Phillis Wheatley as a Writer of the People Anonymous College

Phillis Wheatley as a Writer of the People In a time where African American, as well as female, writers would have been greatly oppressed, Phillis Wheatley stood out as an anomaly in the late 18th century. Her work stood as a median between the white oppressors and the black oppressed, bravely covering the topic of politics that others had yet dared to write about. Through her poems, To the King’s Most Excellent Majesty and On Being Brought from Africa to America, Wheatley showcases herself as that median through the use of rhythm and subtle tone shifts, telling her stories in a way that allowed for her to get the information available to the public as well as appeal to all different kinds of people in the social hierarchy that she was an integral part of at the time.

One of the most striking things about Wheatley is often what she chose to write about. She thought of herself as a writer of the people, and it is continuously evident in her poetry that she thought poetry was the greatest median through which to express herself and her ideas. She was a writer in the times before strife between Britain at America had really come to a head. One might think that as a slave, she would not have backed the British government due to...