Tag: Wheatley Phillis

• Elegy on Leaving

  Phillis Wheatley 1784

  FAREWEL! ye friendly bowers, ye streams adieu,
  I leave with sorrow each sequestered seat :
  The lawns , where oft I swept the morning dew,
  The groves, from noon-tide rats a kind retreat.
  Yon wood-crowned hill, whose far projecting shade,
  Inverted trembles in the limpid lake :
  Where wrapt in thought I pensively have strayed,
  For crowds and noise, reluctant, I forsake.
  The solemn pines, that, winding through the vale,
  Ingrateful rows attract the wandering eye,
  Where the soft ring-dove pours her soothing tale,
  No more must veil me from the fervid sky.
  Beneath yon aged oak’s projecting arms,
  Oft-times beside the pebbled brook I lay;
  Where, pleased with simple Nature’s various charms,
  I passed in grateful solitude the day.
  Rapt with the melody of Cynthio’s strain,
  There first my bosom felt poetic flame;
  Mute was the bleating language of the plain,
  And with his lays the wanton fawns grew tame.
  But, ah! those pleasing hours are ever flown:
  Ye scenes of transport from my thoughts retire;
  Those rural joys no more the day shall crown,
  No more my hand shall wake warbling lyre.
  But come, sweet Hope, from thy divine retreat,
  Come to my breast, and chase my cares away,
  Bring calm Content to gild my gloomy seat,
  And cheer my bosom with her heavenly ray.

  _______________________________________________________

  Original Published in London Arminian Magazine, July 1784 pp. 395-96

  Genre: Poetry
  Language : English
  Meter: Iambic Pentamer

  August 5, 2023

  Wheatley Phillis

  ---

• An Answer to the Rebus, by the Author of These Poems

  Phillis Wheatley 1773

  THE poet asks, and Phillis can’t refuse
  To show th’ obedience of the Infant muse.
  She knows the Quail of most inviting taste
  Fed Israel‘s army in the dreary waste ;
  And what’s on Britain‘s royal standard borne,
  But the tall, graceful, rampant Unicorn ?
  The Emerald with a vivid verdure glows
  Among the gems which regal crowns compose ;
  Boston‘s a town, polite and debonair,
  To which the beaux and beauteous nymphs repair,
  Each Helen strikes the mind with sweet surprise,
  While living lightning flashes from her eyes.
  See young Euphorbus of the Dardan line
  By Menelaus‘ hand to death resign :
  The well known peer of popular applause
  Is C──m zealous to support our laws.
  Quebec now vanquish’d must obey,
  She too much annual tribute pay
  To Britain of immortal fame.
  And add new glory to her name.

  [Note: To read the Rebus in response to which the above was written, please see here: https://archive.org/details/poemsonvarioussu00whea/page/n129/mode/2up%5D

  ---

  Wheatley, Phillis (1773) Poems on Various Subjects, Moral and Religious. London : A. Bell p. 124.

  Original printing at:
  https://archive.org/details/poemsonvarioussu00whea/page/n131/mode/2up
  Genre: Poetry
  Language : English
  Meter: Iambic Pentamer

  July 6, 2023

  Wheatley Phillis

  ---

• A Farewell to America

  To Mrs. S. W.

  Phillis Wheatley 1773

  I.
  ADIEU, New–England‘s smiling meads,
  Adieu, the flow’ry plain :
  I leave thine op’ning charms, O spring,
  And tempt the roaring main.

  II.

  In vain for me the flow’rets rise,
  And boast their gaudy pride,
  While here beneath the northern skies
  I mourn for health deny’d.

  III.

  Celestial maid of rosy hue,
  O let me feel thy reign!
  I languish till thy face I view,
  Thy vanish’d joys regain.

  IV.

  Susannah mourns, nor can I bear
  To see the crystal show’r,
  Or mark the tender falling tear
  At sad departure’s hour ;

  V.

  Not unregarding can I see
  Her soul with grief opprest :
  But let no sighs, no groans for me,
  Steal from her pensive breast.

  VI.

  In vain the feather’d warblers sing,
  In vain the garden blooms,
  And on the bosom of the spring
  Breathes out her sweet perfumes,

  VII.

