A Short Analysis of Phillis Wheatley's 'On Being Brought from Africa to Look at the poems and letters of Phillis Wheatley, and find evidence of her two voices, African and American. Scribd is the world's largest social reading and publishing site. On Being Brought From Africa To America By Phillis Wheatley 974 Words 4 Pages To understand the real meaning of a literary work, we need to look into the meaning of each word and why the author has chosen these particular words and not different ones. An Analysis of "On Being Brought From Africa to America" by Phillis This phrase can be read as Wheatley's effort to have her privileged white audience understand for just a moment what it is like to be singled out as "diabolic." The reception became such because the poem does not explicitly challenge slavery and almost seems to subtly approve of it, in that it brought about the poet's Christianity. Because Wheatley stands at the beginning of a long tradition of African-American poetry, we thought we'd offer some . It also contains a lot of figurative language describing . To a Christian, it would seem that the hand of divine Providence led to her deliverance; God lifted her forcibly and dramatically out of that ignorance. It is also pointed out that Wheatley perhaps did not complain of slavery because she was a pampered house servant. 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. While it suggests the darkness of her African skin, it also resonates with the state of all those living in sin, including her audience. To the extent that the audience responds affirmatively to the statements and situations Wheatley has set forth in the poem, that is the extent to which they are authorized to use the classification "Christian." 4, 1974, p. 95. Therefore, that information is unavailable for most Encyclopedia.com content. Ironically, this authorization occurs through the agency of a black female slave. The first time Wheatley uses this is in line 1 where the speaker describes her "land," or Africa, as "pagan" or ungodly. Following are the main themes. Of course, her life was very different. Therefore, be sure to refer to those guidelines when editing your bibliography or works cited list. Whilst showing restraint and dignity, the speaker's message gets through plain and clear - black people are not evil and before God, all are welcome, none turned away. In fact, all three readings operate simultaneously to support Wheatley's argument. She knew redemption through this transition and banished all sorrow from her life. Poetry for Students. From the zephyr's wing, Exhales the incense of the blooming spring. Read Wheatley's poems and letters and compare her concerns, in an essay, to those of other African American authors of any period. Give a report on the history of Quaker involvement in the antislavery movement. Some view our sable race with scornful eye, Being made a slave is one thing, but having white Christians call black a diabolic dye, suggesting that black people are black because they're evil, is something else entirely. She describes Africa as a "Pagan land." Source: William J. Scheick, "Phillis Wheatley's Appropriation of Isaiah," in Early American Literature, Vol. In effect, both poems serve as litmus tests for true Christianity while purporting to affirm her redemption. Similarities Between A Raisin In The Sun And Langston Hughes Her strategy relies on images, references, and a narrative position that would have been strikingly familiar to her audience. It is spoken by Queen Gertrude. The way the content is organized. Descriptions are unrelated to the literary elements. Read more of Wheatley's poems and write a paper comparing her work to some of the poems of her eighteenth-century model. The difficulties she may have encountered in America are nothing to her, compared to possibly having remained unsaved. HISTORY of the CHRISTIAN CHURCH 1 1 Schaff, Philip, History of the Christian Church, (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.) 1997. . Please continue to help us support the fight against dementia with Alzheimer's Research Charity. 92-93, 97, 101, 115. Figures of speech are literary devices that are also used throughout our society and help relay important ideas in a meaningful way. On being brought from AFRICA to AMERICA The capitalization of AFRICA and AMERICA follows a norm of written language as codified in Joshua Bradley's 1815 text A Brief, Practical System of Punctuation To Which are added Rules Respecting the Uses of Capitals , Etc. Her slave masters encouraged her to read and write. The world as an awe-inspiring reflection of God's will, rather than human will, was a Christian doctrine that Wheatley saw in evidence around her and was the reason why, despite the current suffering of her race, she could hope for a heavenly future. Poetry Analysis : America By Phillis Wheatley - 1079 Words | Bartleby Most of the slaves were held on the southern plantations, but blacks were house servants in the North, and most wealthy families were expected to have them. Wheatley proudly offers herself as proof of that miracle. Cain murdered his brother and was marked for the rest of time. Conducted Reading Tour of the South It is about a slave who cannot eat at the so-called "dinner table" because of the color of his skin. What were their beliefs about slavery? Once I redemption neither sought nor knew. The prosperous Wheatley family of Boston had several slaves, but the poet was treated from the beginning as a companion to the family and above the other servants. For example, Saviour and sought in lines three and four as well as diabolic die in line six. the English people have a tremendous hatred for God. Each poem has a custom designed teaching point about poetic elements and forms. 135-40. That is, she applies the doctrine to the black race. This position called for a strategy by which she cleverly empowered herself with moral authority through irony, the critic claims in a Style article. of the - ccel.org Wheatley's verse generally reveals this conscious concern with poetic grace, particularly in terms of certain eighteenth-century models (Davis; Scruggs). She was the first African American woman to publish a book of poetry and was brought to America and enslaved in 1761. In this poem, Wheatley posits that all people, from all races, can be saved by Christianity. . Wheatley went to London because publishers in America were unwilling to work with a Black author. 