Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral

'Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral by Phillis Wheatley, Negro Servant to Mr. John Wheatley, of Boston, in New England (published 1773) is a collection of 39 poems written by Phillis Wheatley

Phillis Wheatley

Phillis Wheatley was the first African American poet and first African-American woman whose writings were published. Born in Gambia, Senegal, she was sold into slavery at age seven...

(1753 – December 5, 1784?) the first professional African American Women poet

Poet

A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...

in America and the first African-American woman whose writings were published.

Significance of Poems on Various Subjects

Phillis Wheatley broke barriers as the first American black woman poet to be published, opening the door for future black authors. James Weldon Johnson

James Weldon Johnson

James Weldon Johnson was an American author, politician, diplomat, critic, journalist, poet, anthologist, educator, lawyer, songwriter, and early civil rights activist. Johnson is remembered best for his leadership within the NAACP, as well as for his writing, which includes novels, poems, and...

, author, politician, diplomat and one of the first African-American professors at New York University

New York University

New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...

, wrote of Wheatley that "she is not a great American poet—and in her day there were no great American poets—but she is an important American poet. Her importance, if for no other reason, rests on the fact that, save one, she is the first in order of time of all the women poets of America. And she is among the first of all American poets to issue a volume."

Verification of Wheatley's authorship of her poems

Phillis Wheatley had gathered twenty-eight poems and ran advertisements searching for subscribers in Boston newspapers in February of 1772 with the aid of her mistress, Mrs. Wheatley. Unable to find a publisher in the American colonies, as it was common among the white educated colonial elite in America to a perceive a racial superiority of whites over blacks. This belief was also held among prominent Enlightenment thinkers, among them David Hume

David Hume

David Hume was a Scottish philosopher, historian, economist, and essayist, known especially for his philosophical empiricism and skepticism. He was one of the most important figures in the history of Western philosophy and the Scottish Enlightenment...

who wrote that "I am apt to suspect the Negroes, and in general all the other species of men (for there are four or five different kinds) to be naturally inferior to the whites" and Immanuel Kant

Immanuel Kant

Immanuel Kant was a German philosopher from Königsberg , researching, lecturing and writing on philosophy and anthropology at the end of the 18th Century Enlightenment....

who believed that "[t]he Negroes of Africa have by nature no feeling that rises above the trifling." Black Africans were thought unable to reason and therefore only fit for manual labor, and could not produce literature or poetry as they required higher cognitive ability. They looked to London for a publisher more favorable towards poetry authored by an African slave. Wheatley sent her poem On the Rev. Mr. George Whitefield, which had previously brought Phillis Wheatley national attention, to the Selina Hastings, Countess of Huntingdon

Selina Hastings, Countess of Huntingdon

Selina, Countess of Huntingdon was an English religious leader who played a prominent part in the religious revival of the 18th century and the Methodist movement in England and Wales, and has left a Christian denomination in England and Sierra Leone.-Early life:Selina Hastings was born as Lady...

, a Calvinist

Calvinism

Calvinism is a Protestant theological system and an approach to the Christian life...

evangelist, who had been a member of Whitefield's parish. She directed Wheatley to a Bostonian bookseller, Archibald Bell, London's foremost bookseller and printer. Bell replied that since Phillis was a slave, he would need proof that she had written the poems herself. It therefore became necessary for Phillis, her master, John Wheatley, as well as many respectable members of Boston to explain how a slave had come to read and write poetry, and to convince readers that work was truly Wheatley's own.

Preface

In what became standard practice for black authors writing in the 18th and early 19th centuries (including Olaudah Equiano

Olaudah Equiano

Olaudah Equiano also known as Gustavus Vassa, was a prominent African involved in the British movement towards the abolition of the slave trade. His autobiography depicted the horrors of slavery and helped influence British lawmakers to abolish the slave trade through the Slave Trade Act of 1807...

and Venture Smith

Venture Smith

Venture Smith was an African captured as a child and transported to the American colonies to be sold as a slave. As an adult, he purchased his freedom and that of his family...