  While for Britannia‘s distant shore
  We sweep the liquid plain,
  And with astonish’d eyes explore
  The wide–extended main.

  VIII.

  Lo! Health appears! celestial dame !
  Complacent and serene,
  With Hebe‘s mantle o’er her Frame,
  With soul–delighting mein.

  IX.

  To mark the vale where London lies
  With misty vapours crown’d,
  Which cloud Aurora‘s thousand dyes,
  And veil her charms around.

  X.

  Why, Phœbus, moves thy car so slow?
  So slow thy rising ray ?
  Give us the famous town to view,
  Thou glorious king of day !

  XI.

  For thee, Britannia, I resign
  New–England‘s smiling fields ;
  To view again her charms divine,
  What joy the prospect yields !

  XII.

  But thou! Temptation hence away,
  With all thy fatal train,
  Nor once seduce my soul away,
  By thine enchanting strain.

  XIII.

  Thrice happy they, whose heav’nly shield
  Secures their souls from harms,
  And fell Temptation on the field
  Of all its pow’r disarms!

  ---

  Wheatley, Phillis (1773) Poems on Various Subjects, Moral and Religious. London : A. Bell pp. 119-122.

  Original printing at:
  https://archive.org/details/poemsonvarioussu00whea/page/n125/mode/2up
  Genre: Poetry
  Language : English
  Meter: Iambic Pentamer

  July 6, 2023

  Wheatley Phillis

  ---

• To His Honour the Lieutenant-Governor, on the Death of his Lady

  Phillis Wheatley 1773

  ALL–conquering Death ! by thy resistless pow’r,
  Hope’s tow’ring plumage falls to rise no more !
  Of scenes terrestrial how the glories fly,
  Forget their splendors, and submit to die !
  Who ere escap’d thee, but the saint* of old
  Beyond the flood in sacred annals told,
  And the great sage, † whom fiery courses drew
  To heav’n’s bright portals from Elisha‘s view ;
  Wond’ring he gaz’d at the refulgent car,
  Then snatch’d the mantle floating on the air.
  From Death these only could exemption boast,
  And without dying gain’d th’ immortal coast.
  Not falling millions sate the tyrant’s mind,
  Nor can the victor’s progress be confin’d.
  But cease thy strife with Death, fond Nature, cease :
  He leads the virtuous to the realms of peace ;
  His to conduct to the immortal plains,
  Where heav’n’s Supreme in bliss and glory reigns.

  There sits, illustrious Sir, thy beauteous spouse ;
  A gem-blaz’d circle beaming on her brows.
  Hail’d with acclaim among the heav’nly choirs,
  Her soul new-kindling with seraphic fires,
  To notes divine she tunes the vocal strings,
  While heav’n’s high concave with the music rings.
  Virtue‘s rewards can mortal pencil paint?
  No─all descriptive arts, and eloquence are faint ;
  Nor canst thou, Oliver, assent refuse
  To heav’nly tidings from the Afric muse.

  As soon may change thy laws, eternal fate,
  As the saint miss the glories I relate ;
  Or her Benevolence forgotten lie,
  Which wip’d the trick’ling tear from Mis’ry‘s eye.
  Whene’er the adverse winds were known to blow,
  When loss to loss* ensu’d, and woe to woe,
  Calm and serene beneath her father’s hand
  She sat resign’d to the divine command.

  No longer then, great Sir, her death deplore,
  And let us hear the mournful sigh no more,
  Restrain the sorrow streaming from thine eye,
  Be all thy future moments crown’d with joy !
  Nor let thy wishes be to earth confin’d,
  But soaring high pursue th’ unbodied mind.
  Forgive the muse, forgive th’ advent’rous lays,
  That fain thy soul to heav’nly scenes would raise.

  *Enoch †Elijah

  *Three amiable Daughters who died when just arrived to Womens Estate

  ---

  Wheatley, Phillis (1773) Poems on Various Subjects, Moral and Religious. London : A. Bell pp. 116-118.

