I finished reading The Complete Writings of Phillis Wheatley over the weekend, and I really enjoyed reading her poems and learning more about her life. Most importantly, I learned that people often think less of others when they make no real effort to understand them, their culture, and what connects them.

Phillis Wheatley Peters (c. 1753 – December 5, 1784) was an American writer who is considered the first African American author of a published book of poetry. Born in West Africa, she was sold into slavery at the age of seven or eight and transported to North America, where she was bought by the Wheatley family of Boston. After she learned to read and write, they encouraged her poetry when they recognized her talent. The publication in London of Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral on September 1, 1773, brought her fame in both England and the American colonies. Wheatley was emancipated by the Wheatleys shortly after the publication of her book. The Wheatleys died soon thereafter, and Phillis Wheatley married John Peters, a poor grocer. They lost three children, all of whom died young. Wheatley-Peters herself died in poverty and obscurity at the age of 31.¹

I first heard about her while watching The American Revolution documentary by Ken Burns back in December. The documentary mentioned Phillis and her poems a few times, so I was surprised to learn that she was the first African American woman to have her poems published. That one fact led me to purchase the book. The editor of this book, who also wrote the introduction, was Vincent Carretta, an Emeritus Professor of English at the University of Maryland. He did a phenomenal job with this book, and I would add that it is an important one in an era where banning books is not uncommon.

I read a lot of reviews, and most of them mentioned the excellent introduction, which consists of 25 pages of solid historical background. The introduction alone is worth the price of the book.

The book contains all of her poems and their variants, since many of the poems were edited for clarity over time.

The introduction included two quotes that provoked many thoughts about people’s tendency to think less of others. The following two quotations stirred these reflections. The first was from a 1774 letter from Voltaire to Baron Constant de Rebecq, in which Voltaire said:

“Wheatley’s very fine English verse disproved Fontenelle’s contention that no black poets existed.” (p. xv)

Bernard Le Bovier de Fontenelle was a French writer and a member of three academies of the Institut de France, noted especially for his accessible treatment of scientific topics during the Age of Enlightenment.² Fontenelle never visited Africa, so his uninformed worldview is typical of that era. Of course, this made me search for information about when the first poem was written, and I found that the oldest surviving speculative fiction poem is The Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor, written in Hieratic (Ancient Egyptian writing) and dated to around 2500 BCE.³ The poem reached France in the 1800s, but Fontenelle died in 1757.

The second quote is from the third president of the United States, Thomas Jefferson, who wrote the following in 1787 in Notes on the State of Virginia, Query 14 regarding African Americans:

“Comparing them by their faculties of memory, reason, and imagination… in memory they are equal to the whites; in reason much inferior… and in imagination they are dull… But never yet could I find that a black had uttered a thought above the level of plain narration… Among the blacks is misery enough, God knows, but no poetry… Religion, indeed, has produced a Phillis Wheatley; but it could not produce a poet.”⁴

There was a shorter quote on page xxxvi of the book, but I wanted the full context of what Thomas Jefferson was saying, and what I quoted above indeed reveals his complete thoughts on the matter. Of course, they were wrong and biased. He never set foot in Africa, so his opinion is certainly not fact. Besides, he was a slave owner with hundreds of enslaved people working his land.

In response to Thomas Jefferson, Gilbert Imlay, an American businessman, writer, and diplomat, wrote the following:

“I will transcribe part of her Poem on Imagination, and leave you to judge whether it is poetical or not. It will afford you an opportunity, if you have never met with it, of estimating her genius and Mr. Jefferson’s judgment; and I think, without any disparagement to him, that, by comparison, Phillis appears much the superior. Indeed, I should be glad to be informed what white person upon this continent has written more beautiful lines.” (p. xxxvii)

Like I mentioned at the beginning, this book contains all of her poems, and all are wonderful, but these two are amazing in my opinion. Let me share a portion of each. I have also included the source in case you want to read the rest.

On Virtue 

“O thou bright jewel in my aim I strive
To comprehend thee. Thine own words declare
Wisdom is higher than a fool can reach.
I cease to wonder, and no more attempt
Thine height t’explore, or fathom thy profound.
But, O my soul, sink not into despair,
Virtue is near thee, and with gentle hand
Would now embrace thee, hovers o’er thine head.
Fain would the heaven-born soul with her converse,
Then seek, then court her for her promised bliss…”

On Imagination

“Thy various works, imperial queen, we see,
How bright their forms! how deck'd with pomp by thee!
Thy wond'rous acts in beauteous order stand,
And all attest how potent is thine hand.

From Helicon's refulgent heights attend,
Ye sacred choir, and my attempts befriend:
To tell her glories with a faithful tongue,
Ye blooming graces, triumph in my song.
Now here, now there, the roving Fancy flies,
Till some lov'd object strikes her wand'ring eyes,
Whose silken fetters all the senses bind,
And soft captivity involves the mind.

Imagination! who can sing thy force?
Or who describe the swiftness of thy course?
Soaring through air to find the bright abode,..”

Reading this book, I also learned that even though Phillis’ poems were the first published by an African American woman, the first African American woman poet was Lucy Terry with her poem “Bars Fight,” and the first African American poem was published in 1760 by Jupiter Hammon (p. xv). Lucy Terry’s and Jupiter Hammon’s poems are included in this book.

Most reviewers had issues with the way Phillis wrote her poems, and I think it is a common mistake to read books like this and compare the content—in this case poetry—to contemporary writing. When I read her poems, I kept in mind that she was brought from Africa when she was very young and then educated by her white owners. She adopted their Christian faith, and her worldview was shaped through those lenses.

I was fascinated by the subjects she wrote about. She wrote poems lamenting the deaths of children, neighbors, and Christian leaders. She wrote a poem to George Washington and explored deep subjects such as Atheism and Deism, a rationalist philosophy holding that a supreme being created the universe and established natural laws but does not intervene in its affairs. We know that Thomas Jefferson was a deist, so maybe that is one reason he thought less of her.

For a young enslaved African American woman to write on such subjects, and to see the love and care she felt for others through her poems—that is what I really focus on. To me, others’ descriptions of how good or bad her poems are become irrelevant when you truly see her heart.

This book may not appeal to everyone, but it is worth owning for the writings of this extraordinary woman. She deserves to be celebrated, especially during this month when we celebrate Women’s History.

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1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phillis_Wheatley ↩︎
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Le_Bovier_de_Fontenelle# ↩︎
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_poetry ↩︎
4. https://teachingamericanhistory.org/document/notes-on-the-state-of-virginia-3/ ↩︎
5. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45466/on-virtue ↩︎
6. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/52632/on-imagination ↩︎

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