Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral (1773) is the first
book of poetry published by an African American author. Written
while Wheatley was a slave in Boston, the collection was published
in England. Regarded for her mastery of classical poetic form,
Phillis Wheatley earned praise from Voltaire and George Washington.
Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral has long been the
subject of scholarly work on the history of African American
literature, with some critics arguing that Wheatley's poems proved
detrimental to the struggle of enslaved African Americans. Whether
Wheatley made excuses for slavery or, as some have argued, included
subtle critiques of the institution in her writing, her talent and
importance to the history of African American literature remain
undisputed. Despite her status as a slave, Phillis Wheatley seems
to have viewed herself as a blessed individual, a woman for whom
life itself was a sign of God's grace, and in whom talent arose in
the form of a foreign language. Many of her poems-elegies, odes,
and monologues-are aimed at others. Whether in mourning, in praise,
or in warning, Wheatley frequently offers her own voice to
university students, royalty, God, the muses, and deceased infants.
When she does offer glimpses of herself, for instance, in her poem
"On Being Brought from Africa to America," she provides a complex
perspective on her status as a slave: "'Twas mercy brought me from
my Pagan land, / Taught my benighted soul to understand / That
there's a God, that there's a Saviour too." While her words may
seem strange to our modern view of the American institution of
slavery, they provide an important historical lens onto the
adoption of Christianity by African American slaves, who developed
a faith grounded in resistance, hope, and redemption. With a
beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript,
this edition of Phillis Wheatley's Poems on Various Subjects,
Religious and Moral is a classic of African American literature
reimagined for modern readers.
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