 |
Phillis Wheatley, possibly by Scipio Moorhead;
circa 1773 |
In April we introduced you to poets from around the world
who lived during the 18th and early 19th centuries! Here’s
a recap, in order of the poets’ births, in case you missed out on a post.
JUPITER HAMMON
Jupiter Hammon was born into slavery in 1711, on Henry
Lloyd’s estate on Long Island, New York. Though the details are unknown, he was
educated by the Lloyds. As an adult, he worked with Henry on his business,
often going to New York City to negotiate trade deals. Hammon may have served
in a similar role to Prince, a man enslaved by the Schuylers. Prince also knew
how to read and write, a skill he acquired before being enslaved by the
Schuylers, and occasionally weighed in on farm management.
Hammon’s first work, “An Evening
Thought,” was published in 1760. Like many of his works, it was rooted in
religion, which played a vital role in his life. It’s unclear to what degree or
how the Lloyds supported him, but the religious nature of his poems may have
played a part. In 1778, Hammon wrote a poem to Phillis Wheatley, also known
for using religious imagery in her poetry, seemingly to give her encouragement
to continue writing:
 |
Jupiter Hammon’s poem to Phillis Wheatley,
courtesy of the Connecticut Historical Society. |
Come you, Phillis, now aspire,
And seek the living God,
So step by step thou mayst go higher,
Till perfect in the word
A prominent member of the larger Black community, he gave a
speech titled “Address to the
Negroes of the State of New York” to the African
Society of New York City in 1787, when he was 76. This and his other works were
used throughout the 19th by anti-slavery activists in support of
their cause.
Hammon died in the early 19th century, sometime
before 1806, still enslaved by the Lloyds. He is buried in an unmarked grave on
the Lloyd estate. His writing continued to fuel the abolitionist movement
throughout the 19th century. You can learn more about him through
the Jupiter Hammon Project: https://preservationlongisland.org/jupiter-hammon-project/
Read more of his poetry here: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/52546/an-address-to-miss-phillis-wheatly
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| Yosa Buson by Matsumura Goshun |
YOSA BUSON
Yosa Buson was born in the village
of Kema (in present day Osaka), Japan, in 1716. He moved to present-day Tokyo
to study painting and haiku. He then travelled throughout Japan, keeping
records of his travels, before settling in Kyoto in the 1750s.
Yosa worked as both
a painter and poet, and was considered one of the best poets of the Edo Period
(1603-1867). He married and had a daughter in Kyoto, but eventually resumed his
work and travels. When he returned, he settled down to teach poetry and
continue writing.
He died at the age
of 68 and was buried at a temple in Kyoto. As his poetry is in Japanese, there
are multiple translations into English by different translators. We’ve provided
the original Japanese and two translations to show how they vary.
初雪の底を叩ば竹の月
hatsuyuki no soko
wo tatakeba take no tsuki
The first light
snow
then when the bowl of the sky is empty
the moon hanging in the bamboos
(translated by
Merwin and Lento)
The first snow
Emptying itself to its last flake —
The moon above bamboo.
(translated by
Takafumi Saito and William R. Nelson)
See more
translations and more of his poetry here: https://www.upaya.org/uploads/pdfs/ThirteenHaikubyYosaBuson.pdf
,_by_John_Singleton_Copley.jpg) |
Mrs. James Warren (Mercy Otis) by
John Singleton Copley, circa 1763 |
MERCY OTIS
WARREN
Mercy Otis Warren
was born in 1728, in Barnstable, Massachusetts. She had no formal education,
but learned by sitting in on her brother’s lessons and using her uncle’s
library. When she married James Warren, he encouraged her interest in politics,
history, and writing.
When her husband
was elected to the Massachusetts Legislature in 1766, they began hosting many
politically prominent people, such as the Adams, and Warren began lifelong (at
times rocky) friendship with John Adams. When the American Revolution began,
she was a staunch rebel. She wrote a history of the American Revolution and
became the third women in the United States to publish her poetry. She
continuously engaged in politics—expressing her disapproval of the Constitution
and desire for women’s education. She died at 86.
