Phylis Wheatley

Chelsey Wilkins



Phyllis Wheately just happens to be a very detailed, passionate poet, however she managed to overcome her once known as a disability; being an African female slave. Phyllis showed characteristics of a determined person while appealing to parts of the rhetoric triangle. This piece about Phillis had an interesting way of dictating phrases but also appealed to pathos and ethos.


The first part of the rhetoric triangle the author decided to knock out was appealing to ethos. In the beginning of this piece, there were a lot of somewhat facts about Wheatlely but for those of us who aren’t familiar with her work it just sounds like someone trying to toot her horn to the fullest. To stop the suspicion of arrogance, the narrator added ethos. It not only said like my poems are the ones to reed but even Benjamin Franklin; the inventor, first civilized man, the almanac writer came to read her poem this simply intelligent black prodigy.


“She married John Peters, a freedman, about whom almost nothing is known about except the Wheatley’s didn’t like him.” This quote appeals to pathos. It showed that maybe if your slave was special enough your master could form a bond with you. The piece didn’t stop by just saying Phyllis got married but to say that the Wheatleys have met him and aren’t too hot about him and his intentions for their little Phyllis. It was as they cared about as she was their own child instead of a black slave girl.


Lastly Phyllis herself, appealed to pathos in the poem that she wrote about her trip from Africa to America. She showed her thanks for being able to receive the luxuries she received in life. Irony appears in her poem because your convinced she’s thanking god for making her a slave, property of someone else but yet most slaves resent that. She talked about how becoming a slave not only taught her knowledge but taught her how to commit to her beliefs in God.

To conclude, Phyllis Wheatley was supposed to be a prodigy. Thanks to becoming enslaved she managed to get an education and develop her skills as the talented writer and poet she is. Wheatley’s work appealed to multiple points on the rhetoric triangle. The piece appealed to pathos and ethos mostly. Phyllis gave confidence to other female African slaves allowing them to show their true colors and not to be ashamed of their knowledge.