Phillis Wheatley
Phillis Wheatley was kidnapped from West Africa (probably Senegal or Gambia) when she was six or seven years old, brought to
America on a slave ship, and sold in Boston to the wealthy Wheatley family in 1761. Recognizing Phillis as a precocious child
with remarkable talents, the Wheatleys soon decided to reduce her domestic duties, convert her to Christianity, and provide her
with an education—a highly irregular project for slaveowners to undertake. Phillis adopted evangelical Christianity and began
reading widely and writing her own poetry. After publishing two poems in American newspapers, Phillis sought subscriptions to
help finance the publication of a book of her poetry. Unable to find patrons willing to underwrite a black slave’s poetry in
America, Phillis eventually traveled to England, engaged the support of the Countess of Huntingdon, and published her book,
Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral, through a British press in 1773. After Susanna Wheatley granted Phillis her
freedom in 1774, the poet found it even more difficult to publish her poetry and letters. She was never able to finance a second
book and died in poverty.
Wheatley’s poetry is characterized by its use of the conventions of neoclassical verse and its careful approach to potentially
controversial subjects. Some literary critics have perceived the restraint and discipline of her verse as signs that Wheatley lacked
racial consciousness or was uninterested in denouncing slavery. Others, however, have found in her poetry evidence of a
meaningful commitment to addressing—and protesting—slavery and racial inequality. In “On Being Brought from Africa to
America,” Wheatley recounts the effects of being introduced in America both to Christianity and to racist assumptions about
black inferiority.
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. Reading: Monday (Due Tuesday)
1. What kind of audience do you think Wheatley was intending to reach with this poem? Whom
does she address directly? What does she want to persuade her readers of?
2. In line 2, what does the speaker say she has been “taught to understand”? How does her
understanding compare to the understanding of the “Christians” she mentions in line 7?
3. How would you describe the tone of this poem? Grateful? Rebellious? Measured? Humble?
Outraged? Apologetic? A mixture of these?
Re Reading: Tuesday (Due Wednesday)
1. In what ways might the title “On Being Brought from Africa to America” remind readers that
Wheatley herself had no choice in her relocation? What is the effect of the passive voice? Why do
you think she chose this title?
2. After avoiding the question of agency in the title of the poem, the speaker claims in the first line
that “mercy” brought her to America. What does she mean by this?
3. In line 2, the speaker describes her soul as “benighted.” This word can refer to a state of being
overtaken by darkness or to a condition of social, intellectual, or moral darkness. Do you think
“benighted” might have different significance and meaning for Wheatley than for white poets of her
era? How is she using the word here?
4. “On Being Brought from Africa to America” is composed in heroic couplets (lines of iambic
pentameter in rhymed pairs). Line 4, however, disrupts the iambic rhythm with its stress on the
opening syllable “once.” What is the effect of the emphasis on this word?
5. To whom is the speaker referring when she mentions the views of “some” in line 5? How do you
think Wheatley intended her audience to react to this line?
6. What is the effect of the use of quotation marks around the statement in line 6?
7. Line 7 opens with a command to “Remember.” Does this forceful directive mark a shift in the
tone of the poem?
8. Notice the placement of commas in line How does the punctuation make it difficult to identify
the subject and object of the sentence? What is the effect of this ambiguity? How can we tell who is
“black as Cain”?
9. “Cain” refers to the biblical Cain, who killed his brother Abel. Might the word also be punning on
the homonym “cane”? Could this be a veiled allusion to sugar and to the appalling conditions of
slaves working on sugar plantations in Wheatley’s era? Do you see any other words or images that
might support this reading in the poem?
Writing: Wednesday (Due Thursday beginning of class)
1. Close Reading Write a one- to two-page response paper examining Wheatley’s references to color
and to darkness in the poem. Which words refer to color? How does she play on the multiple
meanings and associations of these words? What argument does she want to make about the
relationship between skin tone and salvation?
2. Paraphrase Exercise Write a paraphrase of “On Being Brought from Africa to America” in which
you “translate” Wheatley’s lines into contemporary prose. Read the explanation of “Paraphrase” in
the “Writing about Literature” section of this website to help you get started, and be sure to look up
any words you don’t fully understand in a dictionary. Which parts of the poem were the most
difficult to paraphrase? Did your paraphrase retain the subtlety and ambiguous meanings of some
of the lines and images in the original poem? Did the act of paraphrasing change the “message” of
Wheatley’s poem?
PHILLIS WHEATLEY (C. 1753-1784)
Born in Africa, probably in present-day Senegal or Gambia, Phillis Wheatley was brought to Boston when she was around eight
years old to be a companion for Susannah Wheatley, the wife of a wealthy tailor. Mrs. Wheatley, part of an enlightened group of
Boston Christians who believed that slavery could not be tolerated in Christian households, recognized Phillis's intelligence and
saw that she was taught to read and write; Phillis studied the Bible, read Latin poets, and was influenced by Milton, Pope, and
Gray. She became well known for her poem eulogizing the Reverend George Whitfield, and when she was nineteen or twenty she
traveled to England, accompanied by the Wheatleys' son, with a manuscript of her work. Her Poems on Various Subjects,
Religious and Moral (1773) inaugurated the black American literary tradition. A group of eighteen prominent citizens of Boston,
including the state governor and John Hancock, asserted that Wheatley had composed the poems, although "under the
Disadvantage of serving as a Slave in a Family in this Town." A second volume was proposed but never published, and most of
the poems and letters have been lost.