Phillis had other major influences along with slavery that completely shaped her work. Although her work was a major part of her life, she valued family more than her work. With three children to take care of, Phillis constantly thought about them as her husband abandoned her (poetryfoundation.org). The unexpectedly young death of her children was most probably due to the poor economy and the ongoing war. This was the point at which her poetry career began to downfall. Money became an obstacle as she attempted to publish another volume of poetry but was unable to because she couldn’t raise the funds (poets.org). All of these factors contributed to losing her motivation as she began to “give up” on poetry.
