{"title":"Books by Phillis Wheatley","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"9781513277417","title":"The Poems of Phillis Wheatley","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003ePoems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral\u003c\/i\u003e (1773) is the first book of poetry published by an African American author. Written while Wheatley was a slave in Boston, the collection was published in England. Regarded for her mastery of classical poetic form, Phillis Wheatley earned praise from Voltaire and George Washington. \u003ci\u003ePoems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral\u003c\/i\u003e has long been the subject of scholarly work on the history of African American literature, with some critics arguing that Wheatley's poems proved detrimental to the struggle of enslaved African Americans. Whether Wheatley made excuses for slavery or, as some have argued, included subtle critiques of the institution in her writing, her talent and importance to the history of African American literature remain undisputed.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDespite her status as a slave, Phillis Wheatley seems to have viewed herself as a blessed individual, a woman for whom life itself was a sign of God's grace, and in whom talent arose in the form of a foreign language. Many of her poems-elegies, odes, and monologues-are aimed at others. Whether in mourning, in praise, or in warning, Wheatley frequently offers her own voice to university students, royalty, God, the muses, and deceased infants. When she does offer glimpses of herself, for instance, in her poem \"On Being Brought from Africa to America,\" she provides a complex perspective on her status as a slave: \"'Twas mercy brought me from my Pagan land, \/ Taught my benighted soul to understand \/ That there's a God, that there's a Saviour too.\" While her words may seem strange to our modern view of the American institution of slavery, they provide an important historical lens onto the adoption of Christianity by African American slaves, who developed a faith grounded in resistance, hope, and redemption.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSince our inception in 2020, Mint Editions has kept sustainability and innovation at the forefront of our mission. Each and every Mint Edition title gets a fresh, professionally typeset manuscript and a dazzling new cover, all while maintaining the integrity of the original book.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWith thousands of titles in our collection, we aim to spotlight diverse public domain works to help them find modern audiences. Mint Editions celebrates a breadth of literary works, curated from both canonical and overlooked classics from writers around the globe.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56302652260725,"sku":"9781513277417","price":4.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781513277417_0aa0df3c-0207-4d45-950c-e8952b6afd17.jpg?v=1786021846"},{"product_id":"the-poems-of-phillis-wheatley","title":"The Poems of Phillis Wheatley","description":"Born in Africa in 1753, Phillis Wheatley was kidnapped at the age of 7 and sold into slavery. At 19, she became the first black American poet to publish a book, on which this volume is based. Wheatley's elegies and odes offer fascinating glimpses into the origins of African-American literary traditions.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57481586246005,"sku":"9780486475936","price":6.49,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780486475936.jpg?v=1786089862"},{"product_id":"phillis-wheatley","title":"Phillis Wheatley","description":"In 1773, Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral became the first book of poetry by an African-American author to be published. At the tender age of seven, Phillis had been brought to Massachusetts as a slave and sold to the well-to-do Wheatley family. There, she threw herself into education, and soon she was devouring the classics and writing verse with whatever she had to hand – odes in chalk on the walls of the house. Once her talent became known, there was uproar, and in 1772 she was interrogated by a panel of 'the most respectable characters in Boston' and forced to defend the ownership of her own words, since many believed that it was an impossible that she, an African-American slave, could write poetry of such high quality.As related in the 1834 memoir by an outspoken proponent of antislavery, B.B. Thatcher, also included in this volume, the road to publication was not straight, and while it became clear that such a volume could not be published in America at the time, Phillis was recommended to a London publisher, who brought out the book – albeit with an attestation as to her authorship, as well as a 'letter from her master' and a short preface asking the reader's indulgence. This edition includes the attestation, the 'letter from her master' and notes from the original publishers as an appendix, so that the twenty-first-century reader can discover Phillis Wheatley as she should have been read – as a poet, not property.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57492193280373,"sku":"9781913724146","price":8.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781913724146.jpg?v=1786529020"}],"url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/collections\/author-phillis-wheatley.oembed","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}