Phillis Wheatley: Early Poetry and Religious Themes
This paper examines the early poetic career of Phillis Wheatley, the first published African American poet. It traces her development from her debut poem at age thirteen in the Newport Mercury to her 1773 collection, Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral. The paper then offers a close reading of her poem "On the Death of a Young Lady of Five Years of Age," exploring how Wheatley weaves Christian faith, consolation, and an acknowledgment of life's cruelties into a unified message for grieving parents. The analysis highlights Wheatley's theological conviction, her pastoral empathy, and her ability to balance blunt spiritual counsel with genuine sympathy for human loss.
- Introduction to Wheatley's Early Career: Overview of Wheatley's significance as a poet
- First Publications and Public Recognition: Debut poem, first book, and public verification
- Overview of the Poem: Introduction and summary of the elegy's argument
- Religious Faith and Consolation: Christian themes of comfort for grieving parents
- Life's Dichotomies in Wheatley's Verse: Balancing blunt theology with pastoral sympathy
- Conclusion: Faith and empathy unified in Wheatley's message
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What makes this paper effective
- The paper grounds its analysis in direct quotation from the primary text, allowing Wheatley's own words to carry the argument about her theological convictions.
- It contextualizes the poem within Wheatley's biographical circumstances, making the thematic reading feel earned rather than abstract.
- The discussion of life's "cruel dichotomies" adds nuance, acknowledging that Wheatley's counsel could be received as blunt while still defending its sincerity.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates close reading: it moves line by line through the poem, citing specific line numbers and quoting exact phrases to build a cumulative argument about Wheatley's central message. This technique shows how meaning is constructed progressively across a poem rather than announced all at once.
Structure breakdown
The paper opens with biographical and publication history, establishing credibility and context. It then shifts to a sustained textual analysis of a single poem, tracing the consolation theme from its opening stanza through its final couplet. A third movement complicates the reading by introducing the poem's harder theological claims, before the paper resolves by reasserting Wheatley's dual commitments to faith and sympathy.
Introduction to Wheatley's Early Career
Phillis Wheatley is a figure whose early experiences shaped her poetry in profound ways. Before she rose to prominence as a writer, she was already demonstrating remarkable literary talent at a young age. Examining the work she produced during her formative years as a poet and scholar reveals just how exceptional her early output was, and how deeply her life experiences informed her verse.
First Publications and Public Recognition
Wheatley began writing poetry at a remarkably young age. Her first published poem appeared when she was only thirteen years old, in a local newspaper called the Newport Mercury. That poem concerned two men who nearly drowned at sea. Her first and only book, Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral, was published in 1773 — just seven years after her debut — when she was still approximately twenty years old.
Despite her achievements, many cast doubt on whether Wheatley had actually authored her own work. Fortunately, her authorship was verified by prominent figures including Selina Hastings, the Countess of Huntingdon in England, as well as John Hancock and seventeen other reputable men in the city of Boston.1
Overview of the Poem
The poem selected for closer analysis here is "On the Death of a Young Lady of Five Years of Age." Even given the tragedy at the heart of the poem, it is immediately clear that Wheatley held a deep and unwavering allegiance to God. Her Christian faith permeates the text from its earliest lines. These references begin in the third line, with the phrase "on the kind bosom of eternal love."
Throughout the poem, Wheatley seeks to counsel the bereaved parents rather than simply lament with them. Rather than encouraging them to dwell on their grief, she urges them toward acceptance and faith. This is evident when she writes, "this know, ye parents, nor her loss deplore, she feels the iron hand of pain no more."2
Religious Faith and Consolation
This pattern of consolation continues throughout the poem. The twenty-first line reinforces the same message: "perfect in bliss she from her heav'nly home, looks down and smiling beckons you to come, why then, fond parents, why these fruitless groans."2 The poem culminates in lines 35 and 36, where Wheatley speaks of reunion — that the grieving parents will one day be joined again with their lost child: "yourselves, safe landed on the blissful shore, shall join your happy baby to part no more."2
The theological framework Wheatley employs reflects the broader tradition of elegiac poetry, in which death is reframed not as an ending but as a passage to a better existence. Her faith drives her to offer the parents not simply sympathy, but a hopeful vision of eternal reunion.
Conclusion
Phillis Wheatley's "On the Death of a Young Lady of Five Years of Age" stands as an early demonstration of her poetic gifts and her theological depth. In counseling grieving parents through the lens of Christian faith, she managed to balance honest spiritual instruction with heartfelt compassion — a balance that distinguishes her voice among colonial American poets and secures her place as a pioneering figure in American literary history.
1 Biography. 2017. "Phillis Wheatley." Biography.Com.
2 Bartleby. 2017. "On the Death of a Young Lady of Five Years of Age. Phillis Wheatley. 1773. Poems on Various Subjects." Bartleby.Com.
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