To the Right Honorable William, Earl of Dartmouth
By Phillis Wheatley
Hail, happy day, when, smiling like the morn,
Fair Freedom rose New-England to adorn:
The northern clime beneath her genial ray,
Dartmouth, congratulates thy blissful sway:
Elate with hope her race no longer mourns,
Each soul expands, each grateful bosom burns,
While in thine hand with pleasure we behold
The silken reins, and Freedom’s charms unfold.
Long lost to realms beneath the northern skies
She shines supreme, while hated faction dies:Soon as appear’d the Goddess long desir’d,
Sick at the view, she languish’d and expir’d;
Thus from the splendors of the morning light
The owl in sadness seeks the caves of night.
No more, America, in mournful strain
Of wrongs, and grievance unredress’d complain,
No longer shalt thou dread the iron chain,
Which wanton Tyranny with lawless hand
Had made, and with it meant t’ enslave the land.Should you, my lord, while you peruse my song,
Wonder from whence my love of Freedom sprung,
Whence flow these wishes for the common good,
By feeling hearts alone best understood,
I, young in life, by seeming cruel fate
Was snatch’d from Afric’s fancy’d happy seat:
What pangs excruciating must molest,
What sorrows labour in my parent’s breast?
Steel’d was that soul and by no misery mov’d
That from a father seiz’d his babe belov’d:
Such, such my case. And can I then but pray
Others may never feel tyrannic sway?For favours past, great Sir, our thanks are due,
And thee we ask thy favours to renew,
Since in thy pow’r, as in thy will before,
To sooth the griefs, which thou did’st once deplore.
May heav’nly grace the sacred sanction give
To all thy works, and thou for ever live
Not only on the wings of fleeting Fame,
Though praise immortal crowns the patriot’s name,
But to conduct to heav’ns refulgent fane,
May fiery coursers sweep th’ ethereal plain,
And bear thee upwards to that blest abode,
Where, like the prophet, thou shalt find thy God.
Summary of To the Right Honorable William, Earl of Dartmouth
- Popularity of “To the Right Honorable William, Earl of Dartmouth”: “To the Right Honorable William, Earl of Dartmouth” by Phillis Wheatley, a popular African American author, writer, and poet, is an interesting poetic piece. The poem seemed to have appeared in her collection, Poems on Various Subjects, published in or around 1773. It seems that she has alleged the colonial power for tyranny and devastation after paying rich tributes to the newly appointed earl for freeing them from colonialism. The beauty of the poem lies in the alliterative rhythm and melody of the rhyme scheme.
- “To the Right Honorable William, Earl of Dartmouth” As a Representative of Freedom: The poet opens the poem with happiness and jubilation, saying she hails the freedom that has emerged in New England, a part of the United States when it won freedom from the British rule. Capitalizing Freedom and singing in its praise, Phillis seems to go all the way to sing more for Freedom in the second stanza, presenting it a Goddess that has made the lives of the people full of splendor, glory, and happiness. It is a blessing for America that now the owl of sadness has run away into the caves and the country is quite happy without chains. Putting Tyranny in contrast to Goddess of Freedom, Phillis goes on to praise the earl saying that he must be wondering at her melodious song of Freedom and how it seeks the common good. She, then, opines that it is her personal story when she was enslaved in Africa and landed in America. She thinks about the sorrows her parents underwent and how her parents experienced it. Therefore, she thanks earl for his part in Freedom and how he has made sacrifices. She prays for him to be blessed with happiness, with tolerance, and patience for his griefs. She also prays Lord to bless him with Fame and good life in the hereafter with God like that of some prophet.
- Major Themes in “To the Right Honorable William, Earl of Dartmouth”: Happiness at freedom, thankfulness for sacrifices of a leader, and cruel past are some of the major themes of this poem. Although Wheatley seems pleased that finally, they have seen Goddess of Freedom and that Tyranny has ended, leaving its iron chains broken, she feels gratitude for Earl of Dartmouth for his role in winning freedom for America from Britain. She also recalls her past to thank him saying that her parents felt the grief of her separation when she was enslaved.
Analysis of Literary Devices Used In “To the Right Honorable William, Earl of Dartmouth”
literary devices bring variety into simple poetic pieces. Their appropriate usage helps the writers to convey their thoughts impressively. Wheatley has also used some literary devices in this poem whose analysis is as follows.
- Allusion: It means to refer to some event, phenomenon or belief or idea of some historical importance such as Africa and Earl of Dartmouth and religious allusions such as the prophet and God.
- Assonance: Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in the same line such as the sound of /e/ and /a/ in “Fair Freedom rose New-England to adorn” the sound of /o/ in “Not only on the wings of fleeting Fame” and again the sound of /o/ in “To sooth the griefs, which thou did’st once deplore.”
- Alliteration: The poem shows the use of alliteration in the shape of initial consonant sounds of the neighboring words such as the sound of /h/ in “he holds”, the sound of /h/ in “Hail, happy day”, of /f/ in “Fair Freedom”, of /h/ “hope her”, of /sh/ in “She shines”, of /s/ in “sadness seeks” and of /b/ in “babe beloved.”
- Consonance: Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line such as the sound of /s/ and /sh/ in “She shines supreme, while hated faction dies” and the sound of /s/ and /b/ in “Each soul expands, each grateful bosom burns” and the sound of /n/ and /r/ in “The northern climb beneath her genial ray.”
- Enjambment: It is defined as a thought in verse that does not come to an end at a line break; rather, it rolls over to the next line. For example;
By feeling hearts alone best understood,
I, young in life, by seeming cruel fate
Was snatch’d from Afric’s fancy’d happy seat
- Imagery: Imagery is used to make readers perceive things involving their five senses. Phillis Wheatly has used imagery in this poem such as “Should you, my lord, while you peruse my song”, “What pangs excruciating must molest” and “By feeling hearts alone best understood”
- Personification: The poem shows the use of personifications such as freedom and tyranny as if they have life and emotions of their own.
- Symbolism: Symbolism is using symbols to signify ideas and qualities, giving them symbolic meanings that are different from literal meanings. The poem shows the use of symbols such as chain, iron, caves, land to show tyranny and freedom and their difference.
- Simile: The poem shows the use of similes such as; ‘Hail, happy day, when, smiling like the morn’ and ‘Where, like the prophet, thou shalt find thy God’.
Analysis of Poetic Devices Used in “To the Right Honorable William, Earl of Dartmouth”
Poetic and literary devices are the same, but a few are used only in poetry. Here is the analysis of some of the poetic devices used in this poem.
- Diction and Tone: The poem shows metaphorical diction with a serious and relieving tone.
- Rhyme Scheme: The poem shows the use of heroic couple AABB and CC throughout the poem.
- Heroic Couplet: The poem shows the use of heroic couplet as every verse rhymes with the succeeding verse.
- Stanza: A stanza is a poetic form of some lines. There are three stanzas with each having 43 verses.
Quotes to be Used
These lines from “To the Right Honorable William, Earl of Dartmouth” are appropriate to quote when talking about one’s childhood with reference to freedom.
I, young in life, by seeming cruel fate
Was snatch’d from Afric’s fancy’d happy seat:
What pangs excruciating must molest,
What sorrows labour in my parent’s breast?