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Phillis Wheatley, "On Being Brought from Africa"

BIOGRAPHY

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Life and Works

Read carefully the biographies linked to the Related Links page. What light do they shed on the possible meanings for this poem?

Comparison and Subtexts

Read several of Wheatley's poems, especially "On Imagination," "To the University of Cambridge in New-England," and "To the Right Honorable William, Earl of Dartmouth." Look carefully for words and images which might have meanings beyond the surface as well as connections to this poem. In particular, look for images and themes which relate to liberation or to the sun, whose worship Wheatley recalled as a memory of her mother and Africa. Consider how we might read these poems today in comparison to how they were likely read in the eighteenth century.

Presentation of the Poet

Like slave narratives of the nineteenth century, Phillis Wheatley's little book was "validated" to its readers by its preface. Consider a preface to a literary work that you might read today, and compare it with this one. What is implied about the author and the poem? Compare this paragraph with one or more of the prefaces to slave narratives such as the introduction to Harriet Jacobs's Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl or to Fredrick Douglass's Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave. What do these prefaces suggest about the projected readers and their evaluation of the artistic and intellectual qualifications of the writers?

Modern Responses

African Americans, especially women writers, have responded to Wheatley's poetry in different ways. Alice Walker writes about Wheatley in "In Search of Our Mother's Gardens" as a role model. Naomi Long Madgett has written a long poem, "Phillis,"  recreating her idea of Wheatley's life and conflicts. Look for other responses to her poetry—perhaps from your own class discussions, critics, or other writers. Why do you think that Wheatley's work often arouses very different responses and interpretations?

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