  Original printing at:
  https://archive.org/details/poemsonvarioussu00whea/page/n123/mode/2up
  Genre: Poetry
  Language : English
  Meter: Iambic Pentamer

  July 6, 2023

  Wheatley Phillis

  ---

• To S. M. a Young African Painter, on Seeing His Works

  Phillis Wheatley date unknown

  TO show the lab’ring bosom’s deep intent,
  And thought in living characters to paint,
  When first thy pencil did those beauties give,
  And breathing figures learnt from thee to live,
  How did those prospects give my soul delight,
  A new creation rushing on my sight ?
  Still, wond’rous youth ! each noble path pursue,
  On deathless glories fix thine ardent view :
  Still may the painter’s and the poet’s fire
  To aid thy pencil, and thy verse conspire !
  And may the charms of each seraphic theme
  Conduct thy footsteps to immortal fame !
  High to the blissful wonders of the skies
  Elate thy soul, and raise thy wishful eyes.
  Thrice happy, when exalted to survey
  That splendid city, crown’d with endless day,
  Whose twice six gates on radiant hinges ring :
  Celestial Salem blooms in endless spring.
  Calm and serene thy moments glide along,
  And may the muse inspire each future song !
  Still, with the sweets of contemplation bless’d,
  May peace with balmy wings your soul invest !
  But when these shades of time are chas’d away,
  And darkness ends in everlasting day,
  On what seraphic pinions shall we move,
  And view the landscapes in the realms above ?
  There shall thy tongue in heav’nly murmurs flow,
  And there my muse with heav’nly transport glow :
  No more to tell of Damon‘s tender sighs,
  Or rising radiance of Aurora‘s eyes,
  For nobler themes demand a nobler strain,
  And purer language on th’ ethereal plain.
  Cease, gentle muse! the solemn gloom of night
  Now seals the fair creation from my sight.

  ---

  Wheatley, Phillis (1773) Poems on Various Subjects, Moral and Religious. London : A. Bell pp. 114-115.

  Original printing at:
  https://archive.org/details/poemsonvarioussu00whea/page/n121/mode/2up
  Genre: Poetry
  Language : English
  Meter: Iambic Pentamer

  July 6, 2023

  Wheatley Phillis

  ---

• To the Honourable T. H. Esq; on the Death of his Daughter

  Phillis Wheatley date unknown

  WHILE deep you mourn beneath the cypress-shade
  The hand of Death, and your dear daughter laid
  In dust, whose absence gives your tears to flow,
  And racks your bosom with incessant woe,
  Let Recollection take a tender part,
  Assuage the raging tortures of your heart,
  Still the wild tempest of tumultuous grief,
  And pour the heav’nly nectar of relief :
  Suspend the sigh, dear Sir, and check the groan,
  Divinely bright your daughter’s Virtues shone :
  How free from scornful pride her gentle mind,
  Which ne’er its aid to indigence declin’d !
  Expanding free, it sought the means to prove
  Unfailing charity, unbounded love !

  She unreluctant flies to see no more
  Her dear-lov’d parents on earth’s dusky shore :
  Impatient heav’n’s resplendent goal to gain,
  She with swift progress cuts the azure plain,
  Where grief subsides, where changes are no more,
  And life’s tumultuous billows cease to roar ;
  She leaves her earthly mansion for the skies,
  Where new creations feast her wond’ring eyes.

  To heav’n’s high mandate cheerfully resign’d
  She mounts, and leaves the rolling globe behind ;
  She, who late wish’d that Leonard might return,
  Has ceas’d to languish, and forgot to mourn ;
  To the same high empyreal mansions come,
  She joins her spouse, and smiles upon the tomb :
  And thus I hear her from the realms above :
  ” Lo! this the kingdom of celestial love !
  ” Could ye, fond parents, see our present bliss,
  ” How soon would you each sigh, each fear dismiss ?
  ” Amidst unutter’d pleasures whilst I play
  ” In the fair sunshine of celestial day,
  ” As far as grief affects an happy soul
  ” So far doth grief my better mind controul,
  ” To see on earth my aged parents mourn,
  ” And secret wish for T──l to return :
  ” Let brighter scenes your ev’ning-hours employ :
  ” Converse with heav’n, and taste the promis’d joy.”

  ---

  Wheatley, Phillis (1773) Poems on Various Subjects, Moral and Religious. London : A. Bell pp. 98-100.

