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? The poet needs some extrinsic warrant for making this point in the artistic maneuvers of her verse. Source: William J. Scheick, "Phillis Wheatley's Appropriation of Isaiah," in Early American Literature, Vol. Even before the Revolution, black slaves in Massachusetts were making legal petitions for their freedom on the basis of their natural rights. Figures of speech are literary devices that are also used throughout our society and help relay important ideas in a meaningful way. By the time Wheatley had been in America for 16 months, she was reading the Bible, classics in Greek and Latin, and British literature. I would definitely recommend Study.com to my colleagues. Wheatley continued to write throughout her life and there was some effort to publish a second book, which ultimately failed. But another approach is also possible. Reading Wheatley not just as an African American author but as a transatlantic black author, like Ignatius Sancho and Olaudah Equiano, the critics demonstrate that early African writers who wrote in English represent "a diasporic model of racial identity" moving between the cultures of Africa, Europe, and the Americas. In this verse, however, Wheatley has adeptly managed biblical allusions to do more than serve as authorizations for her writing; as finally managed in her poem, these allusions also become sites where this license is transformed into an artistry that in effect becomes exemplarily self-authorized. Speaking for God, the prophet at one point says, "Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction" (Isaiah 48:10). The European colonization of the Americas inspired a desire for cheap labor for the development of the land. "Their colour is a diabolic die.". Adding insult to injury, Wheatley co-opts the rhetoric of this groupthose who say of blacks that "Their colour is a diabolic die" (6)using their own words against them. Specifically, Wheatley deftly manages two biblical allusions in her last line, both to Isaiah. More on Wheatley's work from PBS, including illustrations of her poems and a portraitof the poet herself. "On Being Brought from Africa to America" is really about the irony of Christian people who treat Black people as inferior. (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1998), p.98. For example: land/understandCain/train. Poem Analysis, https://poemanalysis.com/phillis-wheatley/on-being-brought-from-africa-to-america/. We respond to all comments too, giving you the answers you need. There are poems in which she idealizes the African climate as Eden, and she constantly identifies herself in her poems as the Afric muse. She returned to America riding on that success and was set free by the Wheatleysa mixed blessing, since it meant she had to support herself. While Wheatley's poetry gave fuel to abolitionists who argued that blacks were rational and human and therefore ought not be treated as beasts, Thomas Jefferson found Wheatley's poems imitative and beneath notice. [CDATA[ Thomas Jefferson's scorn (reported by Robinson), however, famously articulates the common low opinion of African capability: "Religion, indeed, has produced a Phillis Whately, but it could not produce a poet. By using this meter, Wheatley was attempting to align her poetry with that of the day, making sure that the primary white readers would accept it. Wheatley was then abducted by slave traders and brought to America in 1761. She adds that in case he wonders why she loves freedom, it is because she was kidnapped from her native Africa and thinks of the suffering of her parents. "On Being Brought From Africa to America" is eight lines long, a single stanza, and four rhyming couplets formed into a block. The speaker takes the high moral ground and is not bitter or resentful - rather the voice is calm and grateful. In line 1 of "On Being Brought from Africa to America," as she does throughout her poems and letters, Wheatley praises the mercy of God for singling her out for redemption. The Impact of the Early Years For example, her speaker claims that it was "mercy" that took her out of "my Pagan land" and into America where she was enslaved. The darker races are looked down upon. Read Wheatley's poems and letters and compare her concerns, in an essay, to those of other African American authors of any period. Chosen by Him, the speaker is again thrust into the role of preacher, one with a mission to save others. (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1998), p.98. Postmodernism, bell hooks & Systems of Oppression, Introduction to Gerard Manley Hopkins: Devout Catholicism and Sprung Rhythm, Leslie Marmon Silko | Biography, Poems, & Books, My Bondage and My Freedom by Frederick Douglass | Summary & Analysis, George Eliot's Silly Novels by Lady Novelists: Summary & Analysis, The Author to Her Book by Anne Bradstreet | Summary & Analysis, Ruined by Lynn Nottage | Play, Characters, and Analysis, Neuromancer by William Gibson | Summary, Characters & Analysis, The Circular Ruins by Jorge Luis Borges | Summary & Analysis. Plus, get practice tests, quizzes, and personalized coaching to help you . She was unusually precocious, and the family that enslaved her decided to give her an education, which was uncommon for an enslaved person. Poems to integrate into your English Language Arts classroom. Following her previous rhetorical clues, the only ones who can accept the title of "Christian" are those who have made the decision not to be part of the "some" and to admit that "Negroes / May be refin'd and join th' angelic train" (7-8). Figurative language is writing that is understood because of its association with a familiar thing, action, or image. 