108135

Later life In 1773, Wheatley was sent to London with Nathaniel Wheatley to recover her health. However, Wheatley's visit did not go unnoticed. She held an audience with the Lord Mayor of London (a further audience with George III was arranged but Phillis returned home beforehand) as well as with other significant members of British society. A collection of her poetry was also published in London during this visit. Wheatley was emancipated from slavery, but not given the fuli rights of a free woman, on October 18, 1773. [She was given this "emancipation" as a result of her popularity and influence as a poet and increasing pressure on the Wheatley family from abolitionists and sympathetic upper-class British socialites]. In 1775, she published a poem celebrating George Washington entitled, "To his Excellency General Washington." In 1776, Washington invited Wheatley to his home as thanks for the poem ,and Thomas Jefferson republished the poem in the Pennsylvania Oazette as a result of Wheatley's audience with Washington. Whilst Wheatley was a supporter of the American Revolution, the war proved to be detrimental to the publication of her poetry because readers were swept up in the frenzy of the war and seemingly disinterested in poetry. In 1778, Wheatley was legally freed from the bonds of slavery when her master John Wheatley died. Three months later, Wheatley married John Peters, a free black grocer. Her marriage was shaky as a result of poor living conditions and the death of two infant children. Wheatley was unable to publish another volume of her poetry because of her financial circumstances, the loss of patrons after her emancipation and the impact of the Revolutionary War. Wheatley's husband, John Peters, was imprisoned for debt in 1784, leaving an impoverished Wheatley behind with a siekły infant son. Wheatley became a scullery maid at a boarding house, forced into domestic labor that she had avoided earlier in life while enslaved. Wheatley died alone on December 5, 1784, at age 31. Her infant son died three and a hałf hours after her death.

Poetry In 1768, Wheatley wrote 'To the King's Most Excellent Majesty" in which she praised Ge orcie III for repealing the Stamp Act.¹*¹ However, as the American Reyolution gained strength, Wheatley's writing tumed to themes from the point of view of the colonists.

In 1770 Wheatley wrote a poetic tribute to George Whitefield that receh/ed widespread acclaim. Wheatley's poetry overwhelmingly revolves around Christian themes, with many poems dedicated to famous personalities. Over one-third consist of elegies, the remainder being on religious, classical, and abstract themes.¹⁵¹ She rarely mentions her own situation in her poems. One of the few which refers to slavery is "On being brought from Africa to America

Twas mercy brought me from my Pagan land,

Taught my benighted soul to understand That there's a God, that there's a Saviour too:

Once I redemption neither sought nor knew.

Some view our sable race with scornful eye,

"Their colour is a diabolic dye."

Remem ber, Christians, Negroes, black as Cain,

May be refin'd, and join th‘ angelic train.'

Many white Americans of the time found it hard to believe that an African woman could write poetry, and Wheatley had to defend her literary ability in court in 1772.¹⁴¹¹⁵¹ She was examined by a group of Boston luminaries, including John Erving. Reverend Charles Chauncey. John Hancock. Thomas Hutchinson. the governor of Massachusetts, and his lieutenant governor Andrew Oliver. They concluded she had written the poems ascribed to her and signed an attestation which was published in the preface to her book Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Morał published in Aldaate. London in 1773. The book was published in London because publishers in Boston had refused to publish the text. Wheatley and her master's son, Nathanial Wheatley, went to London, where Selina. Countess of Huntinadon and the Earl of Dartmouth helped with the publication.

Through her poetry, Wheatley is credited with helping found African American literaturę.¹⁴¹

In 1778, African American poet Jupiter Hammon wrote an ode to Wheatley. Hammon never mentions himself in the poem, but it appears that in choosing Wheatley as a subject, he was acknowledging their common bond.