You can read one of
her poems here and see her ponder keeping within “the narrow bounds, prescrib'd
to female life” in response to the man who requested she write a poem on
“primitive simplicity” https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/evans/N17785.0001.001/1:15.14?rgn=div2;view=fulltext
JOHNATHAN ODELL |
An undated portraited miniature of Odell;
artist unknown; courtesy
of New Brunswick Museum |
Johnathan Odell was born in 1737 in Newark, New Jersey. He
studied medicine at Princeton and graduated in 1754. While still practicing
medicine at times, he mainly became an Anglican minister, preaching at parishes
in Burlington and Mount Holly in New Jersey.
In 1772, Odell married Anne de Cou and they
had three children, one named for Odell’s lifelong friend, William Franklin,
Benjamin Franklin’s Loyalist son. The couple tried to appear neutral at the
start of the war, but his support of the British soon became known, and in
1776, he was forced by the New Jersey Provincial Congress to sign an oath of
loyalty to the rebels. Not long after, they ordered him captured—dead or
alive—and he and his family fled to British-held New York City, where he
continued supporting the British.
Odell became a spy, satirist, essayist, and
poet for the Loyalist cause. His poems were long, and sometimes written with
fellow Loyalist, Samuel Seabury. He often named famous rebels in his poems,
though Schuyler was seemingly never named in one.
Following the war, the Odells moved to New
Brunswick, Canada, where he held multiple government positions. He lived there
until his death in 1818. You can read some of his poetry here: https://xtf.lib.virginia.edu/xtf/view?docId=chadwyck_ap/uvaGenText/tei/chap_AM0706.xml&chunk.id=d3&toc.id=d3&brand=default
(Image: an undated portraited miniature of
Odell; artist unknown; courtesy of New Brunswick Museum)
PHILLIS WHEATLEY
 |
| Phillis Wheatley's signature. |
Phillis Wheatley was born in West Africa—possibly
Senegal or Gambia—in 1753. She was
kidnapped in 1761, arriving in Boston on
July 11th, 1761. She was purchased by the Wheatley family when she
was seven and enslaved by them until she was about twenty.
While
enslaved & working in the Wheatley’s household, the Wheatley’s children
tutored her in reading & writing. By twelve, she could read Latin &
Greek. At fourteen, she wrote her first known poem. While they supported her
education & writing, the Wheatleys still enslaved her.
In 1773, Nathaniel Wheatley took her to
England, to get her poetry published in a volume, as it was difficult to find a
printer willing to do so in the Colonies. The book was published in the summer
of 1773, and Wheatley was freed in 1774. Within a few years, both of the
Wheatleys were dead, and Phillis married a man named John Peters. They had
three children together, but they all died in infancy. Her husband was soon
imprisoned for debt and Phillis fell ill while working as a maid. She died in
1784 at 31.
Wheatley’s poetry was recognized by many
famous figures of the 18th century, including George Washington, who
she wrote a poem for. While modern scholars sometimes claim she didn’t write
about her enslavement, her use of religious metaphors may have been her way of
doing so. She was the first Black woman to have her writing published in the
United States. You can read one of her poems, “On Imagination,” here: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/52632/on-imagination
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| Self portrait circa 1802. |
WILLIAM BLAKE
William Blake was
born on November 28, 1757 (just a few months after Elizabeth Schuyler), in
London. He attended formal school up until the age of 10 and was then educated
at home by his mother. He was soon enrolled in drawing school and began to take
an interest in poetry.
At 15, he was
apprenticed to an engraver and was a professional by the time his indenture was
over at the age of 21. Afterward, he studied art at the Royal Academy. He
married Catherine Boucher in 1781, and she became a partner in his work. In
1783, he published his first book of poetry.
He ran a printshop
with a radical publisher, Joseph Johnson, and met many English dissidents this
way. Some of his work shows he believed in women’s rights and equality. He was
also we talented artist, especially as an engraver, relief etcher, and
illustrator.
He died on August
12, 1827, after drawing a sketch of his wife & promising he’d remain by her
side. While friends published and sold his writing, they also destroyed &
edited some of it. It wasn’t until the early 21st century that his
importance as a poet was fully acknowledged.
In his poem “The
Clod and the Pebble,” he gives two different views of love: one based on selflessness,
and another based on selfishness. You can read it here: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43655/the-clod-and-the-pebble
WU ZAO
 |
| Image of one of Wu Zao's poems and a print. |
Wu Zao was born in 1799 in Renhe, now
Hangzhou, in the Zhejiang province of China. Her
father was a merchant, and she
later married a merchant named Huang. It’s been suggested that neither of them
were interested in literature.
