17 pages • 34 minutes read
America
A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Further Reading & Resources
Related Poems
“On Being Brought from Africa to America” by Phillis Wheatley (1773)
In “On Being Brought from Africa to America,” the speaker thanks New England for bringing her to the Christian promise of New England. The speaker then chides these same upstanding New England Christians, arguing they should acknowledge Africans as being just as capable and worthy of salvation as they are.
“American Liberty” by Philip Freneau (1775)
Philip Freneau’s “American Liberty” reflects the more traditional verses of the Revolutionary Era. Stately and straightforward, Freneau celebrates the American Revolution as a just and heroic struggle that will enable Americans to be “free”—the same quality of liberty that Wheatley also valorizes in “America.” Like Wheatley’s poem, Freneau’s “American Liberty” is written in heroic couplets.
“Bars Fight” by Lucy Terry (1746, published in 1855)
Lucy Terry (1733-1821) shared much of the same biographical background as Wheatley. Both were enslaved with roots in West Africa, both were educated by the white families who enslaved them. This poem is widely regarded as the first poem published by an African American. The poem—an account of an Indigenous group’s raid on a colonial settlement in which two families are viciously slaughtered—adopts the careful heroic couplets of Neo-Classical poetry, and brought some critical acclaim for Terry.
Further Literary Resources
“Phillis Wheatley’s Subversion of Classical Stylistics” by John C. Shields (1993)
John C. Shield’s article is one of the earliest and most developed arguments that reexamined Wheatley’s poetry for its ironic use of the poetic templates and prosody of British poetry. Shields actually takes issue with his own earlier readings of Wheatley and concedes that poems such as “America” could be approached ironically, with Wheatley using the artistic forms of the culture that enslaved her to rebuke them.
“The Privileged and Impoverished Life of Phillis Wheatley” by Shannon Luders-Manuel (2018)
This helpful overview of Wheatley’s life centers on the dichotomy that defined her poetry: the conflict between being both a gifted poet and an enslaved woman. The argument suggests that, even if Wheatley may not have intended it, her status as an enslaved person plays an important and unavoidable role in her poetry.
“Phillis Wheatley: A Black Perspective” by Eleanor Smith (1974)
Eleanor Smith’s article is one of the earliest defenses of Wheatley as a precursor of the African American literary movement. In examining the case for Wheatley’s “blackness,” Smith, an iconic figure in African American studies, argues that Wheatley’s dry wit and sly irony gave voice to her deep discontent and sorrow over the reality of slavery. In interpreting Wheatley’s poetry as critical of slavery, Smith positions Wheatley as an important early figure in African American culture and the struggle for emancipation from slavery in the United States.
Unlock all 17 pages of this Study GuidePlus, gain access to 8,800+ more expert-written Study Guides.
Including features:
Related Titles
By Phillis Wheatley
