In Phillis Wheatley’s poem, “On Being Brought from Africa to America,” she writes about the experience of being brought from Africa to America. Phillis Wheatley, a slave whose master taught her to read and write, published the poem in 1773. Upon first reading the poem, one can assume Wheatley is merely writing about a slave who is thankful for being brought to America and having a chance for Christian salvation. After reading further into the poem, and given the background of the poem, the reader can see that there may be a deeper meaning in the poem. The poem could be a plea; urging a Protestant nation to see that if blacks are deserving of salvation and equality in the eyes of God, surely they are deserving of freedom and equality in the eyes of their fellow man.
The poem is written in lamb pentameter and heroic couplets, a formal and traditional way of writing. Wheatley might use this form to build her credibility as an educated poet; therefore, illustrating that a black …show more content…
The poem is written 1773, when America is governed primarily by Protestant rules and beliefs. If Whealtey is making an appeal for equality with her poem, religion is a crucial component of that appeal. She will need to show that blacks are not only intellectually and morally equal to whites but also religiously equal. The last two lines of the poem, “Remember, Christians, Negroes, black as Cain, May be refin’d, and join th’ angelic train” (Wheatley, On Being Brought from Africa to America 461), are directed specifically to Christians. Reminding them, that no matter a person’s skin color or what sin they have committed, they are equal and deserving in the eyes of God. Wheatley sent a copy of the poem to George Washington in 1776, during the Revolutionary war, “she urged readers to recognize Africans as children of God” (Hewitt and Lawson 170). Furthering the notion that she is making a supplication for freedom and equality of
The poem is written in lamb pentameter and heroic couplets, a formal and traditional way of writing. Wheatley might use this form to build her credibility as an educated poet; therefore, illustrating that a black …show more content…
The poem is written 1773, when America is governed primarily by Protestant rules and beliefs. If Whealtey is making an appeal for equality with her poem, religion is a crucial component of that appeal. She will need to show that blacks are not only intellectually and morally equal to whites but also religiously equal. The last two lines of the poem, “Remember, Christians, Negroes, black as Cain, May be refin’d, and join th’ angelic train” (Wheatley, On Being Brought from Africa to America 461), are directed specifically to Christians. Reminding them, that no matter a person’s skin color or what sin they have committed, they are equal and deserving in the eyes of God. Wheatley sent a copy of the poem to George Washington in 1776, during the Revolutionary war, “she urged readers to recognize Africans as children of God” (Hewitt and Lawson 170). Furthering the notion that she is making a supplication for freedom and equality of