Sunday, October 2, 2011
To the Right Honorable William, Earl of Dartmouth
At the end of the third stanza Wheatley writes, "Such, such my case. And can I then but pray others may never feel tyrannic sway?" Originally when I was looking at this in class I didn't notice the question mark, but that changes up the whole meaning of the verse, at least for me. It's almost like she is questioning herself and her beliefs in freedom. She is trying to help people obtain freedom who stole hers from her, and caused tyranny on her and her family. Also, if they do obtain freedom she won't, nor will she be treated any differently. Do you think that she should still try to help them obtain freedom? Why or why not.
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Great question, Jillian!
ReplyDeleteI wrote about this topic in my essay!! I aslo wasnt sure what it meant at first but then once i read over it i finally understood it. Wheatley does not want other slaves to feel the way she did when she was a slave. She was taken away from her parents and moved to New England. She hopes that her family wont have to go through the things she went through. I feel like her atitude in the beginning of the poem is all gung- ho about freedom but then she starts to question if slavery is punishment..
ReplyDeleteI agree with caroline because she doesn't want anyone else to feel like she did when she came to america as a slave but she is torn because even though she was a slave in america she was educated and was a successful poet but she was torn from her home and couldnt ever see her family again and was forced to come here against her will but she was "successful" later on in life so she is torn about how she feels
ReplyDeleteI dont ave the book here so can't check this but didn't we read in class that she thought that if the revolution succeeded, slavery would be abolished? And hadn't she been freed when she wrote all this? If that's the case, even if slavery isn't abolished, the revolution would be a good thing for her too since she is free.
ReplyDeletei like what caroline said about her questioning if slavery is punishment. i dont know if this is exactly what she believed, but she was converted to christianity. Some christians(puritans) believed in predestination. so maybe wheatly thinks that slavery is just part of her journey through life and its gods path. She doesnt think that it matters in the end because if she is a good christian she will go to heaven regardless of whether she is a slave or not
ReplyDeleteI think Wheatley writes that she will pray that no one else will experience the same tyranny as her becuase she feels it is her Christain duty not to wish that fate on anyone else. But she is really doubting whether she wants the Americans to become free becuase why should they be free when they are the ones who enslaved her in the first place and the slaves will remain enslaved even after the revolution. I think the question mark is symbolizing the doubt she still has in supporting the revolution even though the rest of her poem is promoting it.
ReplyDeleteTo clarify, she wasn't freed until her master's death in 1778. The poem was written in 1773, so she was definitely still a slave, and as far as she knew, she would be until she died.
ReplyDeleteThis is Pia's Comment: First when we read Wheatley this poems seem to my like a poem about freedom and happiness from Americans. But when we analyzed it was clear that the freedom of a slave is meant. Indeed this is very unusual in this period of time. In addition it was a woman who wrote it and earlier the women did not have any rights to elect or have an opinion to something. It is also interesting that this woman is happy in her "captivity" because she always wrote about happiness, freedom and all this things seem to me that she did not hate her life as a slave. Furthermore she wrote about the fact that you do not have to complain about everything assuming you live in America. In her rhetoric language you can notice a using of a metaphor about slavery what seems very smart.
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