), Wheatley included in her book an apologetic and deferential preface, explaining how the poems "were written originally for the Amusement of the Author, as they were the products of her leisure Moments." her humble upbringings and asks that "the Critic will not severely censure their Defects; and we presume they have too much Merit to be cast aside with Contempt, as worthless and trifling Effusions."

Letter to the Publisher

Included in editions of Poems on Various Subjects is a letter from John Wheatley to Archibald Bell, explaining how Phillis Wheatley was brought from Africa to America at age eight as a slave, that she had no prior knowledge of the English language and what she did know, she did not learn from formal education, but from the Wheatley family. The letter also stated that Phillis had begun to learn to Latin and was making "some progress in it".

Attestations

On October 8, 1772, Phillis Wheatley, then about eighteen years of age, was interviewed by eighteen gentlemen identified publicly "as the most respectable characters in Boston

Boston

Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...

." Among them were John Hancock

John Hancock

John Hancock was a merchant, statesman, and prominent Patriot of the American Revolution. He served as president of the Second Continental Congress and was the first and third Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts...

, who served as president

President of the Continental Congress

The President of the Continental Congress was the presiding officer of the Continental Congress, the convention of delegates that emerged as the first national government of the United States during the American Revolution...

of the Second Continental Congress

Second Continental Congress

The Second Continental Congress was a convention of delegates from the Thirteen Colonies that started meeting on May 10, 1775, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, soon after warfare in the American Revolutionary War had begun. It succeeded the First Continental Congress, which met briefly during 1774,...

and was the first and third Governor

Governor of Massachusetts

The Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is the executive magistrate of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States. The current governor is Democrat Deval Patrick.-Constitutional role:...

of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts

Massachusetts

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...

,and would be remembered for his large and stylish signature

Signature

A signature is a handwritten depiction of someone's name, nickname, or even a simple "X" that a person writes on documents as a proof of identity and intent. The writer of a signature is a signatory. Similar to a handwritten signature, a signature work describes the work as readily identifying...

on the United States Declaration of Independence

United States Declaration of Independence

The Declaration of Independence was a statement adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, which announced that the thirteen American colonies then at war with Great Britain regarded themselves as independent states, and no longer a part of the British Empire. John Adams put forth a...

, the Governor of Massachusetts Thomas Hutchinson, the Lieutenant Governor

Lieutenant governor

A lieutenant governor or lieutenant-governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction, but is often the deputy or lieutenant to or ranking under a governor — a "second-in-command"...

of Massachusetts Andrew Oliver

Andrew Oliver

Andrew Oliver was a merchant and public official in the Province of Massachusetts Bay. Born in Boston, he was the son of Daniel Oliver, a merchant, and Elizabeth Belcher Oliver, daughter of Governor Jonathan Belcher. Andrew had two brothers: Daniel Oliver and Peter Oliver...

and the Reverend Samuel Mather, son of Cotton Mather

Cotton Mather

Cotton Mather, FRS was a socially and politically influential New England Puritan minister, prolific author and pamphleteer; he is often remembered for his role in the Salem witch trials...

and grandson of Increase Mather

Increase Mather

Increase Mather was a major figure in the early history of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and Province of Massachusetts Bay . He was a Puritan minister who was involved with the government of the colony, the administration of Harvard College, and most notoriously, the Salem witch trials...

. The men signed an attestation clause

Attestation clause

In the statutory law of wills and trusts, an attestation clause is a clause that is typically appended to a will, often just below the place of the testator's signature....

verifying that they believed Wheatley had written the poems herself, as claimed by her owner, John Wheatley. This clause was addressed To the Publick in Wheatley's Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral. What sort of questioning Wheatley was subjected to is unknown, for according to Henry Louis Gates "no transcript of the exchanges that occurred between Miss Wheatley and her eighteen examiners" exists today, but Wheatley appeares to have "passed [her inquiry] with flying colors."

