{"id":80,"date":"2026-08-31T16:52:17","date_gmt":"2026-08-31T16:52:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-1776\/?page_id=80"},"modified":"2026-08-31T16:55:42","modified_gmt":"2026-08-31T16:55:42","slug":"phillis-wheatley-poems","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-1776\/course-syllabus\/phillis-wheatley-poems\/","title":{"rendered":"Phillis Wheatley poems"},"content":{"rendered":"

INTRODUCTION<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Wheatley\"<\/a>
Phillis Wheatley, age 20 (Library of America<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Phillis Wheatley (1753-1784)<\/a> was born in Africa, kidnapped and enslaved at the age of seven, and then forced into domestic service for the Boston family of John and Susanna Wheatley.   During the 1760s and 1770s, Phillis Wheatley was enslaved in Boston but learned how to read and write, and proved to be a true prodigy as a poet.  She began publishing poems in local newspapers in the late 1760s and became something of a celebrity by the early 1770s.  Her first published collection of 28 poems, Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral <\/em>(1773) appeared in London and included \u201cOn Being Brought From Africa to America,\u201d which is presented below and which many now regard as her most famous literary effort.  Later, during the American Revolution, Wheatley also achieved additional fame for supporting the patriot cause and for praising George Washington in a poem, which she sent to him directly and which he acknowledged in correspondence.  The Wheatley family had a complicated relationship with Phillis Peters (the name she took once she married John Peters, a free black Bostonian).  The family, especially Susanna Wheatley, promoted the young black poet but kept her enslaved until they finally manumitted her in 1774.  In October 1775, Wheatley wrote a poem celebrating George Washington’s appointment as General in Chief of the Continental Army (made in June) and sent it to him.  He responded in February 1776 and shortly afterward, her poem, “To His Excellency General Washington” was published.  During her years in freedom, Phillis Peters continued to write poetry in Boston but often struggled with various financial and family difficulties such as losing multiple children to illness and enduring the absences of her husband.  She died essentially alone in 1784 at the age of 31, but left behind a legacy of nearly 150 poems that helped define her age while challenging, however subtly, the paradox and injustice of slavery and racism that existed beside the American revolutionary ideals of natural rights and democracy.<\/p>\n

\n

On Being Brought from Africa to America (1773)<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Twas mercy brought me from my Pagan<\/em> land,
\nTaught my benighted soul to understand
\nThat there\u2019s a God, that there\u2019s a Saviour<\/em> too:
\nOnce I redemption neither sought nor knew.
\nSome view our sable race with scornful eye,
\n\u201cTheir colour is a diabolic die.\u201d
\nRemember, Christians<\/em>, Negros<\/em>, black as Cain<\/em>,
\nMay be refin\u2019d, and join th\u2019 angelic train.<\/p>\n

\"Printed<\/a>
Wheatley\u2019s poem, 1773 (Internet Archive<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n

To His Excellency General Washington (1776)<\/h2>\n

Celestial choir! enthron’d in realms of light,<\/span>
\nColumbia’s scenes of glorious toils I write.<\/span>
\nWhile freedom’s cause her anxious breast alarms,<\/span>
\nShe flashes dreadful in refulgent arms.<\/span>
\nSee mother earth her offspring’s fate bemoan,<\/span>
\nAnd nations gaze at scenes before unknown!<\/span>
\nSee the bright beams of heaven’s revolving light<\/span>
\nInvolved in sorrows and the veil of night!<\/span><\/p>\n

   The Goddess comes, she moves divinely fair,<\/span>
\nOlive and laurel binds Her golden hair:<\/span>
\nWherever shines this native of the skies,<\/span>
\nUnnumber’d charms and recent graces rise.<\/span><\/p>\n

   Muse! Bow propitious while my pen relates<\/span>
\nHow pour her armies through a thousand gates,<\/span>
\nAs when Eolus heaven’s fair face deforms,<\/span>
\nEnwrapp’d in tempest and a night of storms;<\/span>
\nAstonish’d ocean feels the wild uproar,<\/span>
\nThe refluent surges beat the sounding shore;<\/span>
\nOr think as leaves in Autumn’s golden reign,<\/span>
\nSuch, and so many, moves the warrior’s train.<\/span>
\nIn bright array they seek the work of war,<\/span>
\nWhere high unfurl’d the ensign waves in air.<\/span>
\nShall I to Washington their praise recite?<\/span>
\nEnough thou know’st them in the fields of fight.<\/span>
\nThee, first in peace and honors\u2014we demand<\/span>
\nThe grace and glory of thy martial band.<\/span>
\nFam’d for thy valour, for thy virtues more,<\/span>
\nHear every tongue thy guardian aid implore!<\/span><\/p>\n

   One century scarce perform’d its destined round,<\/span>
\nWhen Gallic powers Columbia’s fury found;<\/span>
\nAnd so may you, whoever dares disgrace<\/span>
\nThe land of freedom’s heaven-defended race!<\/span>
\nFix’d are the eyes of nations on the scales,<\/span>
\nFor in their hopes Columbia’s arm prevails.<\/span>
\nAnon Britannia droops the pensive head,<\/span>
\nWhile round increase the rising hills of dead.<\/span>
\nAh! Cruel blindness to Columbia’s state!<\/span>
\nLament thy thirst of boundless power too late.<\/span><\/p>\n

   Proceed, great chief, with virtue on thy side,<\/span>
\nThy ev’ry action let the Goddess guide.<\/span>
\nA crown, a mansion, and a throne that shine,<\/span>
\nWith gold unfading, WASHINGTON! Be thine.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

INTRODUCTION Phillis Wheatley, age 20 (Library of America) Phillis Wheatley (1753-1784) was born in Africa, kidnapped and enslaved at the age of seven, and then forced into domestic service for the Boston family of John and Susanna Wheatley.   During the 1760s and 1770s, Phillis Wheatley was enslaved in Boston but learned how to read and write, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":373,"featured_media":0,"parent":20,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-80","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-1776\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/80","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-1776\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-1776\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-1776\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/373"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-1776\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-1776\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/80\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":83,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-1776\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/80\/revisions\/83"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-1776\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/20"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-1776\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}