233, 237. Later generations of slaves were born into captivity. The multiple meanings of the line "Remember, Christians, Negroes black as Cain" (7), with its ambiguous punctuation and double entendres, have become a critical commonplace in analyses of the poem. Some view our sable race with scornful eye. Poem Solutions Limited International House, 24 Holborn Viaduct,London, EC1A 2BN, United Kingdom, Discover and learn about the greatest poetry ever straight to your inbox, Discover and learn about the greatest poetry, straight to your inbox. In appealing to these two audiences, Wheatley's persona assumes a dogmatic ministerial voice. According to Merriam-Webster, benighted has two definitions. The masters, on the other hand, claimed that the Bible recorded and condoned the practice of slavery. But in line 5, there is a shift in the poem. Nevertheless, that an eighteenth-century woman (who was not a Quaker) should take on this traditionally male role is one surprise of Wheatley's poem. Slaves felt that Christianity validated their equality with their masters. 30 seconds. The speaker, a slave brought from Africa to America by whites magnifies the discrepancy between the whites' perception of blacks and the reality of the situation. Endnotes. (PDF) Taking Offense Religion, Art, and Visual Culture in Plural Davis, Arthur P., "The Personal Elements in the Poetry of Phillis Wheatley," in Critical Essays on Phillis Wheatley, edited by William H. Robinson, G. K. Hall, 1982, p. 95. Detailed quotes explanations with page numbers for every important quote on the site. Phillis Wheatley: Complete Writings (2001), which includes "On Being Brought from Africa to America," finally gives readers a chance to form their own opinions, as they may consider this poem against the whole body of Wheatley's poems and letters. 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. She wrote them for people she knew and for prominent figures, such as for George Whitefield, the Methodist minister, the elegy that made her famous. Phillis was known as a prodigy, devouring the literary classics and the poetry of the day. William Robinson, in Phillis Wheatley and Her Writings, brings up the story that Wheatley remembered of her African mother pouring out water in a sunrise ritual. This has been a typical reading, especially since the advent of African American criticism and postcolonial criticism. This strategy is also evident in her use of the word benighted to describe the state of her soul (2). Write an essay and give evidence for your findings from the poems and letters and the history known about her life. 215-33. Smith, Eleanor, "Phillis Wheatley: A Black Perspective," in Journal of Negro Education, Vol. On Being Brought from Africa to America Summary & Analysis - LitCharts "On Being Brought from Africa to America" is a statement of pride and comfort in who she is, though she gives the credit to God for the blessing. 2, Summer 1993, pp. As placed in Wheatley's poem, this allusion can be read to say that being white (silver) is no sign of privilege (spiritually or culturally) because God's chosen are refined (purified, made spiritually white) through the afflictions that Christians and Negroes have in common, as mutually benighted descendants of Cain. (including. A soul in darkness to Wheatley means someone unconverted. 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. Patricia Liggins Hill, et. This color, the speaker says, may think is a sign of the devil. African American Protest Poetry - National Humanities Center May be refin'd, and join th' angelic train. Form two groups and hold a debate on the topic. 12th Grade English: Homework Help Resource, Works by African American Writers: Homework Help, Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison: Summary & Characters, Psychological Research & Experimental Design, All Teacher Certification Test Prep Courses, "On Being Brought from Africa to America" by Phillis Wheatley, "On Being Brought from Africa to America" Summary, "On Being Brought from Africa to America" Analysis, British Prose for 12th Grade: Homework Help, British Poetry for 12th Grade: Homework Help, British Plays for 12th Grade: Homework Help, The Harlem Renaissance: Novels and Poetry from the Jazz Age, W.E.B. 253 Words2 Pages. Irony is also common in neoclassical poetry, with the building up and then breaking down of expectations, and this occurs in lines 7 and 8. In returning the reader circularly to the beginning of the poem, this word transforms its biblical authorization into a form of exemplary self-authorization. Too young to be sold in the West Indies or the southern colonies, she was . For Wheatley's management of the concept of refinement is doubly nuanced in her poem. This article needs attention from an expert in linguistics.The specific problem is: There seems to be some confusion surrounding the chronology of Arabic's origination, including notably in the paragraph on Qaryat Al-Faw (also discussed on talk).There are major sourcing gaps from "Literary Arabic" onwards. Phillis Wheatley became famous in her time for her elegant poetry with Christian themes of redemption. His art moved from figurative abstraction to nonrepresentational multiform grids of glowing, layered colors (Figure 15). She was taught theology, English, Latin, Greek, mythology, literature, geography, and astronomy. The power of the poem of heroic couplets is that it builds upon its effect, with each couplet completing a thought, creating the building blocks of a streamlined argument. PDF Popular Rap Songs With Figurative Language / Cgeprginia In "On Being Brought from Africa to America," the author, Phillis Wheatley uses diction and punctuation to develop a subtle ironic tone. Conditions on board some of the slave ships are known to have been