"AS it has been repeatedly suggested to the Publisher, by Persons, who have seen the Manuscript, that Numbers would be ready to suspect they were not really the Writings of PHILLIS, he has procured the following Attestation, from the most respectable Characters in Boston, that none might have the least Ground for disputing their Original.

WE whose Names are under-written, do assure the World, that the POEMS specified in the following Page,* were (as we verily believe) written by Phillis, a young Negro Girl, who was but a few Years since, brought an uncultivated Barbarian from Africa, and has ever since been, and now is, under the Disadvantage of serving as a Slave in a Family in this Town. She has been examined by some of the best Judges, and is thought qualified to write them

His Excellency THOMAS HUTCHINSON, Governor

The Hon. ANDREW OLIVER

Andrew Oliver

, Lieutenant-Governor

The Hon. Thomas Hubbard

The Hon. John Erving

The Hon. James Pitts

The Hon. Harrison Gray

The Hon. James Bowdoin

James Bowdoin

James Bowdoin II was an American political and intellectual leader from Boston, Massachusetts during the American Revolution. He served in both branches of the Massachusetts General Court in the colonial era and was president of the state's constitutional convention...

John Hancock

, Esq

Joseph Green

Joseph Green, Joe Green or Joey Green may refer to:*Joseph Green , English Colonial American clergyman and poet*Joseph Green , American film director The Brain That Wouldn't Die*Joseph L...

, Esq

Richard Carey, Esq

The Rev. Charles Chauncey, D. D.

The Rev. Mather Byles, D. D.

The Rev. Ed. Pemberton, D. D.

The Rev. Andrew Elliot, D. D.

The Rev. Samuel Cooper

Samuel Cooper (clergyman)

Samuel Cooper was a Congregational minister in Boston, Massachusetts, affiliated with the Brattle Street Church.- Brief biography :...

, D. D.

The Rev. Mr. Samuel Mather

The Rev. Mr. John Moorhead

Mr. John Wheatley, her Master

N. B. The original Attestation, signed by the above Gentlemen, may be seen by applying to Archibald Bell, Bookseller, No. 8, Aldgate-Street."

Poems on Various Subject, Religious and Moral

Phillis Wheatley was an avid student of the Bible and especially admired the works of Alexander Pope

Alexander Pope

Alexander Pope was an 18th-century English poet, best known for his satirical verse and for his translation of Homer. He is the third-most frequently quoted writer in The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, after Shakespeare and Tennyson...

(1688–1744), the British neoclassical writer. Through Pope's translation of Homer

Homer

In the Western classical tradition Homer , is the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, and is revered as the greatest ancient Greek epic poet. These epics lie at the beginning of the Western canon of literature, and have had an enormous influence on the history of literature.When he lived is...

, she also developed a taste for Greek mythology

Greek mythology

Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. They were a part of religion in ancient Greece...

, all which have an enormous influence on her work, with much of her poetry dealing with important figures of her day.

Poems

To Maecenas

On Virtue

To the University of Cambridge, in New England

To the King's Most Excellent Majesty

On being brought from Africa

On the Rev. Dr. Sewell

On the Rev. Mr. George Whitefield

George Whitefield

George Whitefield , also known as George Whitfield, was an English Anglican priest who helped spread the Great Awakening in Britain, and especially in the British North American colonies. He was one of the founders of Methodism and of the evangelical movement generally...

