On Being Brought from Africa to America

by Phillis Wheatley '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 die." Remember, Christians, Negros, black as Cain, May be refin'd and join th'angelic train.

Having been born in a time of obscurantism for women especially African slave women Phillis Wheatley accomplished an unimaginable endeavour. She received an education and began publishing her work during the apogee of slavery. She also seized the opportunity to convey a sense of equality between Christians and African slaves by making use of her great talent at poetry. In addition to supporting her views, her poem On Being Brought from Africa to America encompasses captivating, well articulated diction, engaging poetic elements, and renders her a worth emulating, exemplary paradigm. The colonization of Africa spurred some sincere concern among Christians about caring for the indigenous population of Africa. It was indeed the Christian doctrine that dictated offering pagans a chance for salvation. Driven by this inexorable yearning and propitious circumstances, various earthly saviours incarnated the plan to bring Africans out of their benightedness. Yet, one should not lose sight of the fact that sheer exploitation of the local workforce was a stronger and more decisive motive. The loving and protective attitude, far from being convincing, denotes a hypocritical arrangement. In Wheatleys poem the same play is being restaged in a new locale the promising and lavish New World. Native Africans were literally abducted by subjects from the Land of Promise, tied as animals for fear they might escape and transported to America, where they became a new form of valuable commodity by being placed on the lowest possible social pedestal. The title of the poem stirs up reminiscences of this violent uprooting and subsequent abuse of Africans. Wheatley meaningfully uses the passive form On Being Brought to make a direct statement. This passive form in itself indicates that Africans came to America not of their own accord. Christians forcefully uprooted Africans from their motherland only to condemn them to slavery in the, supposedly,

land of promise. Never in the history of humanity has there been a more direct, prolonged, or severe violation of human rights! Moreover, the preposition On further reinforces the tragedy of this uprooting as On could be rephrased as right after. The poetess astutely implies that right after Africans were unwillingly brought to America, as if this had not been enough in itself, still greater misfortunes were in store for them. On close-reading the poem, the reader realises it is the choice of diction most appropriate and powerful which renders the writing effective in conveying some stinging statements. The word mercy in the opening line strongly contrasts with the passive form of the title. Although mercy is a notion bearing a positive connotation, in this case it conveys a tinge of caustic irony as well. On the one hand, Christians are presented as assuming the role of guardians and enlightened instructors who aspire to illuminate Africans. On the other hand, mercy yields a veiled attack toward the mass kidnappers who feign pity on Africans because the latter happen to be heathen but in reality, have an excruciatingly painful fate in store for them. The espousal of abducting African natives and the revival of slavery were indeed pernicious premeditated transgressions. The shadow cast on the conscience of many a civilized and religious Christians was dark indeed. The endeavor of the latter to convert Africans to Christianity may be seen as an effort to assuage the guilt derived by the aforementioned prodigiously unjust crime. Yet, acts speak louder than words. Christians were well aware of the fact that workforce was needed to man the plantations and that Africans were brought to America for the purpose of nonremunerative hard labor. In the ensuing lines of her poem, Wheatley implies the concepts of God and Saviour were nonexistent in her motherland and Christians imperiously decided

Africans were in need of redemption. The reader may presuppose African affinity with nature and the environment. A further extemporaneous surmise lies in the fact that Africans may not have been sinful wrongdoers and, therefore, not in need of repentance. A subsequent question pertains to the criteria of evaluating various religions and categorizing them as superior or subordinate. Christians aspired to convert pagans to Christianity, arbitrarily assuming superiority of their own doctrine, while undermining the uniqueness of African religious traditions. In the second part of the poem Wheatley introduces the theme of racial discrimination. Not only were Africans alienated from their land and had to endure a destitute, toilsome existence, they were also regarded as inferior, even diabolic creatures due to their dark complexion. What is more, she refers to Africans as Negroes a derogatory term used to hurt their feelings and make them feel inferior to Christians. This may be seen as an endeavor to pinpoint the dark complexion and egregious nature of dishonourable individuals such as Cain and juxtapose them with the Angels. Angels have traditionally been visualised as fair skinned, fair haired entities. This imagery echoes a heavenly realm. Yet, Wheatleys statement appears to convey not a religious connotation but a didactic one. Having aptly and profoundly cultivated herself, she makes wise use of the crucial theme of Horaces Carpe Diem to stress the potential for personal improvement in all humans regardless of race, complexion or religion. Africans, she asserts, may have been unworldly but can be refined. Under the light of a slightly different interpretation, the poetess appears to give Africans an aura of equality to Christians. Having taken the liberty to remind her captors of the shared antiquity of African and Christian heritage, she proceeds to affirm that once given the opportunity for unhindered intellectual growth, Africans

will also join the angelic train. The reader may surmise an inherent capacity for greatness in Africans. Also, the reader may not avoid making a connection with the almost two-thousand-year long capture of Greece by the Romans, Christians and others. Despite being in captivity, our own ancestors had the capacity to become palindromous intellectual invaders and culturally subdue their uncultivated Roman captors by means of their overpowering erudition. The following proverbial saying by Horace, Graecia capta ferrum victorem cepit et artes intulit agresti Lati (Epistolarum II, 1, 156) is a case in point. The proverbial means Subdued Greece overpowered the iron-clad conqueror and introduced the arts into rustic Rome. Wheatley herself, through her own intellectual magnitude, becomes the Angel herald of change, the vanguard setting the example for Africans to follow and transcend meagre levels of existence. The choice of diction undeniably supports and enhances the subject matter of the poem. In promoting her purpose Wheatley also enriches her verses by using an array of poetic devices. More specifically, in the couplet, the reader witnesses alliteration of m in mercy brought me from my Similarly, in the second line of the couplet, t and s sounds alliterate in Taught my benighted soul to understand. Lexical repetition ensues in the opening line of the stanza: That theres a God, that theres a Savior. More alliteration instances ensue in Some view our sable race with scornful, while in pagan land and color is a diabolic dye there is a simultaneous effect of assonance and alliteration in an and ol respectively. The reader may also not avoid observing the perfect masculine rhyme in the poem. It can be surmised that meter, alliteration, assonance and lexical repetition add cadence to the poem. In other words, there is natural rhythm in it.

The whole poem appears to be the epitome of understatement. Absence of the word slavery notwithstanding, Wheatley appears to communicate so much about it. Additionally, the use of mercy is, apparently, a case of verbal irony, whereas the remark on Cain brings biblical allusion into play. What is more, the line Remember, Christians, Negroes, black as Cain is an occurrence of synecdoche by means of which she insinuates all mankind descended from Cain. A further implication lies in the fact that all people being equal, the element of personal elevation is innate in all humanity. The term angelic train aptly stands for a symbol of erudition, uniting all erudite and refined people. Last but not least, the poem as a whole resembles a narrative in which Wheatley reiterates her life story. History provides examples which illustrate how conquered people outweighed the importance of their captors by surpassing them in honour, literary production and sentimental equilibrium. Phillis Wheatleys poem is a case in point of how slaves manage to subjugate their masters by elevating themselves to the point of being balanced, refined and honourable individuals. Her poem and overall stance in life certify the reality of Nietzsches quote we have art in order not to perish of the truth. Finding herself in a location and era of the most unpropitious circumstances, Wheatley opts for using poetry to elevate herself above inferiority and illiteracy. She thus succeeds not only to decently tolerate the austere and rigid reality of slavery and her ethnic subordination, but also to set an example for all Africans to follow.