A review by worldofbookcraft
Complete Writings by Phillis Wheatley

4.0

preface: i don't know how to read poetry, or a collection of poems ~~

i really like Phillis Wheatley's style of writing! it's very descriptive, using beautiful language to describe the skies, heaven, hell, grief, death, seasons, religion, etc. it's also easy to read (i personally read them out loud like a dork), but i never read poetry so i was apprehensive that it would be difficult and convoluted like required-reading poetry usually s, but it's not! i had to google some words tho, fo sho.

since i don't know how to read poetry, i just read the whole things over a couple days. maybe this is why the language started to be very repetitive. this is also probably because the majority of the poems are about death. my favorite ones were the ones about Africa, the religious ones, and SOME of the death ones. The unpublished "On Atheism" ones i like too.
"celestial skies/days", "heavenly muse" "bosom burns/fills" are some of the phrases that were repeated (like, gorgeous, but after like ten pieces that have it, it gets repetitive).

her story of being brought as a slave from Africa to Europe, her aptitude for learning and her success as the first published African woman is, obviously, really intriguing and inspiring as well. she's awesome.