3, 1974, pp. It also contains a lot of figurative language describing . being Brought from Africa to America." In the poem "Wheatley chose to use the meditation as the form for her contemplation of her enslavement." (Frazier) In the poem "On being Brought from Africa to America." Phillis Wheatley uses different poetic devices like figurative language, form, and irony to express the hypocrisy of American racism. Wheatley admits this, and in one move, the balance of the poem seems shattered. The final and highly ironic demonstration of otherness, of course, would be one's failure to understand the very poem that enacts this strategy. Racial Equality: The speaker points out to the audience, mostly consisting of white people, that all people, regardless of race, can be saved and brought to Heaven. It is no accident that what follows in the final lines is a warning about the rewards for the redeemed after death when they "join th' angelic train" (8). Write an essay and give evidence for your findings from the poems and letters and the history known about her life. Wheatley's English publisher, Archibald Bell, for instance, advertised that Wheatley was "one of the greatest instances of pure, unassisted Genius, that the world ever produced." She was in a sinful and ignorant state, not knowing God or Christ. This same spirit in literature and philosophy gave rise to the revolutionary ideas of government through human reason, as popularized in the Declaration of Independence. Daniel Garrett's appreciation of the contributions of African American women artists includes a study of Cicely Tyson, Angela Bassett, Viola Davis, and Regina King. Importantly, she mentions that the act of understanding God and Savior comes from the soul. To the University of Cambridge, in New England. Most of the slaves were held on the southern plantations, but blacks were house servants in the North, and most wealthy families were expected to have them. PART B: Which phrase from the text best supports the answer to Part A? She is not ashamed of her origins; only of her past ignorance of Christ. The African slave who would be named Phillis Wheatley and who would gain fame as a Boston poet during the American Revolution arrived in America on a slave ship on July 11, 1761. Imperative language shows up in this poem in the last two lines. Her most well-known poem, "On Being Brought from Africa to America," is an eight-line poem that addresses the hypocrisy of so-called Christian people incorrectly believing that those of African heritage cannot be educated and incorrectly believing that they are lesser human beings. Lastly, the speaker reminds her audience, mostly consisting of white people, that Black people can be Christian people, too. Phillis Wheatley 's poem "On Being Brought from Africa to America" appeared in her 1773 volume Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral, the first full-length published work by an African American author. In A Mixed Race: Ethnicity in Early America, Betsy Erkkila explores Wheatley's "double voice" in "On Being Brought from Africa to America." Here are 10 common figures of speech and some examples of the same figurative language in use: Simile. Phillis lived for a time with the married Wheatley daughter in Providence, but then she married a free black man from Boston, John Peters, in 1778. Twas mercy brought me from my Pagan land. also Observation on English Versification , Etc. They can join th angelic train. Like them (the line seems to suggest), "Once I redemption neither sought nor knew" (4; my emphasis). This poem is a real-life account of Wheatleys experiences. To S. M., a Young African Painter, on Seeing His Works. Structure. , . Wheatley's cultural awareness is even more evident in the poem "On Being Brought From Africa to America," written the year after the Harvard poem in 1768. Africans were brought over on slave ships, as was Wheatley, having been kidnapped or sold by other Africans, and were used for field labor or as household workers. Betsy Erkkila describes this strategy as "a form of mimesis that mimics and mocks in the act of repeating" ("Revolutionary" 206). 1'Twas mercy brought me from my Pagan land. Nevertheless, Wheatley was a legitimate woman of learning and letters who consciously participated in the public discussion of the day, in a voice representing the living truth of what America claimed it stood forwhether or not the slave-owning citizens were prepared to accept it. Indeed, racial issues in Wheatley's day were of primary importance as the new nation sought to shape its identity. 