Critical Annotations
Alexandra Risko
Professor Rumore

1) An Hymn to Humanity
Phyllis Wheatley

“My son, my heav’nly fair!

                 III.

  “Descend to earth, there place thy throne;
  “To succour man’s afflicted son
      “Each human heart inspire:
  “To act in bounties unconfin’d
  “Enlarge the close contracted mind,
      “And fill it with thy fire.”

*Living in the late 1700s, Phyllis Wheatley was a slave in Boston, captured from her home in West Africa. During this period a different type of warfare was raging alongside the American Revolution. That is; the white man’s weapon: the bible. The act of colonizing/civilizing the savages and negroes through the introduction of christianity and the rejection of their home pagan beliefs. This method of assimilation led to loss of whole cultures and languages. Colonizing these people quite prevalent with the amount of religious imagery she uses within her poetry. Phyllis learned and educated herself with her masters at however great a cost to her own home and culture. In this passage she is alluding to the savior jesus christ.

2) To His Excellency George Washington

“The Goddess comes, she moves divinely fair,

Olive and laurel binds Her golden hair:
Wherever shines this native of the skies,”

Who is the goddess? I have looked it up but there is no greek goddess that has this crown. Next closest is Apollo who is the god of truth, light, and poetry (ironically). So perhaps SHE is the goddess. This could make sense as a crown is sometimes meant to relate to higher education. What is the historical context?- Laurel means peace and harmony, virtuousness. An olive branch typically means getting a new start. so in the context of she uses these two as a “you need to live up to these standards” towards Washington. She is essentially holding him accountable.

3) On Being Brought from Africa to America

*Benighted*

- to be pitiful, intellectually or morally ignorant.

In other words she is illustrating that she is a grateful humble servant to have been brought to America. This opportunity in her eyes taught her pitiful, pagan, African soul to be open to christianity and god, learning to assimilate within American culture and through this idea “negroes are civilized”

4) “For thee, Britannia, I resign
      New-England’s smiling fields;
  To view again her charms divine,
      What joy the prospect yields!”
-A Farewell to America

She’s saying that she is leaving New England for Britain and she misses NE and it brings her joy to be able to view it again. Also, within this poem she will be coming back a free slave at the time. As someone who is from New England I do definitely miss it, (specifically with coronavirus among us) there’s something about New England that just makes it hard to leave. 

5)
“Quick as the word, with swift career
  He wings his course from star to star,
      And leaves the bright abode.” -An Hymn To Humanity

This almost has a “Lucifer” vibe to it. He was part of the 9, and was cast away because of his jealousy of the humans. He had wings, whereas God does not. Lucifer is known as the morning star- “the bringer of light”. The bright abode being heaven that he has left/been cast away from.