DONATE
The MY HERO Project | Library

Phillis Wheatley: Complete Writings

By Phillis Wheatley, Vincent Carretta

Publisher: Penguin Classics 2001
ISBN: 014042430X
MY HERO recommends this book to readers of all age groups.
From the Publisher
In 1761, a young girl arrived in Boston on a slave ship, sold to the Wheatley family, and given the name Phillis Wheatley. Struck by Phillis' extraordinary precociousness, the Wheatleys provided her with an education that was unusual for a woman of the time and astonishing for a slave. After studying English and classical literature, geography, the Bible, and Latin, Phillis published her first poem in 1767 at the age of 14, winning much public attention and considerable fame. When Boston publishers who doubted its authenticity rejected an initial collection of her poetry, Wheatley sailed to London in 1773 and found a publisher there for Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral.

This volume collects both Wheatley's letters and her poetry: hymns, elegies, translations, philosophical poems, tales, and epyllions-including a poignant plea to the Earl of Dartmouth urging freedom for America and comparing the country's condition to her own. With her contemplative elegies and her use of the poetic imagination to escape an unsatisfactory world, Wheatley anticipated the Romantic Movement of the following century. The appendices to this edition include poems of Wheatley's contemporary African-American poets: Lucy Terry, Jupiter Harmon, and Francis Williams.

Author Bio: Phillis Wheatley (1753?-1784) was born in western Africa, most likely in present-day Gambia or Ghana. Having failed to find an American publisher for a second volume of her works, Wheatley died in Boston largely forgotten and impoverished.

Vincent Carretta, professor of English at the University of Maryland, College Park, edited the Penguin Classics editions of the work of Olaudah Equiano, Ignatius Sancho, and Ottobah Cugoano.

User Reviews:
Donajha Woods | 1/29/2013 5:01 AM
i rreally like it thank you
tekia swopshire | 2/13/2008 4:40 AM
i wish i could read his book i just dont know where to go to get it


We encourage you to visit your local library.  If you would rather buy the book, it can be purchased from any of the major bookstores.

-- The MY HERO Library Staff

rubi | 2/11/2008 9:22 AM
Awesome book
anonymous | 3/16/2006 6:39 AM
a great book

Write your comments
  • Only registered users can write reviews