Phillis Wheatley's Miltonic Poetics [Hardcover]

Phillis Wheatley, the African-born slave poet, is considered by many to be a pioneer of Anglo-American poetics. This study argues how in her 1773 POEMS, Wheatley uses John Milton's poetry to develop an idealistic vision of an emerging Anglo-American republic comprised of Britons, Africans, Native Americans, and women.Prologue: the humble Afric muse's seat 1. Conspiracy Theory: Britannia's distant shore 2. Authority and Challenge: Where shall a sov'reign remedy be found? 3. Wheatley's Fanciful Sublime: What songs should rise! EpiloguePaula Loscoccos Phillis Wheatleys Miltonic Poetics is a thoughtful and well-argued addition to this growing body of criticism, considering both the historical and cultural moment in which Wheatley wrote as well as the poems structures, imagery, and allusions, specifically as an engagement with the poetry of John Milton. (Mary McAleer Balkun, TSWL Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature, Vol. 35 (1), 2016)

Paula Loscocco is Associate Professor in the Department of English at Lehman College, CUNY, USA.