by Jim Bonasoro*
The work of Phillis Wheatley contains many hints that reveal the influences towards her writing style. Some influences are ones that someone, especially one who has an understanding of Wheatley's background, would quickly detect and be able to pinpoint the origin of. Wheatley's influences towards her writing style can be traced to her first introduction to writing English, her knowledge of Latin and English literature, and especially her strong appreciation for the works of Alexander Pope. Although there were great similarities between the two authors, one being a free white English male, the other a black female slave, Pope's work played a key role in Wheatley's work. The similarities between Pope and Wheatley run very deeply into each of their pieces of literature. Between the use of Latin and Greek mythology, the use of real people in their works, and the role objectivity played in all their works, Pope's writing style became a key element in Phillis Wheatley's literature and work.
The first resemblance that displays Pope's influence on Wheatley's writing style is how both Pope and Wheatley dedicate their writings to real people. Pope often put life into his poems with character sketches of individuals who were close to him and whom the poems were about. Pope believed this added a sense of gratitude and understanding to the poem allowing the reader to have an image rather than just words. Wheatley admired this concept of Pope's and grasped the idea hoping to add more to her work. In one of her early poems Wheatley gives praise to General Washington, the great leader of the time, by saying,
"Fam'd for thy valour, for thy virtue more,
Hear every tongue thy guardian and implore." (Robinson, 179)
Along with dedicating her poems to great leaders Wheatley also wrote about close friends who had died, family members she never met, and loved ones she missed. Pope had a very strong influence on Wheatley's writing style involving images and using real persons in her poems, which eventually added to the charisma of Wheatley's work.
The references of Greek mythology and Latin Classics in Wheatley's work can also be attributed to Pope's influence. Pope, like Wheatley in her early years of education, had a great appreciation for Greek poets such as Homer, Virgil, and Horace. His account of Virgil in "Essay on Criticism" has many classical undertones to it. It states,
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