Phillis Wheatley: The Forgotten Revolutionary The poetry and literature of the American Revolution is some of the most well known, but have you ever heard of Phillis Wheatley? Phillis Wheatley was a successful poet and an unlikely revolutionary. As a black woman who began her career as a slave, Wheatley cleared hurdles and broke rules on a daily basis. Wheatley was born in Gambia, around 1753.
Walking along the route of the Boston Women’s Heritage Trail was not only an educationally enriching experience, but an eye-opening one as well. It was quite humbling to see first-hand where these three distinguished women, Abigail Adams, Phillis Wheatley, and Lucy Stone (amongst others), made their mark on both American and literary history. Along the walk, I found that the various plaques and monuments honoring these literarians, aided in both conveying and portraying their various accomplishments and advancements in both women’s rights as well as in literature. One monument, which I found to be the most moving, was able to encapsulate all of the above into an inspiring piece of art. This was the first stop on the Ladies Walk, The Boston Women’s Memorial.
Throughout the history of American Literature, there have been hundreds of influential pieces which have left a mark on other writers. The book “In Honor of David Anderson Brooks, My Father” by Gwendolyn Brooks utilizes a unique writing style, theme and American values. This text was sharing her father’s story and personality to the reader before he passed away. He presumably lived alone and maintained his own home.
Did you know that Phillis Wheatley traveled to London because she was such a good poet? She was born on May 8 1753, in Gambia. In this paper you will learn about Phillis Wheatley’s childhood, education, how they impacted the Revolutionary War, and other interesting facts! Her early childhood was very interesting.
In about 1640, Bradstreet focused her poems primarily in piety, as shown in “To My Dear and Loving Husband,” and courage, as shown in “Upon
Throughout the poem, she uses pathos to convey her thinking and reasoning to the reader, but with doing so she also conjures up feeling with her use of syntax. She uses words such as strive, wonder, despair, bliss, sacred, and joys which makes the reader feel joyous for her journey to deeper understanding of God and the way to understanding love which in the end is all she wants. The concept that virtue means love is never implied but with abstract thinking and knowledge of the era, words such as Chastity and promised bliss appeals to the idea she is speaking of her virginity which is what the person who is courting her would want to seek and receive. Wheatley believes virtue to be “goodness” and even though it’s difficult for her to understand she still wants it, and in the end, she is granted what she “strived” for. With her apostrophe approach to the poem, she granted an endless possibly to what she truly meant and by doing so she created a work that can change after every
I. Introductory Paragraph and Thesis Statement Phillis Wheatley has changed the world of the literature and poetry for the better with her groundbreaking advancements for women and African Americans alike, despite the many challenges she faced. By being a voice for those who can not speak for themselves, Phillis Wheatley has given life to a new era of literature for all to create and enjoy. Without Wheatley’s ingenious writing based off of her grueling and sorrowful life, many poets and writers of today’s culture may not exist. Despite all of the odds stacked against her, Phillis Wheatley prevailed and made a difference in the world that would shape the world of writing and poetry for the better. II.
The question of what exactly is literature comes up every time something is written or read. This question forms many of the English classes that students take all around the world, and this question dominates the literary community. So what exactly is literature and why is it so important? Literature is non-factual, with sensuous language, about particular people or events that have significance. Literature is often figurative and appeals to the emotions.
Anne Bradstreet, a particularly skilled writer in a time where women writers were practically unheard of, stands out for both maintaining her livelihood whilst writing poems injected with deceptive irony, and having the women in her poems act educated instead of not. She wrote in ways which both acknowledge men and their views, but also tore them apart with ironic writing and prose. This can be seen in The Prologue, beginning with Bradstreet comparing herself with many differing historical figures, but also using them to self-depreciate herself in an overly masculine view of herself. By doing so, she insulted the views and opinions rather than her own works, stabbing male prejudice with sharp irony. Anne Bradstreet wrote in an enjoyable
In the poems “To My Dear and Loving Husband” and “Upon the Burning of Our House” the author Anne Bradstreet allows the reader a glimpse of what she values. The two poems are alike because they both explore her religion and show her love for God. In these two poems they let you get a glimpse of the way she looked at things and saw the good side of everything. For example, in “ To My Dear and Loving Husband” it says “ if ever a man were loved by wife, then thee; if ever wife was happy in man,”.
During the colonial period many settlers came to the New World to escape persecution for their Puritan beliefs. Writers such as William Bradford, John Winthrop, Anne Bradstreet, and Mary Rowlandson all shared their experiences and religious devotion throughout their literature that ultimately inspired and influenced settlers to follow. This essay will discuss the similarities in Anne Bradstreet and Mary Rowlandson’s work as they both describe their experiences as signs from God. Anne Bradstreet came to the New World as a devoted Puritan as she repeatedly talked about it in her poetry. In her poems she discusses many tragedies that happened in her life such as; the burning of her house and the death of her two grandchildren all of which she thinks were signs from God.
In this essay, I will analyze the poem Verses Upon the Burning of Our House (July 10th, 1666) by Anne Bradstreet, a puritan who most critics consider to be America’s first “authentic poet. The poem is based on a true story as Anne’s house really did burn down and illustrates her meditations on this event, the pain she felt after losing her home and the effect it had on her faith. The main theme is Anne’s struggle to not become attached to material things. I will begin by explaining the rhyme, style, and tone of the poem, continue by explaining which literary devices and interesting features we can find and the effect they have on the reader, then I will analyze the poem and finally I will give a brief conclusion. Verses Upon the Burning of Our House is a poem written in couplets in iambic tetrameter scheme which makes the story flow nicely.
While both poets try to be optimistic about the death of their loved ones, Wheatley, the more religious poet of the two, emphasizes the importance of religion by using her almost artistic sculpting of descriptive adjectives and robust nouns such as “The glowing stars and silver queen of light/ At last must perish in the gloom of night” and in using this word choice, she shows how much weight her religion holds (19-20). As Wheatley praises her God and his doings in her poem, Bradstreet makes sure to underline how much her relationship with her husband and kids mean to her. “Look to my little babes, my dear remains./ And if thou love thyself, or loved’st me,/
Anne Bradstreet mostly wrote about everyday life while making it seem remarkable. Being a Puritan woman, Anne Bradstreet had trouble writing poetry in colonial society. She was expected to behave as a normal Puritan woman who should stay at home and be a housewife. However, she did
Anne Bradstreet is recognized as the first accomplished female New World Poet. She is widely known for her volume of poetry, published in London in 1650, named The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America. She has several experiences that impacted and shaped her poetry, including her upbringing, family, and spiritual beliefs Anne Bradstreet was born in 1612 to Thomas Dudley who was a nonconformist former soldier of Queen Elizabeth (Biography of Anne Bradstreet). Although she did not having any formal schooling, her father took great care to see that she received an education that was superior to that of most young women of the time (Norton 207). She was taught history and literature, as well as many languages besides English including Greek, Latin,