On the Death of a young Lady of five Years of Age

On the Death of a young Gentleman

To a Lady on the Death of her Husband

Goliath of Gath

Thoughts on the Works of Providence

To a Lady on the Death of three Relations

To a Clergyman on the Death of his Lady

An Hymn to the Morning

An Hymn to the Evening

On Isaiah lxiii. 1 -- -- -- 8

On Recollection

On Imagination

A Funeral Poem on the Death of an Infant aged twelve Months

To Captain H. D. of the 65th Regiment

To the Right Hon. William, Earl of Dartmouth

Ode to Neptune

To a Lady on her coming to North America with her Son, for the Recovery of her Health

To a Lady on her remarkable Preservation in a Hurricane in North Carolina

To a Lady and her Children on the Death of the Lady's Brother and Sister, and a Child of the Name of Avis, aged one Year

On the Death of Dr. Samuel Marshall

To a Gentleman on his Voyage to Great-Britain, for the Recovery of his Health

To the Rev. Dr. Thomas Amory on reading his Sermons on Daily Devotion, in which that Duty is recommended and assisted

On the Death of J. C. an Infant

An Hymn to Humanity

To the Hon. T. H. Esq; on the Death of his Daughter

Niobe in Distress for her Children slain by Apollo, from Ovid's Metamorphoses, Book VI, and from a View of the Painting of Mr. Richard Wilson

To S. M. a young African Painter, on seeing his Works

To his Honour the Lieutenant-Governor, on the Death of his Lady

A Farewel to America

A Rebus by I. B.

An Answer to ditto, by Phillis Wheatley

To S. M. a young African Painter, on seeing his Works

Written to Scipio Moorhead

Scipio Moorhead

Scipio Moorhead was an enslaved African American artist who lived in Boston. His only surviving work is a portrait of the African American poet, Phillis Wheatley. Moorhead is the main focus of Wheatley's "To S. M. a young African Painter, on seeing his Works", published in Poems on Various...

, an enslaved African American artist living in Boston, credited with engraving the frontispiece of Wheatley used in Poems on Various Subjects. The poem follows Wheatley's pattern of offering praise for individuals, in this instance seemingly as gratitude for the frontispiece.

TO show the lab'ring bosom's deep intent,

And thought in living characters to paint,

When first thy pencil did those beauties give,

And breathing figures learnt from thee to live,

How did those prospects give my soul delight,

A new creation rushing on my sight?

Still, wond'rous youth! each noble path pursue,

On deathless glories fix thine ardent view:

Still may the painter's and the poet's fire

To aid thy pencil, and thy verse conspire!

And may the charms of each seraphic theme

Conduct thy footsteps to immortal fame!

High to the blissful wonders of the skies

Elate thy soul, and raise thy wishful eyes.

Thrice happy, when exalted to survey

That splendid city, crown'd with endless day,

Whose twice six gates on radiant hinges ring:

Celestial Salem blooms in endless spring.

Calm and serene thy moments glide along,

And may the muse inspire each future song!

Still, with the sweets of contemplation bless'd,

May peace with balmy wings your soul invest!

On the Death of the Rev. Mr. George Whitefield

This work brough about Wheatley's initial fame. Published in Boston, Philedelphia and New Haven, it is a eulogistic poem in honor of Reverend Whitefield, an influential preacher in New England and the founder of Methodism.

Hail, happy saint, on thine immortal throne,

Possest of glory, life, and bliss unknown;

We hear no more the music of thy tongue,

Thy wonted auditories cease to throng.

Thy sermons in unequall'd accents flow'd,

And ev'ry bosom with devotion glow'd;

Thou didst in strains of eloquence refin'd

Inflame the heart, and captivate the mind.

Unhappy we the setting sun deplore,

So glorious once, but ah! it shines no more.

Behold the prophet in his tow'ring flight!

He leaves the earth for heav'n's unmeasur'd height,

And worlds unknown receive him from our sight.

There Whitefield wings with rapid course his way,

And sails to Zion through vast seas of day.

Thy pray'rs, great saint, and thine incessant cries

Have pierc'd the bosom of thy native skies.

Thou moon hast seen, and all the stars of light,

How he has wrestled with his God by night.