At the time she was born, the US was
importing tea, porcelain, silk, & other goods from China. Wealthy families
like the Schuylers bought these goods to show off their status & taste.
While these goods were being imported, Chinese poetry had yet to be shared with
the wider world.
Wu was a poet and musician, writing an
opera, lyrics, and playing the qin—a stringed instrument. Her poems were
commonly sung throughout China and had a casual and personal tone to them. She
wrote multiple romantic poems to women throughout her life.
Not much is known about her later life aside
from the fact that she converted to Buddhism. Many scholars consider her to be
one of the top three women poets in China. Some of her poems have been
translated into English. Read “Swallows” in the original Chinese and as
translated into English by Irving Y. Lo 译 below.
吴藻·《如梦令·燕子》
燕子未随春去，
飞入绣帘深处。
软语话多时，
莫是要和侬住？
延伫，延伫，
含笑回它：“不许！”
Not all the swallows
have left with the spring:
One flies past embroidered curtains into my inner room.
Softly, endlessly, it murmurs;
Could it be saying, “May I stay with you?”
Waiting for an answer,
Waiting for an answer,
With a smile, I reply, “No, you mustn’t.”
You can learn more
about her here: https://legacyprojectchicago.org/person/wu-zao
 |
Jane Johnston Schoolcraft;
artist and date unknown. |
JANE JOHNSTON
SCHOOLCRAFT
Baamewaawaagizhigokwe,
or “Woman of the Sound the Stars Make Rushing Through the Sky,” also known as
Jane Johnston Schoolcraft, is considered by many historians to be the first
known Native American English literary writer.
Jane Johnston
Schoolcraft was born in 1800 in Sault Ste. Marie in what is now Michigan. Her
mother, who was Ojibwe, was an important political leader and her father, who
was Scottish-Irish, was a fur trapper. They were important leaders in the local
Ojibwa and Euro-American communities.
Jane learned the
Ojibwe language & culture from her mother & had access to her father’s
English library, where she learned about written English literature. She wrote
her own works in both languages and translated Ojibwa works into English,
likely being the first person to do so.
In 1823, she
married Henry Rowe Schoolcraft, also a writer, and US Indian Agent in the
Michigan Territory for some time. They had four children together. Her writing,
which was mostly private, included a homemade literary magazine circulated only
between herself & her husband.
Even though she was
born much later, her life contained multiple parallels to Schuyler’s with her
father working in the fur trade industry as Schuyler once did, and her husband
serving as a US Indian Agent, similar to Schuyler’s position of Commissioner
for Indian Affairs.
She died in 1842,
after experiencing frequent bouts of illness for several years. Today, she is
recognized as a poet, translator, and storyteller. Her poems have been
published in both Ojibwe and English, with some set to music. You can read her
poem, “To the Pine Tree,” translated by Maragret Noodin, here: https://poets.org/poem/pine-tree
Zhingwaak!
Zhingwaak! Ingii-ikid, – Pine! Pine! I said,
Weshki waabamag zhingwaak – The one I see, the pine
Dagoshinaan neyab, endanakiiyaan. – I return back, to my homeland.
Zhingwaak, zhingwaak nos sa! – The pine, the pine my father!
Azhigwa
gidatisaanan – Already you are colored
Gaagige wezhaawashkozid. – Forever you are green
Mii sa naa azhigwa dagoshinaang – So we already have arrived
Bizindamig ikeyaamban – Listen in that direction
Geget sa,
niminwendam – Certainly I am happy
Miinwaa, waabandamaan – And I see
Gii-ayaad awiiya waabandamaan niin – He was there I saw it myself
Zhingwaak, zhingwaak nos sa! – The pine, the pine my father!
Azhigwa gidatisaanan. – Already you are colored.
Gaawiin gego,
gaa-waabanda’iyan – Nothing, you did show me
Dibishkoo, ezhi-naagwasiinoon – Like that, the way it looks
Zhingwaak wezhaawashkozid – Pine he is green.
Wiin eta gwanaajiwi wi – He is beautiful
Gaagige wezhaawashkozid. – Forever he is the green one.
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