Wheatley Was Authentic

Throughout the past two weeks of class, discussion have risen on the topic of whether or not Phyllis Wheatley was an authentic poet. Was she coerced to write certain things? Brainwashed? or is it actually her?
At first, I was a tad skeptical, but now I have made my mind up. I do believe that she was who she was and her poems were as well. My mind was solidified after the last class on the 28th because we talked about the purpose and meanings behind her poems, especially the poem, "To the Right Honorable William, Earl of Dartmouth". I believe this mainly because of her purpose behind the poem, to point out that freedom from slavery is just as important, if not more important to her, as is the colonies freedom from British control. Thinking about the time period she was writing this poem, it help me appreciate the difficulty of writing this poem to William, Earl of Dartmouth, at this time. She wrote this poem to a person of power, in order to gain entry in some way, so that she could persuade her race's freedom, or at least draw attention to it.
She uses the stage she is on and really calls out the wrongdoings that are happening at the time, which I think is pretty badass to say the least. Like many of the enslaved during this time, Wheatley used the stage she was on as a poet to draw attention to a great cause, and it isn't clear from a straightforward look at the poem. One has to dissect the poem to find the humor and meanings behind it.
This is why I believe that Phyllis Wheatley was an authentic poet who wrote each poem with a certain purpose and that became clearer than ever in her poem, "To the Right Honorable William, Earl of Dartmouth".

From Wheatley to Hip-Hop

In class the other day, we watched a clip about Phillis Wheatley from "Great African American Authors." Towards the end of that clip, this notion was articulated:  Phillis Wheatley founded the American, Black, and Women's poetic traditions simultaneously. And when thinking about what these intersections look like, one can't help but think of writers like Maya Angelou, Gwendolyn Brooks, or Audre Lorde (more on her next week perhaps). Furthermore, one can't help but think of hip-hop and the liberatory fervor and attitude that was part of its inception.

So where am I going with this? What I see is a difference in attitude between early Wheatley (circa 1772) and later Wheatley (To the Right Honorable William, Earl of Dartmouth). The latter poem is contextualized in a specific space (America on the dawn of revolution) -- "No more, America, in mournful strain / Of wrongs, and grievance undress'd complain,..." This sort of move reminds me of Kanye West's lyric in Jesus Walks: "You know what the Midwest is? / Young and Reckless." This contextualizes West's song in Chicago in order to make some sort of plea or statement. And that's just what Wheatlye's doing. She's contextualizing her poem in revolutionary America in order to make a claim that while the revolutionary effort might be a good thing,one ought not forget that Black folks are still enslaved.

Phillis Wheatley Unit

Greetings Internet,

Here's a recap of the pieces we discussed in ENG 360 in relation to Phillis Wheatley's book Poems On Various Subjects, Religious And Moral (http://www.bartleby.com/150/)

Class 1
1. https://soundcloud.com/jamilawoods/blk-girl-soldier-prod-by-jus-cuz-saba
"blk girl soldier" by Jamila Woods

2. http://www.sas.upenn.edu/~cavitch/pdf-library/Gates_Phillis.pdf
"Phillis Wheatley On Trial" by Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

Class 2
1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oznJkYqcDXk
"One" by Thuli Zuma

2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fE-c4Bj_RT0
"My Spanish" by Melissa Lozada-Oliva

3. http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/177177#poem
"To The Right Honorable William, Earl of Dartmouth" by Phillis Wheatley

4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ex7mY8HMMnw
a clip from "Great African American Authors" featuring Dr. Dana Williams

Be on the lookout for student expansion of thought using these and other pieces.

Prof. Marshall

Blog Notes

This blog will act as a public face/extension of the discussions in Prof. Nate Marshall's Multicultural Women Poets class.

Students will contribute thoughts on readings and also new pieces to share with the class. Students and anybody else will be free to comment respectfully on the posts and ideas shared here.

Students please remember to sign and label your blog post with your name. Thanks.

Have at it.

-Prof. M