Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral · Chapter
Letter to the Publisher explained
A letter from John Wheatley, Phillis Wheatley's master, to the publisher attesting to her remarkable intellectual achievements.
What happens
A letter from John Wheatley, Phillis Wheatley's master, to the publisher attesting to her remarkable intellectual achievements. He describes how she was brought from Africa at age seven or eight in 1761, learned English in sixteen months without formal schooling, could read difficult parts of the Bible, taught herself to write, and by 1765 wrote a letter to Reverend Occum. He also notes her progress in learning Latin.
Themes in this chapter
Freedom and Enslavement
The letter highlights Phillis's enslaved status while documenting her exceptional intellectual freedom through education.
Race and Identity
Phillis's African origins and her mastery of English and Latin challenge contemporary racial stereotypes about intellectual capacity.
Characters to notice
- Phillis Wheatley
The subject of the letter; described as having learned English and Latin rapidly and written to Reverend Occum.
- John Wheatley
The author of the letter and Phillis's master, who attests to her abilities.
Key passages
“Phillis was brought from Africa to America, in the year 1761, between seven and eight years of age.”
Phillis arrived from Africa to America in 1761 when she was about seven or eight years old.
Establishes her age and origin at the time of enslavement.
“Without any assistance from school education, and by only what she was taught in the family, she, in sixteen months time from her arrival, attained the English language, to which she was an utter stranger before, to such a degree, as to read any, the most difficult parts of the Sacred Writings, to the great astonishment of all who heard her.”
With no formal schooling and only what she learned in the household, she mastered English within sixteen months of arriving, becoming able to read even the hardest parts of the Bible, amazing everyone who heard her.
Highlights her rapid language acquisition and religious literacy.
“As to her writing, her own curiosity led her to it; and this she learnt in so short a time, that in the year 1765, she wrote a letter to the Rev. Mr. Occom, the Indian Minister, while in England.”
She taught herself to write out of curiosity and learned so quickly that by 1765 she had written a letter to Reverend Occom, an Indian minister in England.
Demonstrates her self-motivated learning and early correspondence.