From Phillis Wheatley's On Being Brought From Africa To America

I pledge my word of honor that I have abided by the Washington College Honor Code while completing this assignment.

Naomi Black

Self Evaluation:

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, Negros, black as Cain,

May be refin’d, and join th’ angelic train. Naomi Black

Professor Charles

English 320

11 February 2018

Rebellion and Phillis Wheatley

Likely Phillis Wheatley’s most discussed and definitely her most despised poem, “On Being Brought from Africa to America” is usually

However, studying it closely, it seems that the actual meaning may be the opposite: she is taking the power from the slavers who kidnapped her, instead attributing the act to God’s mercy, and ignoring the slavers and their role as if it’s not even worthy of mentioning. In addition, Wheatley uses the word “brought” rather than “bought” or “took,” likely because “brought” is a far more active option. In this way, she is defending her personhood: despite how the slavers viewed her, she was not just in inanimate object to be taken and bought, she was a person, and she was brought, not alone, but with her mind, her feelings, and her culture in tow, from her native land. The use of “pagan,” as well as the fact that it is capitalized and italicized, is significant as well. Typically, “pagan is […] applied to those nations that, although worshiping false gods, are more cultivated, as the Greeks and Romans, and heathen to uncivilized idolaters, as the tribes of Africa” (Etymology Dictionary: Pagan). Therefore, using the word “pagan” rather than “heathen” is actually a conscious choice on Wheatley’s part to show Africa in a more positive light: suggesting that the lack of Christianity was the only problem, and that the people themselves were no less civilized than anyone

It is certainly one with a great deal of depth, and, like many of her poems, it subtly salutes her native heritage. While some go to great lengths—such as finding anagrams within its letters—in order to negate its perceived problematic message (Gates 87-90), studying the poem closely renders this unnecessary. As Dathorne states in “The Black Mind,” “[the African poet’s] greatest contribution […] was his ability to manipulate the original language, to distort it and play with nuances of meaning, and to expose the rich imaginative fabric of the language and its rhythmical texture”