So Phillis studied the writings of European writers. She read the work of the Greek poet Homer, the English poets Keats and Pope, and the plays and poetry of Shakespeare. She read and re-read the Bible.
Phillis was about twelve years old when she began to write poetry. One of her earliest poems was about her religious faith. It questioned how a person could not believe in God:
"Thou who dost daily feel his hand, and rod
Darest thou deny the essence of a God!
If ther's no heav'n, ah! Whither wilt thou go. ... "
RAY FREEMAN: Phillis Wheatley's first major work was "An Elegiac Poem on the Death of the Celebrated Divine." It was published in seventeen seventy. Phillis wrote the long poem to honor a famous clergyman who had died.
Wheatley's "Memoirs and Poems" was published in 1834
Phillis wrote mostly about religion and morals. Many of her poems were created at the request of someone to honor a family member who had died. Her poems are representative of the times. They expressed common reactions to personal events such as deaths or marriages. Or they honored public events such as battles.
SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: Phillis had an unusual life for a slave. Mr. Wheatley had stopped having Phillis do house cleaning jobs. She made sure Phillis had time to study and to visit the family friends. But Phillis was not permitted to make friends with other uneducated slaves. So she remained separate from both white and black worlds. While she was considered above the other black slaves, she was never considered an equal of white slave owners.
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2013-11-25
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