He pray'd that grace in ev'ry heart might dwell,

He long'd to see America excell;

He charg'd its youth that ev'ry grace divine

Should with full lustre in their conduct shine;

That Saviour, which his soul did first receive,

The greatest gift that ev'n a God can give,

He freely offer'd to the num'rous throng,

That on his lips with list'ning pleasure hung.

"Take him, ye wretched, for your only good,

"Take him ye starving sinners, for your food;

"Ye thirsty, come to this life-giving stream,

"Ye preachers, take him for your joyful theme;

"Take him my dear Americans, he said,

"Be your complaints on his kind bosom laid:

"Take him, ye Africans, he longs for you,

"Impartial Saviour is his title due:

"Wash'd in the fountain of redeeming blood,

"You shall be sons, and kings, and priests to God."

Great Countess, we Americans revere

Thy name, and mingle in thy grief sincere;

New England deeply feels, the Orphans mourn,

Their more than father will no more return.

But, though arrested by the hand of death,

Whitefield no more exerts his lab'ring breath,

Yet let us view him in th' eternal skies,

Let ev'ry heart to this bright vision rise;

While the tomb safe retains its sacred trust,

Till life divine re-animates his dust.

On Virtue

Following the style of the Pope, Wheatley invokes Virtue to aid her on her journey through life, and her strife for a higher appellation.

O Thou bright jewel in my aim I strive

To comprehend thee. Thine own words declare

Wisdom is higher than a fool can reach.

I cease to wonder, and no more attempt

Thine height t' explore, or fathom thy profound.

But, O my soul, sink not into despair,

Virtue is near thee, and with gentle hand

Would now embrace thee, hovers o'er thine head.

Fain would the heav'n-born soul with her converse,

Then seek, then court her for her promis'd bliss.

Auspicious queen, thine heav'nly pinions spread,

And lead celestial Chastity along;

Lo! now her sacred retinue descends,

Array'd in glory from the orbs above.

Attend me, Virtue, thro' my youthful years!

O leave me not to the false joys of time!

But guide my steps to endless life and bliss.

Greatness, or Goodness, say what I shall call thee,

To give me an higher appellation still,

Teach me a better strain, a nobler lay,

O thou, enthron'd with Cherubs in the realms of day.

To the King's Most Excellent Majesty

Written in honor of King George III, this was a poem of praise for a notable person of the day, as were the subjects of many of Wheatley's poems. Here she praises him on behalf of the American colonies for his repeal of the Stamp Act

Stamp Act

A stamp act is any legislation that requires a tax to be paid on the transfer of certain documents. Those that pay the tax receive an official stamp on their documents, making them legal documents. The taxes raised under a stamp act are called stamp duty. This system of taxation was first devised...

.

YOUR subjects hope, dread Sire --

The crown upon your brows may flourish long,

And that your arm may in your God be strong!

O may your sceptre num'rous nations sway,

And all with love and readiness obey!

But how shall we the British king reward!

Rule thou in peace, our father, and our lord!

Midst the remembrance of thy favours past,

The meanest peasants most admire the last *

May George, beloved by all the nations round,

Live with heav'ns choicest constant blessings crown'd!

Great God, direct, and guard him from on high,

And from his head let ev'ry evil fly!

And may each clime with equal gladness see

A monarch's smile can set his subjects free!

Reception

Wheatley was the first African-American to publish a book, man or woman, and the first to achieve an international reputation when she traveled to London to publish Poems on Various Subjects in 1773. She was noticed by Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin

Dr. Benjamin Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. A noted polymath, Franklin was a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, musician, inventor, satirist, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat...

, Brook Watson

Brook Watson

Sir Brook Watson, 1st Baronet was a British merchant, soldier, and later Lord Mayor of London, perhaps most famous as the subject of Watson and the Shark , a painting by John Singleton Copley which depicted a shark attack on Watson as a boy, as a result of which he lost his right leg below the...

the Lord Mayor of London

Lord Mayor of London

The Right Honourable Lord Mayor of London is the legal title for the Mayor of the City of London Corporation. The Lord Mayor of London is to be distinguished from the Mayor of London; the former is an officer only of the City of London, while the Mayor of London is the Mayor of Greater London and...

