Essays on Phillis Wheatley

Part One

Phillis Wheatley was an eighteenth century poet born in West Africa and was enslaved on American soil in 1761. Despite her slave status, Wheatley had received an unprecedented education on classicism, Christianity, and literature. Wheatley wrote two significant letters, the first was to her fellow servant friend from the Tanner’s estate in 1772. The letter had discussed her enthusiasm for Christianity and her positive view towards her African heritage. The following letter in 1774 was directed to Rev. Occom in appreciation for the reverend’s argument against treatment towards African people. Her writing often included Biblical references as ...

Poetry is often created by authors to deliver a message. For some, poetry is the window to one’s emotions. For others, poetry is a device to express a theme. In this paper, two poems shed light on certain aspects of my life that are congruent to the message that the poem wishes to convey.

“Upon the Burning of our House” by Anne Bradstreet describes the tension between attachment to material objects and the focus on the Divine Being. “The flame consume my dwelling place” (Bradstreet, 1666, Line 12) signifies the fire that engulfed the house. There are several earthly ...

Just like any other literatures across the world, American literature was highly dependent on the history occurrences and events in the country. After the arrival of the British colonialists to the Americas, America was not a nation as it is today. The country was comprised of a number of colonies that were distributed throughout North America. During the colonial times in America, neo-classical literature was characteristic for many writers at the time. Neoclassical literature existed in the United States for over a century approximately from the 1660s to the 1790s after the United States had acquired independence from the British. Considering that ...

Most of the poems of Phillis Wheatley and Anne Bradstreet address the themes of religion, slavery, gender and race. In my work, I will pay close attention to the themes of gender and race. The theme of gender and race brings out the inequality and unfairness of the society. From the poems of both writers, men consider themselves superior beings and say that women must show respect and remain submissive always. The place of women in the society is undermined, and their roles not clearly defined. On issues of race, the white Englishmen claim to be the masters of ...

Introduction

African American literature was born at the end of the 18th century, during the period when the African American people were still going through slavery. Slaves were seen to be less than human and not able to study sciences or arts. White Philosophers during this time viewed slaves as inferior including those that wrote The Norton Anthology of African American Literature (Nellie McKay and Henry Louis Gates Jr.) as well as Immanuel Kant and David Hume. The philosophers noted that the African American people, nicknamed as ‘Negroes’ by then were inferior to the white people, and they did not ...

Plan / Outline

In order to reflect the challenges that has been faced by the African-American literature, the paper plans to compare the content of two poems. One poem is written in the 1950’s era which was a difficult and crucial period for the African Americans, while the other one has been written in the contemporary era to highlight the work of the poet of that poem and how African American literature survived in Amercia. The essay has also quoted examples from the essay to make it more simple and explainable. - Introduction - This paper aims to compare and ...

Summary and critical review of ‘To His Excellency General Washington’

Introduction I do not think Phillis Wheatley should have written a letter to George Washington praising him for fighting for America’s freedom. I believe she should have addressed the fact the she was brought to America from Africa as a slave. She should have written about the freedom for the African’s that were enslaved for hundreds of years, instead of worrying about George Washington’s fight for America’s freedom. In the following analysis of the letter of introduction, and the subsequent poem, Phillis Wheatley comes across as a poet who was out of touch with her roots and ...

Great Black Women of the World

Part I: (Please Add where in your textbook to find the appropriate topic: Slavery, racism, women’s issues) I have written about two African women sold into slavery Abina and Ama and about Mary Church Terrell. Terrell is a great African-American woman who not many people know about. I did not know about her until I started browsing the web links that were suggested for this assignment. Ama and Terrell show the same strength and spirit as Abina. They are all women with a strong sense of what is right and what is wrong in the world. Two were born in Ghana ...

Phillis Wheatley and Frederick Douglass are two of the most important voices in the early slave and African American narrative. Phillis Wheatley being one of the biggest child poet prodigies of her time, her works are filled with hope and candor regarding her fellow blacks, both slave and non-slave. Frederick Douglass, as one of the foremost scholars, orators and politicians of his time, spoke from a much more authoritative and straightforward perspective on his works. Both their tones and attitudes, specifically as they speak to unique audiences, are quite different, and they will be explored in detail as they pertain ...