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Phillis Wheatley's Poem

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Within her poem “On Being Brought from Africa to America,” Phillis Wheatley takes a rather unique stance regarding the concept of slavery, a topic that was controversial during her time. Wheatley begins by stating that it was “mercy” that had brought her from her native “Pagan” land to the world of God and Salvation. With her embedded passion within the poem, a reader can easily infer that Phillis truly appreciates that she was able to learn the notions of Redemption and Heaven from her gruesome travels. This is a rather ironic situation a former slave could be in, for her physical pain would drastically outweigh her spiritual revelation. Later on, Wheatley proceeds to address the racial issue that was prevalent in America. She claims that
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Starting with the " To the Right Honourable William, Earl of Dartmouth" which theme happens to be a poetic statement that Wheatley makes of gratitude and admiration towards the Crown of the Colonial government , in which she finds herself subjected to praising the unlikely of a bureaucratic appointment. As Wheatley states in her poem; "Though praise immortal crowns the patriot 's name, But to conduct to heavens refulgent fane," this line shows how she gradually composes a thematic ground into imagery towards the heavens and shinning temples, to those who are reading this (line 39-41).She was a very intelligent writer who uses metamorphically symbols to include her Christianity beliefs to dispense her way of thought to others. To continue she

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In today’s world, we learn about the harsh lives that slaves had to endure and how mistreated they were their entire lives. It’s often hard to imagine what it would have been like and how they coped with their terrible lives. Frederick Douglass and Harriet Jacobs discuss how they were able to find hope and comfort through the toughest of times. Through the harsh reality of slavery, slaves had the comfort of family, friends, and God to give them hope to one day have freedom.     Family was a large comfort and a little bit of an incentive for slaves who were fortunate enough to have their family near them.

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“Twas mercy brought me from my pagan land, Taught my benighted soul to understand That there’s a God, that there’s a Savior too: Once I redemption neither sought nor knew” (Baym at al. 764). She introduces her slavery as a positive for it let her to know about God and shows gratitude toward her owners. One day, her master, Susanna, saw her writing on a wall with chalk, then Susanna discovered that she was an intelligent child, so she educate her in reading and writing, even English literature, Latin and the Bible. However, “Some view our sable race with scornful eye”

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Indeed, Wheatley was using her gifts to make a remarkable change in history; which was an education and Christianity to describe the decapitated ways they used to treat slaves and the deplorable conditions that the slaves had to endure. But, for certain Wheatley uses Christianity to be her outlet and used her educated mind to write freely about the experience with Christianity. Primarily in the poem “On Being Brought from Africa to America” She mention in the first line even thought she was taken away from her homeland and almost pass away, she thanks God for saving her and sending her to an extraordinary slave master’s family and beat her odds of surviving . To add-on she gave others hope and a sense of gratitude that the slaves themselves

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Literary Analysis #1: “On Being Brought from Africa to America” Phillis Wheatley was born in Africa and brought to Boston in 1971, after being captured by slave traders at the age of eight (Funk & Wagnalls). “She had been purchased by a wealthy tailor, John Wheatley, for his wife, Susannah, as a companion, and named for the vessel that carried her to America” (Norton 401). She was taught how to read and write by her slave owners. Due to this advantage, she began to write poetry at an early age. One of her most notable poems was “On Being Brought from Africa to America”.

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Throughout his narrative, Douglass’s descriptions of the white slaveholders expose the Christian hypocrisy found in the American slave system. Douglass first does so by exposing how the lesson taught by Christians to help those in need is contradicted by the experiences Douglass has especially with hunger. Douglass reflects on these experiences when he states that for the “first time during a space of more than seven years” feeling the effects of the “painful gnawing’s of hunger…” (54). This event shows the Christians’ lessons of selflessness and kindness is hypocritical as they treat their fellow humans as subhuman. The Christians at the time rely on scripture to make a case for slavery in America.

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Historical Essay #4: Frederick Douglas Ashleyann Mabatid Azusa Pacific University College Frederick Douglass Who Is Fredrick Douglass? He is a African American writer and a former slave, he had escaped to freedom in the North.

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Walton juxtaposes Sympathy with a photo of African Americans smiling and dancing the “jitterbug”, appearing to be very happy (197). Walton juxtaposes the depressing poem about the caged bird and the photo of seemingly happy African Americans to set up a contrast between African Americans’ reality, and what white Americans believe was their reality. The image depicts what whites prefer to believe African American life was like--full of energetic and upbeat singing and dancing--while Sympathy relays the message that African Americans actually felt very trapped and helpless. This contrast forces the reader to question the reality of history and in turn question their previous historical memory of such history. By doing so, the reader will have a better idea of truth versus

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Phillis Ẃheatly’s poem, ¨ On Being Brought from Africa to America¨ challenges the individual rights because the colonist do not want the colored people to believe in God nor to be educated. Wheatley explains how the colonist do not think that the colored people should be part of the Christian world, they do not believe that colored people should be believing in God. Wheatley states, ¨ Remember, Christians, Negroes, black as Cain, May be refin´, and join th´angelic train.¨ As Wheatley states she wants to show the colonist that even colored people can believe in God. Wheatley placed ¨Christians¨ and ¨Negroes¨ together so it can be clear to the colonist that no matter what color skin tone you have you have the right to believe in God.

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Phillis Wheatley was a black slave who was brought to Boston in 1761. While in her Christian home, Wheatley’s talent and specialty was recognized by her owners. Although she still had duties around the house as a slave, she was treated like a part of the family. John and Susanna Wheatley, her owners, gave her an unprecedented education and by the time she was 12, she could read and write English, Greek, and Latin. With this knowledge and education, she was quickly reading difficult passages out of the Bible.

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Christianity and slavery in America is at the heart of the making of America, although there was and is supposed to be a separation of church and state. The Washington Post saw the museum and these bibles as confronting “the challenge of presenting slavery and the Confederacy”, acknowledging that the history of Christian America was/is tainted with the stain of lies and blood. It’s imperative to know that African American slaves, no matter where they fall on the spectrum of enslaved Christians (such as Nat Turner or Phillis Wheatley), were all pacified and manipulated by the Bible and Christianity. For example, while Wheatley’s acceptance of the Bible and adaptation to Christianity, overall was almost perfect to the western world and ideal to White America, others were not.

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Another opportunity Wheatley is trying to accomplish is abolishing slavery and hoping the whites will consider them human also, ¨Once I redemption neither sought nor knew. Some view our sable race with scornful eye,.. (Wheatley, lines 5&6).¨ Now noticing the differences will be much easier to point out. Freneau 's poem is more about making the world a better place, ¨What wonders there shall freedom show, What might state 's successive grow! (Freneau, stanza 1).¨ Freneau explains why people wanted to settle and relocate themselves in rural areas because of their lack of freedom of religion, ¨Whose genius may the world engage,

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Frances Ellen Watkins Harper was born in Baltimore, Maryland, a renowned slave state; she was never a slave herself however, her upbringing was hugely influenced by the unwanted leftover impact of slavery and the discrimination, racism and sexism that came with it. ‘The infamous death of a free man, resulting from his recapture and re-enslavement under a brutal new law intended to reduce black settlement in Maryland, was an important factor in her decision to leave her job as sewing teacher in Ohio and work for the anti-slavery cause full-time.’ Rumens (2017) In her poem ‘Bury me in a free land’ Harper effectively uses imagery to convey the theme of slavery. Throughout the poem Harper makes effective use of several poetic techniques to convey this central concern; clever metaphors, similes and emotional, creative imagery express the horror and despair of slavery.

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