  Original printing at:
  https://archive.org/details/poemsonvarioussu00whea/page/98/mode/2up
  Genre: Poetry
  Language : English
  Meter: Iambic Pentamer

  July 6, 2023

  Wheatley Phillis

  ---

• A Hymn to Humanity

  To S. P. G. Esq.

  Phillis Wheatley date unknown

  I.

  LO! for this dark terrestrial ball
  Forsakes his azure-paved hall
  A prince of heav’nly birth!
  Divine Humanity behold.
  What wonders rise, what charms unfold
  At his descent to earth !

  II.

  The bosoms of the great and good
  With wonder and delight he view’d,
  And fix’d his empire there :
  Him, close compressing to his breast,
  The sire of gods and men address’d,
  ” My son, my heav’nly fair !

  III.

  ” Descend to earth, there place thy throne ;
  ” To succour man’s afflicted son
  ” Each human heart inspire :
  ” To act in bounties unconfin’d
  ” Enlarge the close contracted mind,
  ” And fill it with thy fire.”

  IV.

  Quick as the word, with swift career
  He wings his course from star to star,
  And leaves the bright abode.
  The Virtue did his charms impart ;
  Their G──y! then thy raptur’d heart
  Perceiv’d the rushing God :

  V.

  For when thy pitying eye did see
  The languid muse in low degree,
  Then, then at thy desire
  Descended the celestial nine ;
  O’er me methought they deign’d to shine,
  And deign’d to string my lyre.

  VI.

  Can Afric‘s muse forgetful prove ?
  Or can such friendship fail to move
  A tender human heart ?
  Immortal Friendship laurel-crown’d
  The smiling Graces all surround
  With ev’ry heav’nly Art.

  ---

  Wheatley, Phillis (1773) Poems on Various Subjects, Moral and Religious. London : A. Bell pp. 95-97.

  Original printing at:
  https://archive.org/details/poemsonvarioussu00whea/page/94/mode/2up
  Genre: Poetry
  Language : English
  Meter: Iambic Pentamer

  July 6, 2023

  Wheatley Phillis

  ---

• On the Death of J. C. an Infant

  Phillis Wheatley date unknown

  NO more the flow’ry scenes of pleasure rise,
  Nor charming prospects greet the mental eyes,
  No more with joy we view that lovely face
  Smiling, disportive, flush’d with ev’ry grace.

  The tear of sorrow flows from ev’ry eye,
  Groans answer groans, and sighs to sighs reply ;
  What sudden pangs shot thro’ each aching heart,
  When, Death, thy messenger dispatch’d his dart ?
  Thy dread attendants, all-destroying Pow’r,
  Hurried the infant to his mortal hour.
  Could’st thou unpitying close those radiant eyes ?
  Or fail’d his artless beauties to surprize ?
  Could not his innocence thy stroke controul,
  Thy purpose shake, and soften all thy soul ?
  The blooming babe, with shades of Death o’er-spread,
  No more shall smile, no more shall raise its head,
  But, like a branch that from the tree is torn,
  Falls prostrate, wither’d, languid, and forlorn.
  ” Where flies my James?” ’tis thus I seem to hear
  The parent ask, ” Some angel tell me where
  ” He wings his passage thro’ the yielding air?”
  Methinks a cherub bending from the skies
  Observes the question, and serene replies,
  ” In heav’ns high palaces your babe appears :
  ” Prepare to meet him, and dismiss your tears.”
  Shall not th’ intelligence your grief restrain,
  And turn the mournful to the cheerful strain ?
  Cease your complaints, suspend each rising sigh,
  Cease to accuse the Ruler of the sky.
  Parents, no more indulge the falling tear :
  Let Faith to heav’n’s refulgent domes repair,
  There see your infant, like a seraph glow :
  What charms celestial in his numbers flow
  Melodious, while the soul-enchanting strain
  Dwells on his tongue, and fills th’ ethereal plain ?
  Enough ─ for ever cease your murm’ring breath ;
  Not as a foe, but friend converse with Death,
  Since to the port of happiness unknown
  He brought that treasure which you call your own.
  The gift of heav’n intrusted to your hand
  Cheerful resign at the divine command :
  Not at your bar must sov’reign Wisdom stand.

