By stressing her humility, Wheatley was able to remind the reader that even if he was of a 'superior' race, class, or social status, all were ultimately small in the eyes of the Almighty. Bradstreet and Wheatley gently used their supposedly 'lower' status to remind viewers that everyone was humble in God's eyes. In her poem "To the university of Cambridge, in New England" Wheatley writes of Jesus: "When the whole human race by sin had fall'n, / He deign'd to die that they might rise again." While she begins her poem referencing her color and African origin in a "land of errors," ultimately all human beings are fallen and must be justified before God, black and white. Even more explicitly in her poem "On Being Brought from Africa to America," Wheatley writes: "Remember, Christians, Negros, black as Cain, / May be refin'd and join th'angelic train." Wheatley expresses gratitude for becoming a Christian, but rebukes Christians who do not extend charity towards all, regardless of color. However, Wheatley remains much-criticized today because of her refusal to directly address issues of oppression. In her poem "To his Excellency General Washington" Wheatley even praises the defender of "land of freedom's heaven-defended race" though her own race was denied equal rights in the...
He depicts how slave ship owners were so cruel that they would throw their human cargo overseas for insurance money, and the depraving effects upon whites and well as blacks. Like Bradstreet and Wheatley, he makes an appeal to the Christianity of his readers, asking them to fight against a debasing institution. Contrary to allegations that Africans did not yearn to be free, Equiano depicts freedom is an innate instinct: "I most reverently bowed myself with gratitude, unable to express my feelings, but by the overflowing of my eyes, and a heart replete with thanks to God; while my true and worthy friend the captain congratulated us both with a peculiar degree of heartfelt pleasure….not conquering heroes themselves, in the midst of a triumph - Not the tender mother who has just regained her long-lost infant, and presses it to the heart" felt as glad as he, states Equiano. Equiano expresses gratitude towards those who aided him, white and black. Despite not being born a Christian, he continually stresses the common, Christian morality and humanity between his (mostly) white readers and…
American Literature Early American Literature Comparison American literature is truly a literature of change. As the nation became independent of England, this new independence reflected in the ideals and philosophies of writers. Whereas early American literature was dominated by puritan forms, which contemplated the power of God and often were written copies of sermons or journals used by puritans, some stories still arose. These stories, filled with ideas of sin and repentance
Flushing Remonstrance, Early American Lit Freedom comes under various prerogatives and religious freedom is something America has prided itself with for a long time now. The right to exercise religious rituals without having to consent to governmental tolerance in this respect is an important feature of the Flushing Remonstrance. Written and presented in 1657 to the infamous Peter Stuyvesant, the Dutch Director-General of the colony of New Netherland, the petition was
American History The book, American Past and Present, which recounts U.S. history up to 1877, begins with nine pages (xxv-xxxiii) of very succinct summary material, taking 50 years at a time and offering, at a glance, American history from post Ice Age to 1995. This is good information to digest prior to reading through the book itself, as it offers a glimpse and taste of what is to come, and important
One of his major works was a long poem written in three cantos about the horrors he experienced while being held prisoner on a British prison. ship. There we see a much edgier, angry Freneau who is willing to write about real life in real terms: Here, generous Britain, generous, as you say, To my parch'd tongue one cooling drop convey; Hell has no mischief like a thirsty throat, Nor one tormentor like
religion in the Anglo-American colonies between 1607 and 1763. By the time America was on the brink of revolution, religion had altered in American society. When the first settlers came to America, most of them were strict and pious Puritans who fled England because of their religious beliefs. One writer says of the earliest settlers in New England thought that, "a strong church was the handmaiden and bulwark of a
religion entered the 18th Century and with it a revival. The growth of the revival was overwhelming.More people attended church than in previous centuries. Churches from all denominations popped up throughout established colonies and cities within the United States. Religious growth also spread throughout England, Wales and Scotland. This was a time referred to as "The Great Awakening" where people like Jarena Lee got her start preaching. Evangelism, the epicenter
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