The Enterprise. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 192?-1930, 1927-06-10
Nssse History
Phillis Wheatley

The first american Neffo woman
poet to evince remarkable literary
perfection, Phyllis Wheatley, was'Sae
of the most typical representatives
of New England.
She was little girl of 7 or s years
when she was brought to America as
a slave. She was born in Africa in
1853. In Boston she was sold to John
Wheatley, a well-to-do merchant tai
l0r. Her mistress, noticing the girls
quick mind, taught her to read and
treated her like a member of the
family.
In 1873 she accompanied John
Wheatley to London, where she was
royalty entertained bv the countess
of Huntingdon and was presented
with volume of .Milton's poems by
the lord mayor of London. Sudden
illness of her benefactress interrupt
ed her visit in London and she was
compelled to return hurriedly to Bos-
ton. In 1878 there appeared the first
and best edition of her poems dedi-
Gated to the countess of Huntingdon
entitled Poems on Miscellaneous
Subjects, Religion and Moral, by
Phyllis Wheatley, Negro Servant, of
Boston, in New England"
When in. ITS George Washington
was in command of the American
force then stationed at Cambridge,
Mass, she addressed poem "To His
Excellency, General Washington, !"
and which led to her presentation to
the American General.
The Rev. Mr.. J. Lathrop said in a
letter dated Boston, August Ia,
1875: eyes, sir. The famous Negro,
Phyllis, is servant of Mrs. Lathrop's
mother. She is indeed singular ge-
MUS. Mrs. Lathrop taught her to
read and, by seeing others use the
pen, she learned to write. She early
discovered turn for poetry and, be-
ing INDUCED to read and furnish her
mind, she does now and will, if she
still lives, make a considerable figure
in the poetical way. She now is in
London with my Lady Huntingdon
;. and | wish her going to England
may do her no hurt"
Phyllis Wheatley was singular
genius indeed; she was a girl genius
and she never sounds a native note.
She kept close to the white mans
ideas; wrote the white mans poetry
the poetry of Gray and Pope.
She never wrote line of her pic
turesque Africa, nor sounded a note
against the vile institution of servile
oppression under which her people
groaned. Her heart gave her lips no
lyric music, nor sonnets to praise the
Nubian skin of her race.
She was a product of the sterile
18th century. She was intensely re-
ligious and sincere and frequent
Biblical paraphrase occurs through
out some of her writings, especially
in 'Niobe in Distress for Her Chill
dren." Her poems sparkle with pa
triotism and loyalty.
After the death of Mrs. Wheatley
the home was broken up and Phyllis
soon accepted an offer of marriage
from a young Negro called Doctor
Peters and who was lawyer. Her
three children died at early age. She
died on the 9Th of December, 1884.
Her rightful place in American lit
erature has not been accorded her.
She deserves much more attention
from the Negro than has been given
| her.
Phyllis Wheatley is not one of the
negro supreme poets. fernapS III
she had lived she might have been;
but, as things are, she has left
enough work to prove her poetic gift
to have been real and to justify her
claim to be remembered and read.
OF all the voices in Negro poetry,
Phyllis Wheatley's is the faintest. II
is tender and graceful. 1t melts away
in the distance. 1t leaves the i'm
preston of prayer. Her beginning
is majestic and smooth; her finish is
like a sweet benediction.
She is a poet for whom a high
place ought always to be unhesitat
ingly assured. And that too, as 8
matter of right the just reward fol-
work accomplished, and not as 4
mere tribute of sympathy offered Il
her brilliant promise and untimel!
fate.