The Odyssey of Phillis Wheatley

A Poet's Journeys Through American Slavery and Independence

By: David Waldstreicher

Narrated by: Kim Staunton

Admired by George Washington, ridiculed by Thomas Jefferson, published in London, and read far and wide, Phillis Wheatley led one of the most extraordinary American lives. Seized in West Africa and forced into slavery as a child, she was sold to a merchant family in Boston, where she became a noted poet at a young age. Mastering the Bible, Greek and Latin translations, and the works of Pope and Milton, she composed elegies for local elites, celebrated political events, praised warriors, and used her verse to variously lampoon, question, and assert the injustice of her enslaved condition: “Can I then but pray / Others may never feel tyrannic sway?” By doing so, she added her voice to a vibrant, multisided conversation about race, slavery, and discontent with British rule; before and after her emancipation, her verses shook up racial etiquette and used familiar forms to create bold new meanings. She demonstrated a complex but crucial fact of the times: that the American Revolution both strengthened and limited Black slavery.

In this new biography, the historian David Waldstreicher offers the fullest account to date of Wheatley’s life and works, correcting myths, reconstructing intimate friendships, and deepening our understanding of her verse and the revolutionary era. Throughout The Odyssey of Phillis Wheatley, he demonstrates the continued vitality and resonance of a woman who wrote, in a founding gesture of American literature, “Thy Power, O Liberty, makes strong the weak / And (wond’rousinstinct) Ethiopians speak.”

This audio program includes an appendix of Phillis Wheatley's poetry and bonus historical notes from the author.

©2023 David Waldstreicher (P)2023 Recorded Books

Good, in depth research on the life and times of PW

A bit academic, hence interesting for those who dive deep into colonial history . I thought it was interesting.

Good history book without a lot of filler

In 1753 a girl was born in West Africa and at around seven years later was sold by an African chief to a foreign trader and taken to Boston via a ship called “Phillis”. The girl was bought by a family named the Wheatleys and hence the girl became known as Phillis Wheatley. She was tutored by her master’s children, and when she showed literary promise, the Wheatleys financed her education. Soon her poems came quite popular among such founders as John Hancock and George Washington, the latter even writing her letter in admiration. Famously though, Thomas Jefferson thought her poetry was subpar. Though she was freed by the Wheatleys, she continued to live with them for many years. Through her poetry, we get to see the thoughts and life of a enslaved African in America during the revolution. She was a patriot, supporting the American cause against British, but also advocated for an in slavery. This book is good that even though there’s not a great deal of information about Wheatley, the author uses the space to explain in detail figures and events from her time which she was either familiar with or wrote about.