INTRODUCTION. Betsy Erkkila describes this strategy as "a form of mimesis that mimics and mocks in the act of repeating" ("Revolutionary" 206). The way the content is organized. Sources 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. ", In the last two lines, Wheatley reminds her audience that all people, regardless of race, can be Christian and be saved. Encyclopedia.com. Just as she included a typical racial sneer, she includes the myth of blacks springing from Cain. During the war in Iraq, black recruitment falls off, in part due to the many more civil career options open to young blacks. In the following essay on "On Being Brought from Africa to America," she focuses on Phillis Wheatley's self-styled personaand its relation to American history, as well as to popular perceptions of the poet herself. 4 Pages. Taught my benighted soul to understand 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. Wheatley's identity was therefore somehow bound up with the country's in a visible way, and that is why from that day to this, her case has stood out, placing not only her views on trial but the emerging country's as well, as Gates points out. However, in the speaker's case, the reason for this failure was a simple lack of awareness. This view sees the slave girl as completely brainwashed by the colonial captors and made to confess her inferiority in order to be accepted. On Being Brought from Africa to America by Phillis Wheatley is a short, eight-line poem that is structured with a rhyme scheme of AABBCCDD. As Christian people, they are supposed to be "refin'd," or to behave in a blessed and educated manner. This means that each line, with only a couple of questionable examples, is made up of five sets of two beats. The speaker takes the high moral ground and is not bitter or resentful - rather the voice is calm and grateful. . Recent critics looking at the whole body of her work have favorably established the literary quality of her poems and her unique historical achievement. Full text. The poem was published in 1773 when it was included in her book, Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral. Some view our sable race with scornful eye. Wheatley, Phillis, Complete Writings, edited by Vincent Carretta, Penguin Books, 2001. She wants them all to know that she was brought by mercy to America and to religion. The title of one Wheatley's most (in)famous poems, "On being brought from AFRICA to AMERICA" alludes to the experiences of many Africans who became subject to the transatlantic slave trade.Wheatley uses biblical references and direct address to appeal to a Christian audience, while also defending the ability of her "sable race" to become . The fur is highly valued). Once again, Wheatley co-opts the rhetoric of the other. 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. While it is true that her very ability to write such a poem defended her race against Jefferson's charge that black people were not intelligent enough to create poetry, an even worse charge for Wheatley would have been the association of the black race with unredeemable evilthe charge that the black race had no souls to save. Some view our sable race with scornful eye. Research the history of slavery in America and why it was an important topic for the founders in their planning for the country. China has ceased binding their feet. The poem consists of: Phillis Wheatley was abducted from her home in Africa at the age of 7 (in 1753) and taken by ship to America, where she ended up as the property of one John Wheatley, of Boston. Postcolonial criticism began to account for the experience and alienation of indigenous peoples who were colonized and changed by a controlling culture. It is also pointed out that Wheatley perhaps did not complain of slavery because she was a pampered house servant. She was baptized a Christian and began publishing her own poetry in her early teens. Soon as the sun forsook the eastern main. It is about a slave who cannot eat at the so-called "dinner table" because of the color of his skin. 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). This very religious poem is similar to many others that have been written over the last four hundred years. Hers is an inclusionary rhetoric, reinforcing the similarities between the audience and the speaker of the poem, indeed all "Christians," in an effort to expand the parameters of that word in the minds of her readers. 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. Remember, Christians, Negros, black as Cain. 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. 61, 1974, pp. When we consider how Wheatley manages these biblical allusions, particularly how she interprets them, we witness the extent to which she has become self-authorized as a result of her training and refinement. While it suggests the darkness of her African skin, it also resonates with the state of all those living in sin, including her audience. Into this arena Phillis Wheatley appeared with her proposal to publish her book of poems, at the encouragement of her mistress, Susanna Wheatley. Find related themes, quotes, symbols, characters, and more. Learning Objectives. Wheatley is guiding her readers to ask: How could good Christian people treat other human beings in such a horrific way? Wheatley's shift from first to third person in the first and second stanzas is part of this approach. Imperative language shows up in this poem in the last two lines. The pealing thunder shook the heav'nly plain; Majestic grandeur! The poem describes Wheatley's experience as a young girl who was enslaved and brought to the American colonies in 1761. The line leads the reader to reflect that Wheatley was not as naive, or as shielded from prejudice, as some have thought. She did light housework because of her frailty and often visited and conversed in the social circles of Boston, the pride of her masters. For example, "History is the long and tragic story . The Wheatleys noticed Phillis's keen intelligence and educated her alongside their own children. 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. Arthur P. Davis, writing in Critical Essays on Phillis Wheatley, comments that far from avoiding her black identity, Wheatley uses that identity to advantage in her poems and letters through "racial underscoring," often referring to herself as an "Ethiop" or "Afric." She describes Africa as a "Pagan land." The black race itself was thought to stem from the murderer and outcast Cain, of the Bible. Explore "On Being Brought from Africa to America" by Phillis Wheatley. 