Question

Write a poem describing Phillis Wheatley’s life and accomplishments.

Answer 1

Phillis Wheatley's life as a celebrated African-born poet who was brought to America as a slave is described in a poem. Despite her enslavement, she achieved significant literary accomplishments and subtly critiqued slavery through her written words.

Step-by-step explanation:

In shadows of the past, there lives a name,
Brought far across the sea in chains and pain.
From Africa’s warm sun to cold New England fame,
A young girl, Phillis Wheatley, found in verse her gain.

In servitude's harsh world, a mind did soar,
With words she ventured where few dared to tread.
Amidst the skeptics who would her claim ignore,
Her poetic genius through her writings spread.

With elegies, she touched on death, so rife,
Yet each line she penned breathed its own life.
Religious strains and moral themes ensued,
In printed form her neoclassic work debuted.

Her status as a slave, her critics spurred,
Yet between her lines a subtle critique stirred.
In symbols, signs, a slave's resistance worded,
Phillis penned her truths, though softly, yet recorded.

A monumental figure, a poetic sage,
Wheatley's legacy transcends her own age.
Now history recalls with honor, not rage,
The African muse who graced the neoclassic stage.

Answer 2

she became the first American slave, the first person of African descent, and only the third colonial American woman to have her work published

Step-by-step explanation:

In 1773, Phillis Wheatley accomplished something that no other woman of her status had done. When her book of poetry, Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral, appeared, she became the first American slave, the first person of African descent, and only the third colonial American woman to have her work published.