In the late 18th century, slave poet Phillis Wheatley impressed everyone she met. She proved to the world that the color of one's skin does not indicate one's intellect. Her work has touched the hearts of many literature readers all over the world. Wheatley not only accomplished the unthinkable, she also achieved heights that no black women during her time as ever done. Her efforts as a poet paid off for her tremendously in her later years of life. Before her unfortunate passing, she wrote many poems that grabbed the attention of her readers. Some of her works were untitled but were later named, such as On Imagination, On Virtue and To a Gentleman and Lady on the Death of the Lady's Brother and Sister, and a Child of the Name Avis, Aged One Year. …show more content…
This poem in particular depicts precisely how Phillis Wheatley felt about being taken from her home land of Africa to being sold in to slavery in America. In this, she writes her true heart felt feelings of being a slave. However, her slavery is what drew her relationship with God and developed her Christianity. When Phillis Wheatley wrote On Being Brought from Africa to America, she put her true feelings into this poem. She writes, “ 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…” In this work of art, she is poetically speaking about being taken captive as a slave. Wheatley isn't really concerned with narrative poetry. She wants to admire things and talk about her ideas; like Christianity, salvation and her history. When Wheatley writes, "brought me from my pagan land." Wheatley is a slave that was brought from Africa to America, by "mercy." And it is mercy that converts her to Christianity,