Today we talked about Phillis Wheatley's poem "On Being Brought From Africa to America." The first thing we established was how she was thankful for religion, and not directly for slavery. Then we analyzed the last two lines in which she talked about 'refining' her people. By this she means that she is exposing something already inside. Essentially this is the Neoclassic idea of "man is not perfect, but perfectible." This pagan essence of her people was defeated and replaced. Then we we discovered how this piece is a revolutionary poem, but not in the immediate sense that one would think of. It is not about political revolution, but rather theological revolution. There was a segregation that stretched even into theological territories back then. People believed that there was a seperate heaven for souls of other races. Phillis Wheatly however, defies this and writes, "join th' angelic train", meaning joining the same heaven.
-Alexander Altaras
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While I believe that Phillis Wheatley's faith is sincere, I also think that perhaps the reason for this poem becoming "famous" is due to [what we would consider to be] an unexpected nature. It is this outlook on slavery that would have been considered most accurate at the time.
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