Phillis Wheatley s'impose comme une poétesse pionnière qui a brisé les barrières raciales et de genre par son écriture. Malgré les profondes adversités de sa jeune vie d'enfant réduite en esclavage, son talent prodigieux et le soutien dont elle a bénéficié l'ont propulsée à devenir la première auteure afro-américaine publiée. Ses vers ont fréquemment exploré des thèmes de foi, de liberté et d'humanité, en utilisant des formes classiques tout en canalisant des perspectives profondément personnelles. Wheatley croyait en l'immense pouvoir de la poésie comme moyen d'expression et d'influence, laissant un héritage durable qui continue d'inspirer.
The collection features poignant poems that aim to inspire Christian readers while honoring the memory of recently deceased believers. Wheatley's work reflects her deep faith and reverence, showcasing her ability to blend personal reflection with broader spiritual themes. Through her lyrical verses, she celebrates the lives of those lost, offering solace and hope to the living.
These poems are from the first book of poetry published by an African-American author. Phillis was brought to Massachusetts as a slave and sold to the Wheatley family, where she threw herself into education; soon she was writing verse of such a high calibre that she enchanted societal figures as lofty as George Washington.
Born in Africa in 1753, Phillis Wheatley was kidnapped at the age of seven and sold into slavery. At nineteen, she became the first Black American poet to publish a book, Poems on Various Subjects: Religious and Moral, on which this volume is based. Wheatley's poetry created a sensation throughout the English-speaking world, and the young poet read her work in aristocratic drawing rooms on both sides of the Atlantic. The London Chronicle went so far as to declare her "perhaps one of the greatest instances of pure, unassisted genius that the world ever produced."Wheatley's elegies and odes offer fascinating glimpses into the origins of African-American literary traditions. Most of the poems express the effects of her religious and classical New England education, consisting of elegies for the departed and odes to Christian salvation. This edition of Wheatley's historic works includes letters and a biographical note written by one of the poet's descendants. Includes a selection from the Common Core State Standards Initiative: "On Being Brought from Africa to America."
A collection of writings by the eighteenth-century slave and author includes her letters, poetry, short fiction, and essays, along with poetry by such contemporary African American poets as Lucy Terry, Jupiter Harmon, and Francis Williams
Phillis Wheatley's remarkable journey from slavery to literary acclaim highlights her as a pioneering African-American poet. Sold into slavery at a young age, she was educated by the Wheatley family, which nurtured her exceptional talent. By her teenage years, she was already writing profound poetry, gaining recognition and patronage. This collection features her most notable works, including "On Being Brought from Africa to America," alongside a specially-commissioned biography that sheds light on her life and contributions to literature.
Born in West Africa in approximately 1753, Wheatley was sold into slavery as a child and transported to the American colonies in 1761. She was bought by a wealthy Boston merchant named John Wheatley to serve as a servant to his family. They gave the young girl the name Phillis, after the ship that had transported her to America. The Wheatley family soon recognized her amazing intellect and talent and started giving her an education very unusual for a slave at that time. Wheatley was taught Greek, Latin, classic literature, and the Bible and began writing poetry at age 14. In 1773, when she was 20 years-old, Wheatley traveled to London with her owner's son and it was there that she published her first collection of poems, "Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral". Her work was an instant success and the Wheatley family subsequently freed her from slavery. Wheatley's work reflects her African heritage, religious faith, and her classical education. Her elegant and contemplative odes and elegies are some of the most beautiful poems in early American literature. This edition is printed on premium acid-free paper.
Meet the women who wrote. They wrote against all odds. Some wrote defiantly; some wrote desperately. Some wrote while trapped within the confines of status and wealth. Some wrote hand-to-mouth in abject poverty. Some wrote trapped in a room of their father’s house, and some went in search of a room of their own. They had lovers and families. They were sometimes lonely. Many wrote anonymously or under a pseudonym for a world not yet ready for their genius and talent. We know many of their names—Austen and Alcott, Brontë and Browning, Wheatley and Woolf—though some may be less familiar. They are here, waiting to introduce themselves. They marched through the world one by one or in small sisterhoods, speaking to each other and to us over distances of place and time. Pushing back against the boundaries meant to keep us in our place, they carved enough space for themselves to write. They made space for us to follow. Here they are gathered together, an army of women who wrote and an arsenal of words to inspire us. They walk with us as we forge our own paths forward. These women wrote to change the world.
Als Phillis Wheatley 1773 ihr Buch Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral veröffentlichte, schrieb sie in mehrfacher Hinsicht Geschichte. Sie war die erste afroamerikanische Person, die einen Gedichtband publizierte. Und sie war Sklavin. Wheatleys Weg vom entführten Kind aus Westafrika zur Begründerin der afroamerikanischen Literatur war hindernisreich. Dass eine afroamerikanische Person Gedichte verfassen könne, musste der weißen Leseöffentlichkeit erst einmal bewiesen werden. Und auch die Kritik des publizierten Bandes war von rassistischer Abwertung geprägt – zu ihren größten Kritikern gehörte kein geringerer als Thomas Jefferson. Die Dichterin Wheatley orientiert sich formal am britischen Klassizismus, doch sie spricht mit eigenständiger Stimme und zeigt sich selbstbewusst in ihrer afroamerikanischen Identität. Sie macht sich für die Unabhängigkeit Amerikas von den Briten stark und entlarvt zugleich die Doppelmoral einer Sklavenhaltergesellschaft, die auf Freiheit pocht. Ihre hingebungsvolle Religiosität und Sehnsucht nach Transzendenz erhält im Hinblick auf das Leid der afroamerikanischen Bevölkerung besondere Bedeutung. Im Kanon der US-Literatur ist die Pionierin Wheatley inzwischen längst etabliert. Zum 250. Publikationsjubiläum ihres Gedichtbands wird ihr bahnbrechendes Werk und ihr bewegendes Leben endlich auch dem deutschen Lesepublikum zugänglich.