1, edited by Nina Baym, Norton, 1998, p. 825. Cain is a biblical character that kills his brother, an example of the evil of humanity. 2019Encyclopedia.com | All rights reserved. In these ways, then, the biblical and aesthetic subtleties of Wheatley's poem make her case about refinement. "May be refined" can be read either as synonymous for can or as a warning: No one, neither Christians nor Negroes, should take salvation for granted. A strong reminder in line 7 is aimed at those who see themselves as God-fearing - Christians - and is a thinly veiled manifesto, somewhat ironic, declaring that all people are equal in the eyes of God, capable of joining the angelic host. Born c. 1753 Almost immediately after her arrival in America, she was sold to the Wheatley family of Boston, Massachusetts. both answers. In short, both races share a common heritage of Cain-like barbaric and criminal blackness, a "benighted soul," to which the poet refers in the second line of her poem. Recent critics looking at the whole body of her work have favorably established the literary quality of her poems and her unique historical achievement. Anne Bradstreet Poems, Biography & Facts | Who is Anne Bradstreet? Most online reference entries and articles do not have page numbers. sable - black; (also a small animal with dark brown or black fur. Phillis Wheatley uses very particular language in this poem. The Quakers were among the first to champion the abolition of slavery. Its like a teacher waved a magic wand and did the work for me. For example, Saviour and sought in lines three and four as well as diabolic die in line six. The speaker makes a claim, an observation, implying that black people are seen as no better than animals - a sable - to be treated as merchandise and nothing more. Saviour There are many themes explored in this poem. Wheatley is talking about the people who live in Africa; they have not yet been exposed to Christianity or the idea of salvation. Boston, Massachusetts She describes Africa as a "Pagan land." "On Being Brought From Africa to America" is an unusual poem. These include but are not limited to: The first, personification, is seen in the first lines in which the poet says it was mercy that brought her to America. By writing the poem in couplets, Wheatley helps the reader assimilate one idea at a time. Andersen holds a PhD in literature and teaches literature and writing. To be "benighted" is to be in moral or spiritual darkness as a result of ignorance or lack of enlightenment, certainly a description with which many of Wheatley's audience would have agreed. 49, 52. While ostensibly about the fate of those black Christians who see the light and are saved, the final line in "On Being Brought From Africa to America" is also a reminder to the members of her audience about their own fate should they choose unwisely. Carole A. Today: African Americans are educated and hold political office, even becoming serious contenders for the office of president of the United States. From this perspective, Africans were living in darkness. 23, No. Although she was an enslaved person, Phillis Wheatley Peters was one of the best-known poets in pre-19th century America. ." Whilst showing restraint and dignity, the speaker's message gets through plain and clear - black people are not evil and before God, all are welcome, none turned away. Although she was captured and violently brought across the ocean from the west shores of Africa in a slave boat, a frail and naked child of seven or eight, and nearly dead by the time she arrived in Boston, Wheatley actually hails God's kindness for his delivering her from a heathen land. On Being Brought from Africa to America was written by Phillis Wheatley and published in her collection Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral in 1773. In fact, blacks fought on both sides of the Revolutionary War, hoping to gain their freedom in the outcome. Among her tests for aesthetic refinement, Wheatley doubtless had in mind her careful management of metrics and rhyme in "On Being Brought from Africa to America." America has given the women equal educational advantages, and America, we believe, will enfranchise them. Give a report on the history of Quaker involvement in the antislavery movement. (February 23, 2023). Many of her elegies meditate on the soul in heaven, as she does briefly here in line 8. Starting deliberately from the position of the "other," Wheatley manages to alter the very terms of otherness, creating a new space for herself as both poet and African American Christian. In the last line of this poem, she asserts that the black race may, like any other branch of humanity, be saved and rise to a heavenly fate. 7Remember, Christians, Negros, black as Cain. In fact, all three readings operate simultaneously to support Wheatley's argument. He identifies the most important biblical images for African Americans, Exile . The speaker has learned of God, become enlightened, is aware of the life of Christ on Earth, and is now saved, having previously no knowledge or need of the redemption of the soul. "On Being Brought from Africa to America" is part of a set of works that Henry Louis Gates Jr. recognized as a historically . She describes those Christian people with African heritage as being "refin'd" and that they will "join th' angelic train.". This creates a rhythm very similar to a heartbeat. The speaker uses metaphors, when reading in a superficial manner, causes the reader to think the speaker is self-deprecating. 