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. 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. Definitions and examples of 136 literary terms and devices. The soul, which is not a physical object, cannot be overwhelmed by darkness or night. All rights reserved. 120 seconds. An allusion is an indirect reference to, including but not limited to, an idea, event, or person. Wheatley's use of figurative language such as a metaphor and an allusion to spark an uproar and enlighten the reader of how Great Britain saw and treated America as if the young nation was below it. The poem is more complicated that it initially appears. In returning the reader circularly to the beginning of the poem, this word transforms its biblical authorization into a form of exemplary self-authorization. One critical problem has been an incomplete collection of Wheatley's work. 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." This color, the speaker says, may think is a sign of the devil. Rather than a direct appeal to a specific group, one with which the audience is asked to identify, this short poem is a meditation on being black and Christian in colonial America. Wheatley wrote in neoclassical couplets of iambic pentameter, following the example of the most popular English poet of the times, Alexander Pope. for the Use of Schools. Poetic devices are thin on the ground in this short poem but note the thread of silent consonants brought/Taught/benighted/sought and the hard consonants scornful/diabolic/black/th'angelic which bring texture and contrast to the sound. Such a person did not fit any known stereotype or category. The Arena Media Brands, LLC and respective content providers to this website may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Most descriptions tell what the literary elements do to enhance the story. May be refin'd, and join th' angelic train. The line in which the reference appears also conflates Christians and Negroes, making the mark of Cain a reference to any who are unredeemed. Wheatley was then abducted by slave traders and brought to America in 1761. . , Slaves felt that Christianity validated their equality with their masters. Recently, critics like James Levernier have tried to provide a more balanced view of Wheatley's achievement by studying her style within its historical context. CRITICAL OVERVIEW Here Wheatley seems to agree with the point of view of her captors that Africa is pagan and ignorant of truth and that she was better off leaving there (though in a poem to the Earl of Dartmouth she laments that she was abducted from her sorrowing parents). Provides readers with strategies for facilitating language learning and literacy learning. In this poem Wheatley finds various ways to defeat assertions alleging distinctions between the black and the white races (O'Neale). Her strategy relies on images, references, and a narrative position that would have been strikingly familiar to her audience. 1-7. With almost a third of her poetry written as elegies on the deaths of various people, Wheatley was probably influenced by the Puritan funeral elegy of colonial America, explains Gregory Rigsby in the College Language Association Journal. She belonged to a revolutionary family and their circle, and although she had English friends, when the Revolution began, she was on the side of the colonists, reflecting, of course, on the hope of future liberty for her fellow slaves as well. By making religion a matter between God and the individual soul, an Evangelical belief, she removes the discussion from social opinion or reference. (Born Thelma Lucille Sayles) American poet, autobiographer, and author of children's books. 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. (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1998), p.98. Black people, who were enslaved and thought of as evil by some people, can be of Christian faith and go to Heaven. So many in the world do not know God or Christ. An online version of Wheatley's poetry collection, including "On Being Brought from Africa to America.". Being brought from Africa to America, otherwise known as the transatlantic slave trade, was a horrific and inhumane experience for millions of African people. Source: Mary McAleer Balkun, "Phillis Wheatley's Construction of Otherness and the Rhetoric of Performed Ideology," in African American Review, Vol. Ironically, this authorization occurs through the agency of a black female slave. She admits that people are scornful of her race and that she came from a pagan background. Christians Tracing the fight for equality and womens rights through poetry. Susanna Wheatley, her mistress, became a second mother to her, and Wheatley adopted her mistress's religion as her own, thus winning praise in the Boston of her day as being both an intelligent and spiritual being. Andersen holds a PhD in literature and teaches literature and writing. Question 4 (2 points) Identify a type of figurative language in the following lines of Phillis Wheatley's On Being Brought from Africa to America. If Wheatley's image of "angelic train" participates in the heritage of such poetic discourse, then it also suggests her integration of aesthetic authority and biblical authority at this final moment of her poem. It also talks about how they were looked at differently because of the difference in the color of their skin. America's leading color-field painter, Rothko experi- enced the existential alienation of the postwar era. Just as the American founders looked to classical democracy for models of government, American poets attempted to copy the themes and spirit of the classical authors of Greece and Rome. In fact, the whole thrust of the poem is to prove the paradox that in being enslaved, she was set free in a spiritual sense. Wheatley was bought as a starving child and transformed into a prodigy in a few short years of training. On Being Brought from Africa to America Summary & Analysis. Africa, the physical continent, cannot be pagan. An overview of Wheatley's life and work. 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). Though a slave when the book was published in England, she was set free based on its success. Illustrated Works Today: Since the Vietnam War, military service represents one of the equalizing opportunities for blacks to gain education, status, and benefits. 