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Learn about the life and poetry of Phillis Wheatley, the first African-American woman to publish a book of poetry in 1773. Read some of her most famous quotations on topics such as slavery, virtue, imagination, and George Washington.
- In every human Beast, God has implanted a Principle, which we call Love of Freedom; it is impatient of Oppression, and pants for Deliverance. Phillis Wheatley.
- The world is a severe schoolmaster, for its frowns are less dangerous than its smiles and flatteries, and it is a difficult task to keep in the path of wisdom.
- Through thickest gloom look back, immortal shade, On that confusion which thy death has made. Phillis Wheatley. Confusion, Looks, Shade.
- Remember, Christians, Negroes, black as Cain, /May be refin'd and join th' angelic train. Phillis Wheatley. Christian, Black, Cain.
- Who Was Phillis Wheatley?
- Early Years
- Historical Achievement as Published Poet
- Struggles in Later Life
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Poet Phillis Wheatley was brought to Boston, Massachusetts, on an enslaved person ship in 1761 and was purchased by John Wheatley as a personal servant to his wife. The Wheatleys educated Phillis and she soon mastered Latin and Greek, going on to write highly acclaimed poetry. She published her first poem in 1767 and her first volume of verse, Poem...
A pioneering African American poet, Wheatley was born in Senegal/Gambia around 1753. At the age of eight, she was kidnapped and brought to Boston on an enslaved person ship. Upon her arrival, John Wheatley purchased the young girl, who was in fragile health, as a servant for his wife, Susanna. Under the family's direction, Wheatley (who, as was the...
Wheatley wrote her first published poem at around age 13. The work, a story about two men who nearly drown at sea, was printed in the Newport Mercury. Other published poems followed, with several also being published, further increasing Wheatley's fame. In 1773, Wheatley gained considerable stature when her first and only book of verse, Poems on Va...
Wheatley had traveled to London to promote her poems and received medical treatment for a health ailment that she had been battling. After her return to Boston, Wheatley's life changed significantly. While ultimately freed from slavery, she was devastated by the deaths of several Wheatley family members, including Susanna (d. 1774) and John (d. 177...
Learn about the life and works of Phillis Wheatley, the first African American and one of the first women to publish a book of poetry in the colonies in 1773. Read some of her poems, such as "On the Death of George Washington", and discover her achievements and struggles.
Browse the most famous quotes by Phillis Wheatley, the first published African American woman poet. Her book Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral contains verses on virtue, death, glory, and more.
Learn about the life and poetry of Phillis Wheatley, the first African American woman to publish a book of poems in 1773. Read some of her poems, such as "On Being Brought from Africa to America" and "To the University of Cambridge in New England".
Remember, Christians, Negroes, black as Cain, /May be refin'd and join th' angelic train. Phillis Wheatley. Through thickest gloom look back, immortal shade, On that confusion which thy death has made. Death. Phillis Wheatley. Thou didst, in strains of eloquence refin'd, Inflame the soul, and captivate the mind. Soul.
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May 18, 2023 · Phillis Wheatley (c. 1753 – December 5, 1784) was a slave in Boston, Massachusetts, where her master's family taught her to read and write, and encouraged her poetry. Her Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral was the first published book by an African American. It was published in London because Bostonian publishers refused.
