Phillis Wheatley, Lucy Terry Prince, George Moses Horton and Benjamin Banneker - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages The major themes incorporated by various writers of this period such as Phillis Wheatley, Lucy Terry Prince, George Moses Horton, and Benjamin Banneker, include the biases and the double standards against the blacks, slavery, religion, and revolutionary wars.

Phillis Wheatley
Phillis Wheatley worked as a helping hand to an American family. However, she was lucky and got a chance to learn to read and write. In her works, she deals with the themes of slavery, freedom, and religion. Most of her poems follow the rhyme scheme of ABAB i.e. she writes in heroic couplets. However in “On Being Brought to from Africa to America” she utilizes the rhyme scheme ABCABC. The selected titles of each of her poems are self-explanatory i.e. the title hints upon the context of each poem.

For example in “On Imagination” it can be perceived that the poet is depicting the best quality of the power of imagination i.e. it provides human beings with a new perspective or unravels the brighter or the positive side. Under the context of the writer’s black background, it can be inferred that the poet believes that regardless of her enslavement she is blessed with the power to imagine herself as free and dream about a different reality devoid of prejudices. On the contrary “To His Excellency George Washington” is a comment on the political scenario of the time of the new republic and the first President. Hence both poems show the versatility of the poet’s style ad art of depiction.

Lucy Terry Prince
Like Wheatley Lucy also experienced slavery first hand however her circumstances were more critical and harsh than Wheatley's. Hence her poetry projects the brutality of the whites against the Africans and the ravages of war. Her poem also follows the rhyme scheme ABAB. Death is the fundamental theme in her works. Since she pens her point of view about racial discrimination, her poems are bitter accounts of the miserable and horrendous circumstances of her fellow Africans during the war.

George Moses Horton
Horton exclusively focuses on the sufferings of the slaves and he tries to highlight the fact that the whites do not have the right to forego the rights of the blacks and their freedom. A recurring theme that is observed in both his poems “the lover’s Farewell” and “On Liberty and Slavery” is the poet’s desire for freedom. ...Download file to see next pages Read More