white Christians/Puritans. Wheatley could be intending for other slaves to hear the poem.
What is the author's purpose?
Answer: The purpose is to tell the audience how she feels about being brought to America.
Summarize the poem.
Answer: The speaker is a slave who is 'thankful' that slavery has brought her to Christianity.
From the three bolded options, pick the correct option in the following questions.
How would you describe the tone of Wheatley's poem?
a. Thankful
b. Detached
c. Angry
Answer: Thankful-The words that suggest this are: 'Mercy';'taught my benighted soul'; 'redemption.' Wheatley is using a more submissive tone instead of attacking slavery. She wants the population of her readers to think that slavery is something that saved her life.
Consider the audience. If she is writing to the Puritan population, some of the words may be accurate. However, if Wheatley is writing to slaves in America who were not literate, how would that change the tone?
a. Angry
b. Detached
c. Thankful
Answer: Angry-The words that suggest this are: 'Mercy';'taught my benighted soul'; 'redemption.' Wheatley is using a more submissive tone instead of attacking slavery. She wants the population of her readers to think that slavery is something that saved her life.
Roll over five words from the poem that may have a negative connotation.
Twas mercy brought me from my Pagan land,
Taught my benighted soul to understand
That there's a God, that there's a Saviour too:
Once I redemption neither sought nor knew.
Some view our sable race with scornful eye.
"Their color is a diabolic dye."
Remember, Christians, Negroes, black as Cain,
May be refined, and join the angelic train.