Named Phillis for the ship that brought her to America, Wheatley for the family that bought her, America's first African American poet has become a symbol of freedom.
In Boston on November 14, 1772, John Wheatley wrote a letter to the publisher of Phillis Wheatley’s book of poems, Poems On Various Subjects Religious and Moral. In that letter, Mr. Wheatley informed the publisher that Phillis had been brought to America from Africa when she was between seven and eight years old. He also told the publisher that Phillis had learned English in only sixteen months. According to Mr. Wheatley, soon after learning to speak and read the English language, she began to write: “her own curiosity led her to [writing].” Mr. Wheatley further informed the publisher that Phillis had begun to learn Latin.
Phillis Wheatley was what we would call gifted in her language ability. Because she had been a slave, she served as an example of the innate abilities of Africans at a time in Western history when slavery was still supported under the assumption that Africans were inherently inferior mentally. In “An Essay on the Slavery and Commerce of the Human Species, Particularly the African,” abolitionist Thomas Clarkson wrote, referring to Phillis, “if the authoress was designed for slavery, the greater part of the inhabitants of Britain must lose their claim to freedom.”
Mr. John Wheatley, of course, was Phillis’s master. He bought Phillis to serve his wife, Susanna, and their eighteen-year-old twins, Mary and Nathaniel who were. Phillis, however, became more like a family member than a servant. Mary Wheatley tutored Phillis in English and classical literature, particularly poetry. She also taught Phillis history, geography, the Bible, Latin, and Christianity.
Phillis came to admire and emulate Alexander Pope and through his translations she studied Homer. She learned to write the heroic couple using Pope as a model. Her favorite modern poet was John Milton. She also admired Horace, Vergil, Ovid, and Terence.
On December 21, 1767, at the age of fourteen Phillis published her first poem in the Newport Mercury; it was titled “On Messrs. Hussey and Coffin.” This poem exemplifies the style she was to adopt for most of her future writing. The piety and rich classical allusions found perfect form as she came into her own poetic voice.
The following is one of her shorter poems and much anthologized:
On being brought from Africa to America
- ‘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 colour is a diabolic die.
- Remember, Christians, Negroes, black as Cain,
- May be refin'd, and join th' angelic train.
The classical influence is clearly evident in this poem as well as her religious piety. Her legacy is a great one: she became a rôle model for abolition as she wrote many letters arguing for the end of slavery. Her example helped others understand the universality of the desire for freedom. Her accomplishments proved that all souls are capable of greatness.
Reference:
Complete Writings Phillis Wheatley Penguin Classics edited by Vincent Carretta
