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kaylamdean1's review against another edition
4.0
This was absolutely fantastic, though heartbreaking, poetry. Phillis Wheatley was so gifted. And so mistreated. The biography at the back (which was was written quite some time ago) was chock full of prejudiced, undermining language. A wonderful read, for the poetry, but also an eye-opening one which gives the perspective of the horrific impact of slavery.
hannah_krietemeyer's review against another edition
5.0
This is an eye-opening account of life in colonial America.
ciarans_chronicles's review against another edition
3.0
To be fair, I every other poem at some point. I picked this poetry book, to have some diversity in what I read, the same reason as to why I read The Narrow Road to the Deep North and Other Travel Sketches by BashÅ Matsuo. As expected, this gave me a new and different insight to poetry, a different kind of style and topic area to find something to write about. Similar to Matsuo, Wheatley writes about events I had not really considered writing about.
electricdick's review against another edition
3.0
There's quite a bit of what we might call internalized colonialism here.
audrarussellwrites's review against another edition
4.0
I am not a fan of poetry much but I had to read this book. Phillis Wheatley was America's first published poet. She was an African sold into slavery. She was brought here when she was about 7. She had a dizzying intellect and wrote many of these poems in her youth.
I especially enjoyed the poem on Imagination. Here is a small excerpt from it:
"Such is they power, nor are thine orders vain. O thou, the leader of the mental train: In full perfection all thy works are wrought, And thine the sceptre o'er the realms of thought; Before thy throne the subject passions bow, Of subject-passions sov'reign ruler Thou; at thy command joy rushes on the heart, And through the glowing veins the spirits dart."
As a writer, that verse perfectly describes the wondrous power of the mind to create beautiful stories.
The only reason for this book getting four stars is because, as I said, I am not a fan of poetry.
I especially enjoyed the poem on Imagination. Here is a small excerpt from it:
"Such is they power, nor are thine orders vain. O thou, the leader of the mental train: In full perfection all thy works are wrought, And thine the sceptre o'er the realms of thought; Before thy throne the subject passions bow, Of subject-passions sov'reign ruler Thou; at thy command joy rushes on the heart, And through the glowing veins the spirits dart."
As a writer, that verse perfectly describes the wondrous power of the mind to create beautiful stories.
The only reason for this book getting four stars is because, as I said, I am not a fan of poetry.
tabby2920's review
4.0
I always knew about Phillis Wheatley but I never really knew> her. Through her poetry, I feel that I finally got the chance to hear her voice. She was such a gifted poet, even at such a young age. You can imagine what she would have accomplished if she lived past her 30s. She had two strikes against her: being a woman and being African-American. And she still overcome those odds and manage to publish her own book of poems and make a name for herself. Phillis Wheatley needs to be read more.
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