"A new creation rushing on my sight?
Still, wond'rous youth! each noble path pursue,
On deathless glories fix thine ardent view:
Still may the paint's and the poet's fire
To aid thy pencil, and thy verse conspire!
And may the charms of each seraphic theme
Conduct thy footsteps to immortal fame!"
On deathless glories fix thine ardent view:
Still may the paint's and the poet's fire
To aid thy pencil, and thy verse conspire!
And may the charms of each seraphic theme
Conduct thy footsteps to immortal fame!"
- Phillis Wheatley, "To S.M. A Young African Painter, On Seeing His Works."
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Analysis
It is well known
that Phillis Wheatley was an educated neoclassical writer, this
learning would have exposed her to many other areas of art and
sparked a deep seeded appreciation. Her poem to Scipio Moorhead, who
created the engraving seen in the preface of her published collection
of poems, ignites Wheatley's passion and love for the arts. Using
classical devices Wheatley elegantly brings her admiration of the
arts to life, and points how varying fields can compliment one
another so well almost like a romance between painting and poetry.
~ Lacie Lussier
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