Phillis Wheatley: Portraying Identity and Slavery through Poetry in the World of Imperial Britain

The legacy of the British Empire is present throughout much of the world, and its effects have been felt by countless nations, environments, peoples, and individuals. One such person is Phillis Wheatley, a former African slave whose legacy lives on today through her poetry. Her work has produced conflicting opinions among modern historians, who attempt to extract from Wheatley’s poetry her worldviews and the influence of the world around her. Through the analysis of the controversy over the meaning in her works and the imperative understanding of historical context, we will look at how Phillis Wheatley conveyed her true sentiments through her poetry, and just what this method tells us about the British Empire.

First, we must begin with her story. Phillis Wheatley was an African woman who was captured as a young girl and taken to America in 1761, where she was subsequently enslaved (Memoirs and Poems, 1). Her mistress took a liking to Phillis shortly after she was brought into the household of Mr. and Mrs. Wheatley, and she was encouraged to gain an education (Memoirs and Poems, 10). In addition to this, Phillis was neither “devoted to menial occupations, as was at first intended; nor was she allowed to associate with the other domestics of the family” (Memoirs and Poems, 10). Through her life with the well-known and well-off Wheatley master and mistress, eventually she was able to interact with and learn from various clergymen and other literate figures in society (Memoirs and Poems, 11). Phillis, having always possessed a “modest, unassuming demeanor” (Memoirs and Poems, 11), and having later converted to Christianity, wrote a number of poems on many topics at most anyone’s request (14). Eventually, Phillis Wheatley’s life changed drastically when her master and mistress passed away; she soon entered into a rather unhappy marriage, bore three children, and declined in health (Memoirs and Poems, 21). In such a state of sickness, poverty, and likely loneliness, Wheatley died (Memoirs and Poems, 23-24).

It is important to note, as stated in the memoir written by one of Wheatley’s descendants, that “The evidences she has left us of her genius, were the productions of early and happy days, before her mind was matured by experience, the depths of her soul fathomed by suffering, or her fine powers chastened by affliction” (Memoirs and Poems, 28). What we will focus on below involves a poem written during her time with the Wheatleys.

Phillis Wheatley indeed composed several works of poetry in her lifetime, but the one I want to examine in particular is entitled: “On Being Brought from Africa to America.”:

‘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 color is a diabolic dye.’

Remember, Christians, Negroes black as Cain

May be refined, and join the angelic train.

(Memoirs and Poems, 42).

Scholar James Levernier provides some insight into how one can interpret this poem. He argues against the claim of many, in “that Wheatley was a racial accomodationist who used Euro-American poetic forms and conventions to affirm… the racist agendas of her white Boston oppressors” (Levernier, Phillis Wheatley, 68). He explains that, in fact, Wheatley’s word choice was very intentional, as she used encoded meanings in her language to convey a deeper message; for example, she uses the word “sable” to associate blackness with positivity while simultaneously condemning those whose prejudices lead them to think of black as “diabolic” (Levernier, Phillis Wheatley, 69). Similarly, she uses a biblical allusion to the murderous Cain to denounce slavery and all those who support it by supporting such injustice and “white bigotry” (Levernier, Phillis Wheatley, 70). The meaning in her poetry is by necessity more than surface-deep. As Levernier explains, “Wheatley no doubt understood that a seemingly subservient voice was likely to be published while a more strident political voice was likely to be suppressed, if not punished” (Levernier, Phillis Wheatley, 69). Wheatley took advantage of the fact that she was both a young girl and enslaved to speak in words that appeared harmless but were actually charged with a plethora of complex literary tactics that proved to be a brutal critique (Levernier, Phillis Wheatley, 69). Thus, through her intelligence and understanding of the social context in which she lived, she was able to sophisticatedly and unostentatiously denounce slavery and racism through her poetry.

The conversation of Wheatley’s lasting legacy must include the discussion of the varying interpretations of her work, and exactly what they mean not only for Wheatley’s identity but also the larger histories of race and religion. Unlike the perspective discussed above, some historians argue that Wheatley was not so deep a writer, nor an individual with such strong beliefs. Angelene Jamison points out how both white and black critics of her poetry vary in their analyses of her work (Jamison, 410-411); Jamison herself claims that “when examining certain poems where she makes direct and indirect references to herself as an African, it is obvious that she lacked pride in her heritage” (411). Eleanor Smith similarly argues that Wheatley was black woman with a white mind (Smith, 403), who had low self-esteem; in Smith’s words, “Had she thought herself equal to Whites in mind and soul and worthy of her freedom, she would not have been as docile, humble, and submissive. Instead, Phillis settled for being much less than the black woman she could have been” (405).

