General Washington Poem by Phillis Wheatley
(Written in 1775 by Phillis Wheatley, who mailed her poem to General Washington.)
Celestial choir! enthron’d in realms of light,
Columbia’s scenes of glorious toils I write.
While freedom’s cause her anxious breast alarms,
She flashes dreadful in refulgent arms.
See mother earth her offspring’s fate bemoan,
And nations gaze at scenes before unknown!
See the bright beams of heaven’s revolving light
Involved in sorrows and the veil of night!
The Goddess comes, she moves divinely fair,
Olive and laurel binds Her golden hair:
Wherever shines this native of the skies,
Unnumber’d charms and recent graces rise.
Muse! Bow propitious while my pen relates
How pour her armies through a thousand gates,
As when Eolus heaven’s fair face deforms,
Enwrapp’d in tempest and a night of storms;
Astonish’d ocean feels the wild uproar,
The refluent surges beat the sounding shore;
Or think as leaves in Autumn’s golden reign,
Such, and so many, moves the warrior’s train.
In bright array they seek the work of war,
Where high unfurl’d the ensign waves in air.
Shall I to Washington their praise recite?
Enough thou know’st them in the fields of fight.
Thee, first in peace and honors—we demand
The grace and glory of thy martial band.
Fam’d for thy valour, for thy virtues more,
Hear every tongue thy guardian aid implore!
One century scarce perform’d its destined round,
When Gallic powers Columbia’s fury found;
And so may you, whoever dares disgrace
The land of freedom’s heaven-defended race!
Fix’d are the eyes of nations on the scales,
For in their hopes Columbia’s arm prevails.
Anon Britannia droops the pensive head,
While round increase the rising hills of dead.
Ah! Cruel blindness to Columbia’s state!
Lament thy thirst of boundless power too late.
Proceed, great chief, with virtue on thy side,
Thy ev’ry action let the Goddess guide.
A crown, a mansion, and a throne that shine,
With gold unfading, WASHINGTON! Be thine.
***
Learn more about this poem’s context with Dr. Bartel:
Phillis Wheatley (c. 1753–1784), the first African-American author of a book of poetry, was born in West Africa. She was sold into slavery as a child and taken to North America where she was purchased by the Wheatley family of Boston, who gave her a classical education unusual for girls, and virtually unheard of for an enslaved person. By the age of 12, she was reading Greek and Latin classics and difficult passages from the Bible.
Strongly influenced by her readings of the works of Alexander Pope, John Milton, Homer, Horace, and Virgil, Phillis began to write poetry. The Wheatleys encouraged her poetry when they saw her talent and took her to England in order to find a publisher. Her book, Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral, was well received and praised by many, including Voltaire, John Paul Jones, and George Washington, who actually wrote her a fan letter. Soon after the book’s publication, Phillis was emancipated (set free). She married John Peters, a free black man, and they had three children who did not survive.
Read more about Phillis Wheatley and her poetry at the National Women’s History Museum.