43, No. 2, Summer 1993, pp. By Phillis Wheatley. In fact, all three readings operate simultaneously to support Wheatley's argument. Only eighteen of the African Americans were free. 7Remember, Christians, Negros, black as Cain. The "allusion" is a passing comment on the subject. West Africa The Quakers were among the first to champion the abolition of slavery. A discussionof Phillis Wheatley's controversial status within the African American community. The poem consists of: A single stanza of eight lines, with full rhyme and classic iambic pentameter beat, it basically says that black people can become Christian believers and in this respect are just the same as everyone else. Wheatley was in the midst of the historic American Revolution in the Boston of the 1770s. 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. The liberty she takes here exceeds her additions to the biblical narrative paraphrased in her verse "Isaiah LXIII. Wheatley may also be using the rhetorical device of bringing up the opponent's worst criticism in order to defuse it. By Phillis Wheatley. Some view our sable race with scornful eye, While in London to promote her poems, Wheatley also received treatment for chronic asthma. The rest of the poem is assertive and reminds her readers (who are mostly white people) that all humans are equal and capable of joining "th' angelic train." This, she thinks, means that anyone, no matter their skin tone or where theyre from, can find God and salvation. An overview of Wheatley's life and work. Q. However, the date of retrieval is often important. //]]>. That is, she applies the doctrine to the black race. Wheatley perhaps included the reference to Cain for dramatic effect, to lead into the Christian doctrine of forgiveness, emphasized in line 8. How do her concerns differ or converge with other black authors? It has a steady rhythm, the classic iambic pentameter of five beats per line giving it a traditional pace when reading: Twas mer / cy brought / me from / my Pag / an land, Taught my / benight / ed soul / to und / erstand. Merriam-Webster defines a pagan as "a person holding religious beliefs other than those of the main world religions." More on Wheatley's work from PBS, including illustrations of her poems and a portraitof the poet herself. And indeed, Wheatley's use of the expression "angelic train" probably refers to more than the divinely chosen, who are biblically identified as celestial bodies, especially stars (Daniel 12:13); this biblical allusion to Isaiah may also echo a long history of poetic usage of similar language, typified in Milton's identification of the "gems of heaven" as the night's "starry train" (Paradise Lost 4:646). On the other hand, by bringing up Cain, she confronts the popular European idea that the black race sprang from Cain, who murdered his brother Abel and was punished by having a mark put on him as an outcast. Each poem has a custom designed teaching point about poetic elements and forms. Either of these implications would have profoundly disturbed the members of the Old South Congregational Church in Boston, which Wheatley joined in 1771, had they detected her "ministerial" appropriation of the authority of scripture. For Wheatley's management of the concept of refinement is doubly nuanced in her poem. Beginning in 1958, a shift from bright to darker hues accompanied the deepening depression that ultimately led him . Question 14. May be refin'd, and join th' angelic train. On the page this poem appears as a simple eight-line poem, but when taking a closer look, it is seen that Wheatley has been very deliberate and careful. Encyclopedia.com gives you the ability to cite reference entries and articles according to common styles from the Modern Language Association (MLA), The Chicago Manual of Style, and the American Psychological Association (APA). Does she feel a conflict about these two aspects of herself, or has she found an integrated identity? Trauma dumping, digital nomad, nearlywed, petfluencer and antifragile. The pair of ten-syllable rhymesthe heroic coupletwas thought to be the closest English equivalent to classical meter. The use of th and refind rather than the and refined in this line is an example of syncope. In the following excerpt, Balkun analyzes "On Being Brought from Africa to America" and asserts that Wheatley uses the rhetoric of white culture to manipulate her audience. PART B: Which phrase from the text best supports the answer to Part A? It seems most likely that Wheatley refers to the sinful quality of any person who has not seen the light of God. This is a metaphor. This is why she can never love tyranny. There was no precedent for it. She is both in America and actively seeking redemption because God himself has willed it. The first episode in a special series on the womens movement. FRANK BIDART Accessed 4 March 2023. As the final word of this very brief poem, train is situated to draw more than average attention to itself. Cain murdered his brother and was marked for the rest of time. "On Being Brought from Africa to America" is a poem written by Phillis Wheatley, published in her 1773 poetry collection "Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral." The effect is to place the "some" in a degraded position, one they have created for themselves through their un-Christian hypocrisy. Lines 1 to 4 here represent such a typical meditation, rejoicing in being saved from a life of sin. Structure. One of Wheatley's better known pieces of poetry is "On being brought from Africa to America.". The difficulties she may have encountered in America are nothing to her, compared to possibly having remained unsaved. copyright 2003-2023 Study.com. It is organized into four couplets, which are two rhymed lines of verse. The speaker uses metaphors, when reading in a superficial manner, causes the reader to think the speaker is self-deprecating. "On Being Brought from Africa to America" is a poem written by Phillis Wheatley, published in her 1773 poetry collection "Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral." The poem describes Wheatley's experience as a young girl who was enslaved and brought to the American colonies in 1761. Line 4 goes on to further illustrate how ignorant Wheatley was before coming to America: she did not even know enough to seek the redemption of her soul. 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.