In light of these arguments, I must reiterate: context. Historians who believe Wheatley so heavily supported the culture in which she lived appear to forget the context of that society. Wheatley wrote the way she did for a purpose, as Levernier argues, and used rhetoric and hidden meanings to portray her true sentiments without being out blatantly – and dangerously – bold. She did write for white audiences, as Jamison claims (409), and she indeed formed many relationships with white people (Smith, 404) because those were the opportunities provided by her circumstances.

The personal and social contexts in which she lived and wrote are of the utmost importance. That she was black, enslaved, and a very young woman, not to mention the fact that there was “no brilliant exhibition of feminine genius before her,” were all certainly disadvantages to her social position and opportunity (Memoirs and Poems, 26). Despite all this, Wheatley also had quite a few privileges that enabled her to prosper as much as she did. As mentioned above, her early life, in which the bulk of her poetry was written, was more luxurious than her later years. The Wheatley family liked her, her tasks in the house were much lighter than what was typical, and she received education (Smith, 402-403). Still, those who claim that because of this she developed “a misconception of her real relationship to white society” (Smith, 404) perpetuate the true misconception of what Wheatley was saying in her poetry. Because Wheatley was able to form friendships with politically-knowledgeable and abolitionist clergymen concerned with human rights (Levernier, Clergy, 24), she could learn to use modest Scripture-based measures of abolition to navigate the theological and political environment of her day (22-23).

Phillis Wheatley’s story tells us a great deal about the British Empire. For one, it shows us that the actions and effects of the Empire not only formed the basis for this woman’s life, work, and legacy, but also continue to shape how historians understand this individual based on the imperial historical context of her time. We already know much about the Empire’s legacy in slavery and the slave trade. When we find the rare opportunity to look more closely into the lives of those enslaved, such as African women like Phillis Wheatley, we see a new way in which the British Empire influenced their lives. However, we have to look deeper than the surface to better see the totality of these effects. In the case of Phillis Wheatley, at first glance some may conclude that she “was a pathetic little Negro girl” who either did not care about or actually maintained the race-based issues perpetuated by imperial Britain (Davis, 192). However, if we only look a little closer, we can see in her writing how she identifies herself as an Afric poet and is well aware of the realities of her position in society (Davis, 192). James Levernier references scholar Sondra O’Neale, who argues that so much misunderstanding of Wheatley’s work is the result of historians failing to appreciate the depth and complexity of her writing “’in light of the social, political and religious culture of the eighteenth century’” to create subtle and religiously-charged works to better appeal to those who would read her poetry (Levernier, Clergy, 22).

Imperial Britain helped to create a society in which a young, black, enslaved woman like Phillis Wheatley could likely only compose slavery-denouncing works without facing severe repercussions through careful yet purposeful methods of writing. It was necessary to understand the hierarchy of society, the prejudices of whites, and the importance of religion to the bulk of white society in the British Empire in order to craft works that would appeal to a general eye but would in truth condemn the institution of slavery and any racist mindset.

Understanding Phillis Wheatley’s life through her works, coupled with the analyses of various secondary sources, must recognize the essential nature of understanding the context in which she wrote her poetry, for it is through seeing with these eyes that one is truly able to find the depth of meaning in her words. Wheatley wrote the way she did because she understood both the reality of her condition and the reality of the society in which she lived. Her identity, her work, and her legacy deserves to be appreciated, especially as we take into account the hallmarks of the British Empire that both helped shape the course of her life and eventually became the subject of her poetic critiques.

Works Cited

Davis, Arthur P. "Personal Elements in the Poetry of Phillis Wheatley." Phylon (1940-1956) 14, no. 2 (1953): 191-98. doi:10.2307/271667.

Jamison, Angelene. "Analysis of Selected Poetry of Phillis Wheatley." The Journal of Negro Education 43, no. 3 (1974): 408-16. doi:10.2307/2966532.

Levernier, James A. "Phillis Wheatley and the New England Clergy." Early American Literature 26, no. 1 (1991): 21-38. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25056840.

Levernier, James A. "Phillis Wheatley (ca. 1753–1784)." Legacy 13, no. 1 (1996): 65-75. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25679186.

Memoirs and Poems of Phyllis Wheatley, Native African and Slave. 1834. Available through: Adam Matthew, Marlborough, Empire Online, http://www.empire.amdigital.co.uk/Docu ments/Details/Memoirs and Poems of Phyllis Wheatley Native African and Slave_ [Accessed April 04, 2018].

Moorhead, Scipio. “Phillis Wheatley.” Wikimedia Commons, Frontispiece to Poems on Various Subjects, 1 Sept. 1773, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Phillis_Wheatley_ frontispiece.jpg

Smith, Eleanor. "Phillis Wheatley: A Black Perspective." The Journal of Negro Education 43, no. 3 (1974): 401-07. doi:10.2307/2966531.