Summary
The poem opens with a description of a portrait of Thomas Jefferson that hangs in his historical home, Monticello. The speaker notes that at the time the portrait was taken, it was suspected that Jefferson was having an affair with Sally Hemings, one of his slaves. The speaker then describes the disagreement she had with her father about Jefferson for years, as he defended the glaring contradictions between Jefferson's ideas and his personal conduct.
Analysis
"Enlightenment" is a poem that uses the historical figure of Thomas Jefferson to explore the role of race in the speaker's relationship with her father. The speaker examines the contradictions inherent to Jefferson's life alongside her own father's defense of his ideals. She focuses on the way that Jefferson's actions echo into the present, revealed slightly in some of her father's points about the subject.
The poem opens with an image of a portrait of Jefferson: "In the portrait of Jefferson that hangs / at Monticello, he is rendered two-toned: / his forehead white with illumination." The painting is represented in a stately manner, as it is shown in his large plantation home, with his face lit brightly. Then the speaker quickly pivots, noting that there is more to this portrait than is immediately apparent. She says: "a lit bulb — the rest of his face in shadow, / darkened as if the artist meant to contrast / his bright knowledge, its dark subtext." The speaker uses the phrase "dark subtext," alongside the word "shadow," to suggest that the painting itself shows some of Jefferson's contradictions. This darkness and light motif also hints at the poem's later discussions of race and skin color. She then offers the historical context that informs this perception: "By 1805, when Jefferson sat for the portrait, / he was already linked to an affair / with his slave." In the speaker's view, the portrait subtly demonstrates the gap between Jefferson's beliefs and his actions. The poem concludes with a note about the poem's background, as well as a description of Jefferson's face: "Against a backdrop, blue / and ethereal, a wash of paint that seems / to hold him in relief, Jefferson gazes out / across the centuries, his lips fixed as if / he's just uttered some final word." When the speaker describes Jefferson appearing as if he has "just uttered some final word," she is really stating that Jefferson's complicated legacy looms large, as history remembers him more prominently than it does the people who he enslaved.
The speaker goes on to say, in the next stanza, that she and her father used to visit this portrait. He would discuss the discrepancies between Jefferson's viewpoints and actions: "The first time I saw the painting, I listened / as my father explained the contradictions." She goes on to say that he defended Jefferson, claiming that Jefferson viewed slavery as a necessary evil, but that, in his estimation, Jefferson did not father children with Hemings: "how Jefferson hated slavery, though — out / of necessity, my father said — had to own / slaves; that his moral philosophy meant / he could not have fathered those children: / would have been impossible, my father said." The italicized sections of these stanzas are implied to be quotes from her father. Each moment shows him trying to rationalize Jefferson's actions. In the first case, he is acknowledging that his involvement in slavery was regrettable, but noting that Jefferson did not support the institution philosophically. In the second, he is denying the possibility that those children could have been his at all.
In the speaker's portrayal, her father shows a faith in Jefferson's "moral philosophy," a belief strong enough that it allows him to overlook the issues and inconsistencies in his private life. The speaker notes that this became a topic of consistent debate for them, with her arguing that Jefferson's behavior should not be overlooked: "For years we debated the distance between / word and deed. I'd follow my father from book / to book, gathering citations." The most important phrase in these lines is "the distance between word and deed." The speaker is referring to the fact that Jefferson's ideas about freedom did not align with his ownership, and treatment, of slaves. For the speaker, this distance is too wide for her to respect him, while for her father it is an unfortunate but forgivable part of his history. She then describes how her father would name flowers, trees, and birds near Jefferson's home. She says this seemed like part of an effort "to prove / a man's pursuit of knowledge is greater / than his shortcomings, the limits of his vision." For her father, Jefferson's ideals and intellectual pursuits outweighed the "shortcomings" he displayed in his life. However, the speaker finds that Jefferson's actions are more than just "limits." The use of italics in various stanzas is used to section off quoted moments. These italicized lines allow Trethewey to filter in other voices—Jefferson's, her father's, and others—offering a variety of perspectives on this moment in history. Dashes serve a similar function in the text, allowing for interjections from the speaker.