43, No. This poem also uses imperative language, which is language used to command or to tell another character or the reader what to do. Wheatley may also cleverly suggest that the slaves' affliction includes their work in making dyes and in refining sugarcane (Levernier, "Wheatley's"), but in any event her biblical allusion subtly validates her argument against those individuals who attribute the notion of a "diabolic die" to Africans only. 235 lessons. She is describing her homeland as not Christian and ungodly. https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/educational-magazines/being-brought-africa-america. The first four lines of the poem could be interpreted as a justification for enslaving Africans, or as a condoning of such a practice, since the enslaved would at least then have a chance at true religion. Erin Marsh has a bachelor's degree in English from the College of Saint Benedict and an MFA in Creative Writing from Lesley University's Low Residency program. According to "The American Crisis", God will aid the colonists and not aid the king of England because. Wheatley, however, is asking Christians to judge her and her poetry, for she is indeed one of them, if they adhere to the doctrines of their own religion, which preaches Christ's universal message of brotherhood and salvation. February 2023, Oakland Curator: Jan Watten Diaspora is a vivid word. ", In the last two lines, Wheatley reminds her audience that all people, regardless of race, can be Christian and be saved. These ideas of freedom and the natural rights of human beings were so potent that they were seized by all minorities and ethnic groups in the ensuing years and applied to their own cases. 372-73. There is no mention of forgiveness or of wrongdoing. Later rebellions in the South were often fostered by black Christian ministers, a tradition that was epitomized by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s civil rights movement. To the University of Cambridge, in New England, Instant downloads of all 1699 LitChart PDFs Skin color, Wheatley asserts, has nothing to do with evil or salvation. 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. The effect is to place the "some" in a degraded position, one they have created for themselves through their un-Christian hypocrisy. But the women are on the march. This is an eight-line poem written in iambic pentameter. His art moved from figurative abstraction to nonrepresentational multiform grids of glowing, layered colors (Figure 15). Religion was the main interest of Wheatley's life, inseparable from her poetry and its themes. If it is not, one cannot enter eternal bliss in heaven. Phillis Wheatley is all about change. "On Being Brought From Africa to America" by Phillis Wheatley. Several themes are included: the meaning of academic learning and learning potential; the effect of oral and written language proficiency on successful learning; and the whys and hows of delivering services to language- and learning-disabled students. Her published book, Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral (1773), might have propelled her to greater prominence, but the Revolutionary War interrupted her momentum, and Wheatley, set free by her master, suddenly had to support herself. 1-8" (Mason 75-76). Read about the poet, see her poem's summary and analysis, and study its meaning and themes. ." Wheatley is guiding her readers to ask: How could good Christian people treat other human beings in such a horrific way? Her praise of these people and what they stood for was printed in the newspapers, making her voice part of the public forum in America. The speaker, a slave brought from Africa to America by whites magnifies the discrepancy between the whites' perception of blacks and the reality of the situation. The poem's meter is iambic pentameter, where each line contains ten syllables and every other syllable is stressed. 27, No. 