Gordis BC3179x
READING FRENEAU AND WHEATLEY
Both of these poets have had somewhat uneven receptions in recent years. Their neoclassical style was out of fashion, and in eras that privileged the romantic lyric, their politically engaged poetry was less engaging to practitioners of New Criticism. With the rise of interest in race and gender issues, Wheatley has regained critical prominence, yielding a new crop of Wheatley texts and Wheatley criticism. But not all of this material has been useful, and some of it has been downright insulting. In the third edition of the Norton Anthology of American Literature, for example, the editor’s introduction to the Wheatley selections concludes with the following appraisal:
Until the 1830s, when Massachusetts abolitionists reprinted her poetry, Phillis Wheatley’s verse remained forgotten. Hers was a thoroughly conventional poetic talent, tied too strongly to Miltonic cadences and the balanced couplets of Alexander Pope; but given the stringencies of the time and of her situation, it would be unrealistic to expect anything more. The only hint of injustice found in her poetry is in the line "Some view our sable race with scornful eye." It would be almost a hundred years before a black American writer could drop the mask of convention and write about the formation of his or her own unique sensibility. Nevertheless, Phillis Wheatley expresses the popular sentiments of the age in matters of poetic taste, religious feeling, and national identity. She is the first black writer of consequence in America; and her life constitutes a deeply moving account of unfulfilled promise.1
Take some time to think about this assessment. How accurate is it? Can you find other "hint[s] of injustice" in Wheatley’s poetry? Does Wheatley’s allegiance to Milton and Pope seem more pronounced than Freneau’s? Note also the critic’s sense that Wheatley’s life and her identity as a black woman make her important. How do you react to this argument? Wheatley herself sometimes refers to her status as a black woman and a slave in her poetry. How similar is Wheatley’s discussion of her identity to this critic’s account? How do Wheatley's letters affect your understanding of her poetry? What differences do you see in subject and technique?
Freneau’s poetry often addresses similar topics, including slavery. Much (though not all) of his poetry is political verse, including many poems supporting the American Revolution. Many of these poems were originally published in newspapers, including the National Gazette, which Freneau edited. Like Wheatley, he has been treated ungenerously by later critics. See, for example, the penultimate paragraph of the Norton Anthology’s introduction to the Freneau selections, page 743. Do you agree with this assessment? What, if anything, is there to like about this poetry? How successfully does Freneau use classical models? And how successful is his attempt to use poetry in the service of political causes?
Notes