Summary
Freedom rises to adorn New England as the northern climate congratulates William, the Earl of Dartmouth, with warm weather. Freedom's race no longer mourns, as the reigns that Dartmouth is holding are looked on with pleasure. Personified Freedom shines supreme while factions die, but as soon as she appears, she is sickened by what she sees and languishes and expires. Thus, from the morning light, the owl of sadness looks for the caves of night. The speaker begins an apostrophe addressing America, as America shall no longer be strained by grievances and by the lawless tyranny that enslaves the land. The speaker then addresses Dartmouth, explaining that the speaker was stolen from their happy home in Africa and that the immense sorrow and pain that their parents must feel leads them to pray that others may never experience tyranny. The speaker asks that Dartmouth renew his favors and "sooth the grief" of slavery and forced relocation. The poem ends with the speaker wishing that Dartmouth may gain Fame and praise, and ascend to God like a prophet.
Analysis
This poem is organized into four stanzas of 14, 5, 12 and 12 lines. The first stanza acts almost like a sonnet, and the rhyming couplets that characterize most of Wheatley's works are here slightly bent by the AAABB rhyme scheme. This structure transitions the poem from the initial glory of the first stanza, and the tragic turn of the couplet at the end of the stanza, to a small, five-line bridge that leads into the final two stanzas.
The first stanza personifies Freedom as a goddess that smiles down on New England because the Earl of Dartmouth is holding the reigns of the colony, a symbol of his sway over the colonies. Freedom is likely smiling on him because he was instrumental in overturning the Stamp Act (a harsh tax imposed on the colonies by England), and granting increased freedom to the colonies. But, Freedom is sickened by the sight of Tyranny in the colonies, and returns to the darkness.
The second stanza begins with an apostrophe addressing America, and uses irony to contrast the languish of freedom with the supposed end of tyranny in America.
In the third stanza, the speaker describes their seizure from Africa, and why this seizure leads them to decry tyranny and hope that no one will endure the tyranny they experienced. Within the stanza, their capture is described with the words "snatch'd," "steel'd," and "seiz'd." All of these words evoke the violence of this capture, and these words are juxtaposed with the emotions of the speaker's family members, including "sorrow" and "excruciating" pangs that "molest."
The final stanza of the poem gives due thanks to Dartmouth for his previous help, but hopes that he will further extend this help in order to "sooth the griefs" which he formerly deplored. The speaker then prays that Dartmouth be extended heavenly grace and immortal praise, even suggesting that he be lifted to the "ethereal plain...like the prophet" so he can find his God.
By ending the poem with overstatement, which suggests that her praise may not be fully genuine, the speaker hints at the discontent and frustration that accompanies the lack of freedom in the colonies for an enslaved African. But, this overstatement also comes with a genuine wish from the speaker to be freed, and to realize the dream of freedom from Tyranny.