, who gave her a copy of Paradise Lost
Paradise Lost
Paradise Lost is an epic poem in blank verse by the 17th-century English poet John Milton. It was originally published in 1667 in ten books, with a total of over ten thousand individual lines of verse...

by John Milton

John Milton

John Milton was an English poet, polemicist, a scholarly man of letters, and a civil servant for the Commonwealth of England under Oliver Cromwell...

, and she was also scheduled to recite a poem for King George III

George III of the United Kingdom

George III was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of these two countries on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland until his death...

, but Wheatley was unable to attend as she was forced return to Boston a month before Poems on Various Subjects was to be published, due to a fatal illness of her mistress, Susana Wheatley.

Wheatley was unable to publish any additional poetry. Between 30 October and 18 December 1779 she ran six advertisements soliciting subscribers for "300 pages in Octavo," a volume "Dedicated to the Right Hon. Benjamin Franklin, Esq.: One of the Ambassadors of the United States at the Court of France". As with Poems on Various Subjects, however, the American populace would not support one of its most noted poets. An estimated total of 145 of Wheatley's poems have been lost.

Contemporary criticism

Conventional wisdom among whites of the colonial era held that blacks were not able to function intellectually on the same level as whites, and therefore were incapable of producing notable poetry or literature. Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom , the third President of the United States and founder of the University of Virginia...

panned Wheatley's ability in his Notes on the State of Virginia
Notes on the State of Virginia
Notes on the State of Virginia was a book written by Thomas Jefferson. He completed the first edition in 1781, and updated and enlarged the book in 1782 and 1783...

, writing that "[r]eligion, indeed, has produced a Phillis Wheatley; but it could not produce a poet. The compositions published under her name are below the dignity of criticism." However, Wheatley received praise from such notables as Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin

and Voltaire

Voltaire

François-Marie Arouet , better known by the pen name Voltaire , was a French Enlightenment writer, historian and philosopher famous for his wit and for his advocacy of civil liberties, including freedom of religion, free trade and separation of church and state...

, who wrote that Wheatley produced “très-bons vers anglais” (very good English verse). George Washington

George Washington

George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...

responded to a poem Wheatley had composed for him, writing that "however undeserving I may be of such encomium and panegyrick, the style and manner exhibit a striking proof of your great poetical Talents."

Modern day criticism

Wheatley's modern critics note not using her poetry to complain about the evils of slavery, or that she was not an exemplary poet, and what she "failed to achieve is due in no small degree to her education and environment. Her mind was steeped in the classics; her verses are filled with classical and mythological allusions" and not inspired by her own emotions.

However, it is argued that Wheatley's position as a slave did not afford her the freedom to truly speak her mind in her poetry. Scholars have recently uncovered poems, letters and facts about Wheatley and her association with eighteenth-century black abolitionists, and "charted her notable use of classicism and have explicated the sociological intent of her biblical allusions. All this research and interpretation has proven Wheatley's disdain for the institution of slavery and her use of art to undermine its practice."

On Being Brought from Africa to America

In addition to Wheatley's poem "To His Excellency General Washington", "On Being Brought from Africa to America" is among her most often anthologized works. This poem can be said to be among the most controversial poems in African-American literature, as it overlooks the brutality of the slave trade, the horrors of the middle passage and the oppressive life of slavery. But it was written when Wheatley was but sixteen years old, and it cannot be assumed that she was free to express her ideas and feelings given her situation and status as a slave.

'Twas mercy brought me from my Pagan land

Taught my benighted soul to understand

That there's a God, that there's a Saviour too:

Once I redemption neither sought nor knew.

Some view our sable race with scornful eye;

"Their colour is a diabolic die."

Remember, Christians, Negros black as Cain,

May be refin'd, and join th'angelic train.