  ---

  Wheatley, Phillis (1773) Poems on Various Subjects, Moral and Religious. London : A. Bell pp. 92-94.

  Original printing at:
  https://archive.org/details/poemsonvarioussu00whea/page/92/mode/2up
  Genre: Poetry
  Language : English
  Meter: Iambic Pentamer

  July 6, 2023

  Wheatley Phillis

  ---

• To the Rev. Dr. Thomas Amory on Reading His Sermons on Daily Devotion in which that Duty is Recommended and Assisted.

  Phillis Wheatley 1772

  TO cultivate in ev’ry noble mind
  Habitual grace, and sentiments refin’d,
  Thus while you strive to mend the human heart,
  Thus while the heav’nly precepts you impart,
  O may each bosom catch the sacred fire,
  And youthful minds to Virtue‘s throne aspire !

  When God’s eternal ways you set in sight,
  And Virtue shines in all her native light,
  In vain would Vice her works in night conceal,
  For Wisdom‘s eye pervades the sable veil.

  Artists may paint the sun’s effulgent rays,
  But Amory‘s pen the brighter God displays :
  While his great works in Amory‘s pages shine,
  And while he proves his essence all divine,
  The Atheist sure no more can boast aloud
  Of chance, or nature, and exclude the God ;
  As if the clay without the potter’s aid
  Should rise in various forms, and shapes self-made,
  Or worlds above with orb o’er orb profound
  Self-mov’d could run the everlasting round.
  It cannot be ─ unerring Wisdom guides
  With eye propitious, and o’er all presides.

  Still prosper, Amory! still may’st thou receive
  The warmest blessings which a muse can give,
  And when this transitory state is o’er,
  When kingdoms fall, and fleeting Fame‘s no more,
  May Amory triumph in immortal fame,
  A nobler title, and superior name !

  ---

  Wheatley, Phillis (1773) Poems on Various Subjects, Moral and Religious. London : A. Bell pp. 90-91.

  Original printing at:
  https://archive.org/details/poemsonvarioussu00whea/page/90/mode/2up
  Genre: Poetry
  Language : English
  Meter: Iambic Pentamer

  July 6, 2023

  Wheatley Phillis

  ---

• To a Gentleman on His Voyage to Great-Britain for the Recovery of His Health

  Phillis Wheatley 1767

  WHILE others chant of gay Elysian scenes,
  Of balmy zephyrs, and of flow’ry plains,
  My song more happy speaks a greater name,
  Feels higher motives and a nobler flame.
  For thee, O R─, the muse attunes her strings,
  And mounts sublime above inferior things.

  I sing not now of green embow’ring woods,
  I sing not now the daughters of the floods,
  I sing not of the storms o’er ocean driv’n,
  And how they howl’d along the waste of heav’n.
  But I to R─ would paint the British shore,
  And vast Atlantic, not untry’d before :
  Thy life impair’d commands thee to arise,
  Leave these bleak regions, and inclement skies,
  Where chilling winds return the winter past,
  And nature shudders at the furious blast.
  O thou stupendous, earth-enclosing main
  Exert thy wonders to the world again !
  If ere thy pow’r prolong’d the fleeting breath,
  Turn’d back the shafts, and mock’d the gates of death,
  If ere thine air dispens’d an healing pow’r,
  Or snatch’d the victim from the fatal hour,
  This equal case demands thine equal care,
  And equal wonders may this patient share.
  But unavailing, frantic is the dream
  To hope thine aid without the aid of him
  Who gave thee birth, and taught thee where to flow,
  And in thy waves his various blessings show.

  May R─ return to view his native shore
  Replete with vigour not his own before,
  Then shall we see with pleasure and surprize,
  And own thy work, great Ruler of the skies!

  ---

  Wheatley, Phillis (1773) Poems on Various Subjects, Moral and Religious. London : A. Bell pp. 88-89.

  Original printing at:
  https://archive.org/details/poemsonvarioussu00whea/page/88/mode/2up
  Genre: Poetry
  Language : English
  Meter: Iambic Pentamer

  July 6, 2023

  Wheatley Phillis

  ---