Phillis+Wheatley


 * Phillis Wheatley**




 * Questions:**

1. What could the poem below be referring to?

[|An Hymn to The Evening]
//"//__//SOON as the sun forsook the eastern main//__ __//The pealing thunder shook the heav'nly plain;//__ //Majestic grandeur!// //**From the zephyr's wing,**// //Exhales the incense of the blooming spring.// //Soft purl the streams, __the birds renew their notes,__// //And through the air their mingled music floats.// //Through all the heav'ns what beauteous dies// //are spread!// //So may our breasts with ev'ry virtue glow,// //The living temples of our God below!// //Fill'd with the praise of him who gives the light,// __//And draws the sable curtains of the night,//__ //Let placid slumbers sooth each weary mind,// __//So shall the labours of the day begin//__ __//More pure, more guarded from the snares of sin.//__ //Night's leaden sceptre seals my drowsy eyes,// //Then cease, my song, till fair Aurora rise."//
 * //But the west glories in the deepest red://**
 * //At morn to wake more heav'nly, more refin'd;//**

This poem was written by Phillis Wheatley during the Revolution. The entire poem can be seen as a representation as a time of struggle coming to an end, and another starting again. This poem could be in reference to the Revolution, and the end of the revolution. The colonists were becoming victorious, pushing England back, the west winds blowing. But with the end of the Revolution, comes the birth of a new country and many more struggles and conflicts. The reference to a new event occurring could be problems in which the U.S. will face with the end of the Revolution, political problems, economic problems, or unsolved matters.

The poem at the same time could be dealing with the idea of slavery. Wheatley became a free slave, and she could be writing about her own life, one problem is done with, her enslavement, but another is starting, prejudice against her for being African American. At the same time, the poem could be in reference to the more broad idea of slavery in itself. With the end of the Revolution, slavery may be brought to an end to a certain extent, but Wheatley still sees struggle for her and her people in the future.

The Central theme of this poem is "freedom's cause," the colonies' struggle for freedom from England, which General Washington was assigned to lead. She shows her feelings from admiration for Britain to hatred of Britain and supporting the revolution. This poem hopes for the good of the future for the new republic, and praises the exertion of its military leader and first president, George Washington.

- "Proceed, great chief, with virtue on thy side"

- "A crown, a mansion, and a throne that shine,/ With gold unfading, WASHINGTON! be thine."

- "Thee, first in peace and honor" - most famous phrase in the poem, later used by Congress at Washington's funeral.


 * Questions:**

2. What is the significance of Phillis Wheatley writing this poem to George Washington?

Back