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. Such a person did not fit any known stereotype or category. answer choices. Wheatley, Phillis, Complete Writings, edited by Vincent Carretta, Penguin Books, 2001. No wonder, then, that thinkers as great as Jefferson professed to be puzzled by Wheatley's poetry. The masters, on the other hand, claimed that the Bible recorded and condoned the practice of slavery. Q. Phillis Wheatley became famous in her time for her elegant poetry with Christian themes of redemption. This was the legacy of philosophers such as John Locke who argued against absolute monarchy, saying that government should be a social contract with the people; if the people are not being served, they have a right to rebel. In effect, both poems serve as litmus tests for true Christianity while purporting to affirm her redemption. In addition to editing Literature: The Human Experience and its compact edition, he is the editor of a critical edition of Richard Wright's A Native Son . She was kidnapped and enslaved at age seven. Get unlimited access to over 88,000 lessons. Smith, Eleanor, "Phillis Wheatley: A Black Perspective," in Journal of Negro Education, Vol. No one is excluded from the Savior's tender mercynot the worst people whites can think ofnot Cain, not blacks. The transatlantic slave trade lasted from the early 16th century to the late 19th century and involved the forced relocation and enslavement of approximately 12.5 million African people. The "allusion" is a passing comment on the subject. Slave, poet 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. 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. Some readers, looking for protests against slavery in her work, have been disenchanted upon instead finding poems like "On Being Brought from Africa to America" to reveal a meek acceptance of her slave fate. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem. 1, 2002, pp. There were public debates on slavery, as well as on other liberal ideas, and Wheatley was no doubt present at many of these discussions, as references to them show up in her poems and letters, addressed to such notable revolutionaries as George Washington, the Countess of Huntingdon, the Earl of Dartmouth, English antislavery advocates, the Reverend Samuel Cooper, and James Bowdoin. In consideration of all her poems and letters, evidence is now available for her own antislavery views. al. On being brought from AFRICA to AMERICA The capitalization of AFRICA and AMERICA follows a norm of written language as codified in Joshua Bradley's 1815 text A Brief, Practical System of Punctuation To Which are added Rules Respecting the Uses of Capitals , Etc. Being made a slave is one thing, but having white Christians call black a diabolic dye, suggesting that black people are black because they're evil, is something else entirely. These were pre-Revolutionary days, and Wheatley imbibed the excitement of the era, recording the Boston Massacre in a 1770 poem. She also indicates, apropos her point about spiritual change, that the Christian sense of Original Sin applies equally to both races. https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/educational-magazines/being-brought-africa-america, "On Being Brought from Africa to America The poet quickly and ably turns into a moral teacher, explaining as to her backward American friends the meaning of their own religion. All other trademarks and copyrights are the property of their respective owners. Wheatley was hailed as a genius, celebrated in Europe and America just as the American Revolution broke out in the colonies. Form two groups and hold a debate on the topic. Barbara Evans. The irony that the author, Phillis Wheatley, was highlighting is that Christian people, who are expected to be good and loving, were treating people with African heritage as lesser human beings. Definitions and examples of 136 literary terms and devices. The speaker begins by declaring that it was a blessing, a free act of God's compassion that brought her out of Africa, a pagan land. Phillis Wheatley Peters was one of the best-known poets in pre-19th century America. Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. Wheatley was a member of the Old South Congregational Church of Boston. 61, 1974, pp. He deserted Phillis after their third child was born. Scribd is the world's largest social reading and publishing site. Slavery did not become illegal after the Revolution as many had hoped; it was not fully abolished in the United States until the end of the Civil War in 1865. Phillis Wheatley's poem "On Being Brought from Africa to America" appeared in her 1773 volume Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral, the first full-length published work by an African American author. In this sense, white and black people are utterly equal before God, whose authority transcends the paltry earthly authorities who have argued for the inequality of the two races. Then, copy and paste the text into your bibliography or works cited list. Whilst there is no mention of the physical voyage or abduction or emotional stress, the experience came about through the compassion of God. SOURCES Nevertheless, that an eighteenth-century woman (who was not a Quaker) should take on this traditionally male role is one surprise of Wheatley's poem. This color, the speaker says, may think is a sign of the devil. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); document.getElementById( "ak_js_2" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Our work is created by a team of talented poetry experts, to provide an in-depth look into poetry, like no other.

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