horrendous; many died from illness; many were drowned. "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." Rigsby, Gregory, "Form and Content in Phillis Wheatley's Elegies," in College Language Association Journal, Vol. While in London to promote her poems, Wheatley also received treatment for chronic asthma. When the un-Christian speak of "their color," they might just as easily be pointing to the white members of the audience who have accepted the invitation into Wheatley's circle. Even before the Revolution, black slaves in Massachusetts were making legal petitions for their freedom on the basis of their natural rights. More Than 300 Words Were Just Added to Dictionary.com She published her first poem in 1767, later becoming a household name. That same year, an elegy that she wrote upon the death of the Methodist preacher George Whitefield made her famous both in America and in England. STYLE By writing the poem in couplets, Wheatley helps the reader assimilate one idea at a time. On Being Brought from Africa to America. In line 1 of "On Being Brought from Africa to America," as she does throughout her poems and letters, Wheatley praises the mercy of God for singling her out for redemption. February 2023, Oakland Curator: Jan Watten Diaspora is a vivid word. This failed due to doubt that a slave could write poetry. PART B: Which phrase from the text best supports the answer to Part A? Some of the best include: Sign up to unveil the best kept secrets in poetry, Home Phillis Wheatley On Being Brought from Africa to America. succeed. The two allusions to Isaiah in particular initially serve to authorize her poem; then, in their circular reflexivity apropos the poem itself, they metamorphose into a form of self-authorization. to America") was published by Archibald Bell of London. While it is a short poem a lot of information can be taken away from it. The first is "overtaken by darkness or night," and the second is "existing in a state of intellectual, moral, or social darkness." The speaker's declared salvation and the righteous anger that seems barely contained in her "reprimand" in the penultimate line are reminiscent of the rhetoric of revivalist preachers. She was thus part of the emerging dialogue of the new republic, and her poems to leading public figures in neoclassical couplets, the English version of the heroic meters of the ancient Greek poet Homer, were hailed as masterpieces. 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. She was bought by Susanna Wheatley, the wife of a Boston merchant, and given a name composed from the name of the slave ship, "Phillis," and her master's last name. On paper, these words seemingly have nothing in common. She makes this clear by . Derived from the surface of Wheatley's work, this appropriate reading has generally been sensitive to her political message and, at the same time, critically negligent concerning her artistic embodiment of this message in the language and execution of her poem. Henry Louis Gates, Jr., claims in The Trials of Phillis Wheatley that Boston contained about a thousand African Americans out of a population of 15,520. Phillis Wheatley was an internationally known American poet of the late 18th century. Enrolling in a course lets you earn progress by passing quizzes and exams. She demonstrates in the course of her art that she is no barbarian from a "Pagan land" who raises Cain (in the double sense of transgressing God and humanity). Shields, John C., "Phillis Wheatley and the Sublime," in Critical Essays on Phillis Wheatley, edited by William H. Robinson, G. K. Hall, 1982, pp. Rather than creating distinctions, the speaker actually collapses those which the "some" have worked so hard to create and maintain, the source of their dwindling authority (at least within the precincts of the poem). As cited by Robinson, he wonders, "What white person upon this continent has written more beautiful lines?". Phillis Wheatley: Biography, Books & Facts | StudySmarter Erkkila's insight into Wheatley's dualistic voice, which allowed her to blend various points of view, is validated both by a reading of her complete works and by the contemporary model of early transatlantic black literature, which enlarges the boundaries of reference for her achievement. 372-73. Phillis Wheatley was abducted from her home in Africa at the age of 7 (in 1753) and taken by ship to America, where . Thus, John Wheatley collected a council of prominent and learned men from Boston to testify to Phillis Wheatley's authenticity. An online version of Wheatley's poetry collection, including "On Being Brought from Africa to America.". Her poems thus typically move dramatically in the same direction, from an extreme point of sadness (here, the darkness of the lost soul and the outcast, Cain) to the certainty of the saved joining the angelic host (regardless of the color of their skin). Throughout the poem, the speaker talks about God's mercy and the indifferent attitude of the people toward the African-American community. In the South, masters frequently forbade slaves to learn to read or gather in groups to worship or convert other slaves, as literacy and Christianity were potent equalizing forces. The last two lines of the poem make use of imperative language, which is language that gives a command or tells the reader what to do. "On Being Brought from Africa to America 103-104. She wants them all to know that she was brought by mercy to America and to religion. She does more here than remark that representatives of the black race may be refined into angelic mattermade, as it were, spiritually white through redemptive Christianizing. She was kidnapped and enslaved at age seven. This question was discussed by the Founding Fathers and the first American citizens as well as by people in Europe. She admits that people are scornful of her race and that she came from a pagan background. In "On Being Brought from Africa to America," Wheatley identifies herself first and foremost as a Christian, rather than as African or American, and asserts everyone's equality in God's sight.
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