菲利斯·惠特利传记

菲丽丝·惠特蕾

菲利斯·惠特利摄
  • 时间1753 - 1784
  • 的地方
  • 国家冈比亚

诗人的传记

菲利斯·惠特利(1753 - 1784年12月5日)是第一位发表作品的非裔美国诗人,也是第一位非裔美国女性,她的作品开创了非裔美国文学流派。她出生在冈比亚,七岁时成为奴隶。她被波士顿的惠特利家族买下,他们教她读书写字,并鼓励她写诗。1773年出版的《惠特利关于各种主题、宗教和道德的诗歌》为她带来了名声,乔治·华盛顿等人物称赞了她的作品。惠特利还在英国巡回演出,并在一首诗中受到非裔美国诗人朱庇特·哈蒙的赞扬。惠特利在诗歌上获得成功后被她的主人解放了,但她一直住在惠特利家族,直到她的前主人去世,他的家庭破裂。惠特利作为诗人在美国和英国都很受欢迎,最终在1773年10月18日获得了自由。1776年3月,她出现在乔治·华盛顿将军的诗歌朗诵会上。她是美国独立的坚定支持者,这体现在她在独立战争期间写的诗歌和戏剧中。她嫁给了一个名叫约翰·彼得斯的自由黑人杂货商; they had two children who died as infants. Wheatley's husband abandoned her in 1784, when she was pregnant again. She struggled to support herself and had completed a second volume of poetry, but no publisher seemed interested in it. Phillis Wheatley died from complications of childbirth at the age of 31. Her newborn infant died several hours later. By then she was living in a boarding house in poverty. In 1768, Wheatley wrote "To the King's Most Excellent Majesty" in which she praised George III for repealing the Stamp Act. However, as the American Revolution gained strength, Wheatley's writing turned to themes from the point of view of the colonists. John Wheatley's grave in Granary Burying Ground. Phillis Wheatley's grave is unmarkedIn 1770 Wheatley wrote a poetic tribute to George Whitefield that received widespread acclaim. Wheatley's poetry overwhelmingly revolves around Christian themes, with many poems dedicated to famous personalities. Over one-third consist of elegies, the remainder being on religious, classical, and abstract themes. She rarely mentions her own situation in her poems. One of the few which refers to slavery is "On being brought from Africa to America": Twas mercy brought me from my Pagan land, Taught my benighted soul to understand That there's a God, that there's a Saviour too: Once I redemption neither sought nor knew. Some view our sable race with scornful eye, "Their colour is a diabolic dye." Remember, Christians, Negroes, black as Cain, May be refin'd, and join th' angelic train.´ Many white Americans of the time found it hard to believe that an African woman could write poetry, and Wheatley had to defend her literary ability in court in 1772. She was examined by a group of Boston luminaries, including John Erving, Reverend Charles Chauncey, John Hancock, Thomas Hutchinson, the governor of Massachusetts, and his lieutenant governor Andrew Oliver. They concluded she had written the poems ascribed to her and signed an attestation which was published in the preface to her book Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral published in Aldgate, London in 1773. The book was published in London because publishers in Boston had refused to publish the text. Wheatley and her master's son, Nathanial Wheatley, went to London, where Selina, Countess of Huntingdon and the Earl of Dartmouth helped with the publication. Through her poetry, Wheatley is credited with helping found African American literature. In 1778, African American poet Jupiter Hammon wrote an ode to Wheatley. Hammon never mentions himself in the poem, but it appears that in choosing Wheatley as a subject, he was acknowledging their common bond.