Blog #11

On Being Brought from Africa to America

By Phillis Wheatley

Phillis Wheatley describes in her poem the positives sides of being an American slave. The surprising thing is that she is not complaining about her life as a slave woman because of the fact that she was able to get closer to being in the religion of Christianity. 

At first reading this title I thought that she would be the person that is complaining because she has to work for the whites. Throughout the poem Wheatley explains that her beliefs has changed drastically after she came to America and she realized how badly Africans were treated when they were not in Africa. She explains in the poem that because she is now in Christianity she understands that she can pray so that sins can go away and she is reminding the white people that minorities can also be with her when she goes to heaven.

The word that is used best in this poem is "Benighted". What the word literally means is that you are in a state of darkness or night or that you are overtaken by darkness or night. Phillis Wheatley uses this word to explain that she is a African American female and she also uses it to explain what is going in her life at the current moment. She uses the phrase "mercy  brought me" to explain how she was kidnapped and the title of the poem indicates this also. She also indicates that she forgives anybody who put her in this certain situation. Even though she was a slave, in her poem she states the fact she is still a slave and that African are not originally born enslaved but instead they have equal right just as any other person does.