Whittier and Wheatley

     Whittier was an abolitionist. Wheatley was once a slave. What have they in common? They are both passionate and expressive through their work. However, they lived separate lives in different centuries and thus are very different authors. Whittier wrote a poem called The Hunters of Men. In this poem, he writes about men chasing down slaves who have run away from their owners. He writes: “Oh! Goodly and grand is our hunting to see,/In this “land of the brave and this home of the free.”/Priest, warrior, and statesman, from Georgia to Maine,/All mounting the saddle- all grasping the iron-/Right merrily hunting the black man, whose sin/Is the curl of his hair and the hue of his skin!” He uses the motto the “land of the brave and this home of the free”  to emphasize that there were multitudes of people who identified with that motto and yet their actions proved that they were no better than the British. They claimed that they lived in the land of the free and chased down slaves who they didn’t feel were worthy of freedom.  He points out how even those who aren’t expected to behave so appallingly join in on the hunt of the slaves. He says of women: “And woman- kind woman- wife, widow and maid-/For the good of the hunted, is lending her aid:/Her foot’s in the stirrup- her hand on the rein-/How blithely she rides to the hunting of me!” The picture he paints shows how inhumane people become when they are involved in the slave hunt.
    Wheatley wrote a poem titled On Being Brought from Africa to America. She wrote: “Twas mercy bought me from my pagan land,/ Taught my benighted soul to understand/ That there’s a God, that there’s a Savior too.” She puts a positive perspective on her past as a slave, for it brought her to her Christian faith. What’s more, she doesn’t take her past lightly. She uses her story and knowledge to try to change the world for the better. Many people admired her and were drawn to her work; for few had read the work of a slave before. Her poem of encouragement to Washington was considered to be highly influential. She wrote: “Proceed, great chief, with virtue on thy side,/ They every action let the goddess guide./ A crown, a mansion, and a throne that shine,/ With gold unfading, Washington! Be thine.” While the Americans were struggling, she believed in their leader and this poem could have determined Washington’s own attitude toward the fight. Needless to say, Whittier and Wheatley were both influential in their time. I think that they both had a common quality for fighting for what they believed in that altered the world at that time.