By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
‘On Virtue’ is a poem written by Phillis Wheatley (c. 1753-84) about that nebulous and wide-ranging quality known as virtue. Wheatley was the first African-American woman to publish a book of poetry: Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral appeared in 1773 when she was probably still in her early twenties.
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
‘A Hymn to the Evening’ is a poem written by Phillis Wheatley (c. 1753-84) in praise of the evening. Wheatley was the first African-American woman to publish a book of poetry: Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral appeared in 1773 when she was probably still in her early twenties.
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
‘To the University of Cambridge, in New England’ is a poem written by Phillis Wheatley (c. 1753-84) and sees her addressing the students of Harvard University, cautioning them against being sinful.
The poem was probably written in 1767 and published in 1773. Wheatley was the first African-American woman to publish a book of poetry: Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral appeared in 1773 when she was probably still in her early twenties.
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
‘To S. M., a Young African Painter, on Seeing His Works’ is a poem by Phillis Wheatley (c. 1753-84) about an artist, Scipio Moorhead, an enslaved African artist living in America. Wheatley was the first African-American woman to publish a book of poetry: Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral appeared in 1773 when she was probably still in her early twenties.
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
Phillis Wheatley (c. 1753-84) was the first African-American woman to publish a book of poetry: Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral appeared in 1773 when she was probably still in her early twenties.
Because Wheatley stands at the beginning of a long tradition of African-American poetry, it’s worth considering some of her best and most famous quotations. Wheatley’s poems, which bear the influence of eighteenth-century English verse (her preferred form was the heroic couplet used by Alexander Pope, among others), are written on a range of subjects, including George Washington, her fellow black artists, and her experiences as a slave in America.