Phillis Wheatley
Phillis Wheatley
• Kidnapped in West Africa at 6 or 7
• Brought to America, sold to wealthy Boston
Wheatley family
• Educated by her mistress, Susannah Wheatley;
a highly unusual practice
• Taught to read and write more than doing
chores
Phillis Wheatley
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Learned Latin
Read English poets Milton and Pope
Was taught Bible and Christianity
Published first poem in The Mercury, a Rhode
Island newspaper at age 13 or 14
• Published elegy to Rev. George Whitefield 3
years later in The Massachusetts Spy
Phillis Wheatley
• Whitefield elegy also published in New York,
Philadelphia, Rhode Island, and London
• Became known internationally as “a Servant
Girl Belonging to Mr. J. Wheatley of Boston”
• By 1772 had collection of 28 poems to publish
but did not find patronage through Boston
newspaper ads
Phillis Wheatley
• With support of Susannah and Countess of
Huntingdon, travelled to England
• Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and
Moral pub. In Britain in 1773
• Hosted in London by Ben Franklin, Earl of
Dartmouth, and Lord Mayor of London
• Cut trip short to return to Boston to dying
Susannah
Phillis Wheatley
• Granted freedom by Susannah before
Susannah’s death
• Married but had serious financial difficulties
• Took work as scullery maid
• Never found patronage to pub. a second
volume of work
• Died in poverty
Phillis Wheatley
• Poetry characterized by neoclassical style:
– Controlled iambic pentameter
– Rhyming couplets
– Impersonal themes
– Lack of personal self-expression
Phillis Wheatley’s Achievements
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first African-American poet
first African-American woman poet
started the African-American literary tradition
started the African-American women's literary
tradition
• makes political comments supporting
American freedom from Britain
Thomas Jefferson on Phillis Wheatley’s
Poetry
• In Notes on the State of Virginia, Jefferson
commented:
“Religion has indeed produced a Phillis Whately
[sic] but it could not produce a poet. The
compositions published under her name are
below the dignity of criticism.”
Phillis Wheatley