This ClassicNote on Phillis Wheatley focuses on six of her poems: "On Imagination," "On Being Brought from Africa to America," "To S.M., A Young African Painter, on seeing his Works," "A Hymn to the Evening," "To the Right Honourable WILLIAM, Earl of DARTMOUTH, his Majesty’s Principal Secretary of State of North-America, &c.," and "On Virtue." These works all contend with various subjects, but largely feature personification, Greek and Roman mythology, and an emphasis on freedom and justice.
In "On Imagination," Wheatley writes about the personified Imagination, and creates a powerful allegory for slavery, as the speaker's fancy is expanded by imagination, only for Winter, representing a slave-owner, to prevent the speaker from living out these imaginings.
"On Being Brought from Africa to America" is a poem that contends with the hypocrisy of Christians who believe that black people are a "diabolic" race. Wheatley ends the poem by reminding these Christians that all are equal in the eyes of God.
"To S.M., a Young African Painter, on Seeing His Works" is a poem written for Scipio Moorhead, who drew the engraving of Wheatley featured on this ClassicNote. This poem brings the reader to the storied New Jerusalem and to heaven, but also laments how art and writing become obsolete after death.
In “An Hymn to the Evening,” Wheatley writes heroic couplets that display pastoral, majestic imagery. While heaven is full of beautiful people of all races, the world is filled with blood and violence, as the poem wishes for peace and an end to slavery among its serene imagery.
“To the Right Honourable WILLIAM, Earl of DARTMOUTH, his Majesty’s Principal Secretary of State of North-America, &c.” is a poem that shows the pain and agony of being seized from Africa, and the importance of the Earl of Dartmouth, and others, in ensuring that America is freed from the tyranny of slavery.
"On Virtue" is a poem personifying virtue, as the speaker asks Virtue to help them not be lead astray.
