1'Twas mercy brought me from my Pagan land. Redemption in that, the subject is saved from her pagan way of life. (read the full definition & explanation with examples), Read the full text of “On Being Brought from Africa to America”, Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral, "The Privileged and Impoverished Life of Phillis Wheatley". (January 12, 2021). This word functions not only as a biblical allusion, but also as an echo of the opening two lines of the poem: "'Twas mercy brought me from my Pagan land, / Taught my benighted soul to understand." In the poem, she gives thanks for having been brought to America, where she was raised to be a Christian. Although he, as well as many other prominent men, condemned slavery as an unjust practice for the country, he nevertheless held slaves, as did many abolitionists. Phillis Wheatley Peters, also spelled Phyllis and Wheatly (c. 1753 – December 5, 1784) was the first African-American author of a published book of poetry. Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral 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. In the final four lines of the poem, she discusses that all people, no matter race, religion, etc. Won Pulitzer Prize Thus, in order to participate fully in the meaning of the poem, the audience must reject the false authority of the "some," an authority now associated with racism and hypocrisy, and accept instead the authority that the speaker represents, an authority based on the tenets of Christianity. assessments in his edited volume Critical Essays on Phillis Wheatley. A second biblical allusion occurs in the word train. Just as she included a typical racial sneer, she includes the myth of blacks springing from Cain. An example is the precedent of General Colin Powell, who served as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the Gulf War (a post equal to Washington's during the Revolution). 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." Further, because the membership of the "some" is not specified (aside from their common attitude), the audience is not automatically classified as belonging with them. The question of slavery weighed heavily on the revolutionaries, for it ran counter to the principles of government that they were fighting for. Eleanor Smith, in her 1974 article in the Journal of Negro Education, pronounces Wheatley too white in her values to be of any use to black people. 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. Cain Her choice of pronoun might be a subtle allusion to ownership of black slaves by whites, but it also implies "ownership" in a more communal and spiritual sense. From the creators of SparkNotes, something better. Lines 1 to 4 here represent such a typical meditation, rejoicing in being saved from a life of sin. 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. Through her rhetoric of performed ideology, Wheatley revises the implied meaning of the word Christian to include African Americans. She had written her first poem by 1765 and was published in 1767, when she was thirteen or fourteen, in the Newport Mercury. Perhaps her sense of self in this instance demonstrates the degree to which she took to heart Enlightenment theories concerning personal liberty as an innate human right; these theories were especially linked to the abolitionist arguments advanced by the New England clergy with whom she had contact (Levernier, "Phillis"). Wheatley’s work is convincing based on its content. Boren, M.E. 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. Phillis Wheatley’s poem “On Being Brought from Africa to America” presented to its audience various mixed ideas and her positive position as being a slave. Of course, Wheatley's poetry does document a black experience in America, namely, Wheatley's alone, in her unique and complex position as slave, Christian, American, African, and woman of letters. Wheatley, Phillis, Complete Writings, edited by Vincent Carretta, Penguin Books, 2001. 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. 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. The impact of the racial problems in Revolutionary America on Wheatley's reputation should not be underrated. Who is Phillis Wheatley’s audience in this poem? Albeit grammatically correct, this comma creates a trace of syntactic ambiguity that quietly instates both Christians and Negroes as the mutual offspring of Cain who are subject to refinement by divine grace. The need for a postcolonial criticism arose in the twentieth century, as centuries of European political domination of foreign lands were coming to a close. Because she was physically frail, she did light housework in the Wheatley household and was a favorite companion to Susanna. 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. This has been a typical reading, especially since the advent of African American criticism and postcolonial criticism. SOURCES Some readers, looking for protests against slavery in her work, have been disenchanted upon instead finding poems like "On Being Brought from Africa to America" to reveal a meek acceptance of her slave fate. On Being Brought From Africa to America is an unusual poem because it was written by a black woman who was a slave back in the days when black people could be bought and sold at will by white owners.. A single stanza of eight lines, with full rhyme and classic iambic pentameter beat, it basically says that black … "May be refined" can be read either as synonymous for ‘can’ or as a warning: No one, neither Christians nor Negroes, should take salvation for granted. Do you think that the judgment in the 1970s by black educators that Wheatley does not teach values that are good for African American students has merit today? The inclusion of the white prejudice in the poem is very effective, for it creates two effects. Cite this article Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography. Form two groups and hold a debate on the topic. 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." If the "angelic train" of her song actually enacts or performs her argument—that an African-American can be trained (taught to understand) the refinements of religion and art—it carries a still more subtle suggestion of self-authorization. In the event that what is at stake has not been made evident enough, Wheatley becomes most explicit in the concluding lines. 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). It is no accident that what follows in the final lines is a warning about the rewards for the redeemed after death when they "join th' angelic train" (8). William Robinson provides the diverse early. on being brought from africa to america intended audience Andersen holds a PhD in literature and teaches literature and writing. This essay investigates Jefferson's scientific inquiry into racial differences and his conclusions that Native Americans are intelligent and that African Americans are not. may be "refin'd, and join th' angelic train" to eventually meet God in Heaven. The masters, on the other hand, claimed that the Bible recorded and condoned the practice of slavery. FURT…, Wheatley, Phillis 257-77. These ideas of freedom and the natural rights of human beings were so potent that they were seized by all minorities and ethnic groups in the ensuing years and applied to their own cases. Instant downloads of all 1392 LitChart PDFs Washington was pleased and replied to her. By tapping into the common humanity that lies at the heart of Christian doctrine, Wheatley poses a gentle but powerful challenge to racism in America. It seems most likely that Wheatley refers to the sinful quality of any person who has not seen the light of God. 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