Complete WritingsThe extraordinary writings of Phillis Wheatley, a formerly enslaved woman turned published poet In 1761, a young girl arrived in Boston on a ship of enslaved people, was sold to the Wheatley family, and given the name Phillis Wheatley. After studying English and classical literature, geography, the Bible, and Latin, Phillis published her first poem in 1767 at the age of 14, winning much public attention and considerable fame. When Boston publishers who doubted its authenticity rejected an initial collection of her poetry, Wheatley sailed to London in 1773 and found a publisher there for Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral. This volume collects both Wheatley's letters and her poetry: hymns, elegies, translations, philosophical poems, tales, and epyllions--including a poignant plea to the Earl of Dartmouth urging freedom for America and comparing the country's condition to her own. With her contemplative elegies and her use of the poetic imagination to escape an unsatisfactory world, Wheatley anticipated the Romantic Movement of the following century. The appendices to this edition include poems of Wheatley's contemporary African-American poets: Lucy Terry, Jupiter Harmon, and Francis Williams. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators. |
Contents
V | 3 |
VI | 5 |
VII | 7 |
VIII | 8 |
IX | 9 |
X | 11 |
XII | 12 |
XIII | 13 |
LXV | 96 |
LXVI | 97 |
LXVIII | 99 |
LXIX | 101 |
LXX | 102 |
LXXI | 105 |
LXXIII | 106 |
LXXIV | 107 |
XV | 15 |
XVI | 16 |
XVII | 17 |
XVIII | 18 |
XIX | 19 |
XX | 26 |
XXI | 29 |
XXII | 30 |
XXIII | 32 |
XXV | 33 |
XXVI | 34 |
XXVII | 36 |
XXVIII | 37 |
XXIX | 39 |
XXXI | 41 |
XXXII | 43 |
XXXIII | 44 |
XXXIV | 45 |
XXXV | 46 |
XXXVI | 47 |
XXXVII | 48 |
XXXVIII | 49 |
XXXIX | 50 |
XL | 52 |
XLI | 53 |
XLII | 59 |
XLIII | 60 |
XLIV | 62 |
XLV | 64 |
XLVI | 65 |
XLVII | 67 |
XLVIII | 69 |
XLIX | 70 |
L | 72 |
LI | 73 |
LII | 75 |
LIII | 76 |
LIV | 77 |
LVI | 78 |
LVII | 80 |
LVIII | 83 |
LIX | 84 |
LX | 86 |
LXI | 88 |
LXII | 90 |
LXIII | 92 |
LXIV | 94 |
LXXV | 109 |
LXXVI | 111 |
LXXVII | 113 |
LXXVIII | 115 |
LXXIX | 117 |
LXXX | 118 |
LXXXI | 119 |
LXXXII | 120 |
LXXXIII | 121 |
LXXXIV | 123 |
LXXXV | 125 |
LXXXVI | 126 |
LXXXVII | 128 |
LXXXVIII | 130 |
LXXXIX | 131 |
XC | 133 |
XCI | 135 |
XCII | 139 |
XCIV | 140 |
XCV | 141 |
XCVI | 142 |
XCVII | 143 |
XCVIII | 144 |
XCIX | 145 |
C | 146 |
CI | 148 |
CII | 149 |
CIII | 151 |
CIV | 153 |
CV | 154 |
CVI | 156 |
CVII | 157 |
CVIII | 158 |
CIX | 161 |
CXI | 162 |
CXII | 163 |
CXIII | 165 |
CXIV | 167 |
CXV | 170 |
CXVI | 171 |
CXVII | 195 |
CXVIII | 199 |
CXIX | 201 |
CXX | 204 |
CXXI | 208 |
CXXII | 217 |
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Common terms and phrases
1772 Proposals abode African America Arminian behold beneath blessed blest bliss blooming bosom Boston breast bright celestial charms Countess of Huntingdon Dear Death divine doth dread earth Elegy England eternal ev'ry eyes fair fame foes Freedom genius George Whitefield glory goddess grace grief Hammon hand happy hear heart heav'nly Heaven Historical Society holy Honourable hope immortal included Jesus John John Wheatley joys Jupiter Hammon King Lady letter light London Lord Lucy Terry Maecenas Massachusetts Massachusetts pound master mind Mneme mourn muse native Negro night Niobe numbers o'er Old South Church Phillis Wheatley plain Poems on Various poet pow'r praise published 1773 realms Rev'd rise sacred saint Samuel Samuel Cooper Scipio Moorhead Servant shine shore sigh Sire skies slave slavery smiling song soul strains Susanna Wheatley tears thee thine thou thro throne undated variant version virtue Wheatley's Poems Whitefield Wooster youth
Popular passages
Page xxviii - Should you, my lord, while you peruse my song, Wonder from whence my love of Freedom sprung, Whence flow these wishes for the common good, By feeling hearts alone best understood, I, young in life, by seeming cruel fate Was snatch'd from Afric's fancy'd happy seat: What pangs excruciating must molest, What sorrows labour in my parent's breast?
Page xxxiv - If you should ever come to Cambridge, or near head-quarters, I shall be happy to see a person so favored by the Muses, and to whom nature has been so liberal and beneficent in her dispensations.