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juliana_reads's review against another edition
4.0
I felt compelled to read Phillis' work after visiting the Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia. She has an incredible story.
Sometimes poetry can be inaccessible because of references or metaphors that are obscure. I had that problem with the a lot of Phillis' poems because I'm not very familiar with classical thinkers nor Greek/Roman mythology. It's also been a while since I've read the Bible. Thus, the four stars.
However, the poems that I did connect with were powerful and eloquent. I particularly loved reading her correspondence with George Washington.
Her poem entitled "On Being Brought From Africa To America" was especially interesting to me because the first half, to me, almost panders to the Christian slave owners of her time:
She's almost thanking them for her redemption, perhaps sarcastically? Or rather, she is genuine and she is offering herself as proof, because she then goes on to remind them that those of the "sable race" are equal before God. Either way, in a few short lines she made me think.
Sometimes poetry can be inaccessible because of references or metaphors that are obscure. I had that problem with the a lot of Phillis' poems because I'm not very familiar with classical thinkers nor Greek/Roman mythology. It's also been a while since I've read the Bible. Thus, the four stars.
However, the poems that I did connect with were powerful and eloquent. I particularly loved reading her correspondence with George Washington.
Her poem entitled "On Being Brought From Africa To America" was especially interesting to me because the first half, to me, almost panders to the Christian slave owners of her time:
'Twas mercy brought me from my Pagan land,
Taught my benighted soul to understand
She's almost thanking them for her redemption, perhaps sarcastically? Or rather, she is genuine and she is offering herself as proof, because she then goes on to remind them that those of the "sable race" are equal before God. Either way, in a few short lines she made me think.
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