Final answer:
Wheatley utilized figurative language to express her colonial values by celebrating the American colonies and critiquing the practice of slavery while holding deep Christian beliefs.
Step-by-step explanation:
The statement that best describes how Wheatley's work, particularly the word chesce (to cease) in 'A Hymn to the Evening', expresses her colonial values is by using figurative language, it celebrates the American colonies. Phyllis Wheatley, a poet who was enslaved, held deep Christian beliefs and often used her writing to subtly critique slavery and the contradictions within the colonial fight for freedom. She makes use of traditional poetic language and devices to discuss the importance of religious beliefs and to rebuke the amoral aspects of colonial society, especially pointing out the conflicting values of seeking liberty while enslaving others. Wheatley's occasional poems also demonstrated ambivalence, revealing the austere life of slaves while imaginatively voicing the concept of freedom through metaphors and contrasts in elegiac tradition, all wrapped in the accentuation of her Christian faith and nod to her African heritage.