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University of Virginia Library

Poems on various subjects, religious and moral

Wheatley, Phillis (1753-1784)

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POEMS ON VARIOUS SUBJECTS.

To the University of CAMBRIDGE, in NEW-ENGLAND.

TO THE KING's MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY.—1768.

On being brought from AFRICA to AMERICA.

On the DEATH of the Rev. Dr. SEWELL, 1769.

On the DEATH of the Reverend Mr. GEORGE WHITEFIELD,—1770.

On the DEATH of a YOUNG LADY of five years of age.

On the DEATH of a YOUNG GENTLEMAN.

To a LADY on the DEATH of her HUSBAND.

GOLIATH OF GATH.

THOUGHTS ON THE WORKS OF PROVIDENCE.

To a LADY on the DEATH of THREE RELATIONS.

To a CLERGYMAN on the DEATH of his LADY.

An HYMN to the MORNING.

An HYMN to the EVENING.

ISAIAH lxiii. 1—8.

On RECOLLECTION.

On IMAGINATION.

A Funeral POEM on the Death of C. E. an Infant of Twelve Months.

To Captain H—d, of the 65th Regiment.

To the Right Honourable WILLIAM, Earl of Dartmouth, His Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for North-America, &c.

ODE to NEPTUNE.

To a LADY on her coming to North-America with her Son, for the Recovery of her Health.

To a LADY on her remarkable Preservation in an Hurricane in North-Carolina.

To a LADY and her CHILDREN, on the Death of her Son and their Brother.

To a GENTLEMAN and LADY on the Death of the Lady's Brother and Sister, and a Child of the Name AVIS, aced one Year.

On the Death of Dr. SAMUEL MARSHALL. 1771.

To a GENTLEMAN on his Voyage to Great-Britain for the Recovery of his Health.

To the Rev. Dr. THOMAS AMORY on reading his Sermons on Daily Devotion, &c.

On the DEATH of J. C. an Infant.

An HYMN TO HUMANITY.

To the Honourable T. H. Esquire, on the Death of his Daughter.

NIOBE in Distress for her Children slain by APOLLO, from Ovid's Metamorphoses, Book VI. and from a view of the Painting of Mr. Richard Wilson.

To S. M. a young AFRICAN PAINTER, on seeing his WORKS.

To his Honour the Lieutenant Governor, on the Death of his Lady.

A Farewell to AMERICA. To Mrs. S. W.

A REBUS, BY I. B.

An ANSWER to the REBUS, by the Author of these Poems.

Table of Contents.

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On the DEATH of a YOUNG GENTLEMAN.

WHO taught the conflict with the power's of night,
To vanquish Satan in the fields of fight?
Who strung thy feeble arms with might unknown,
How great thy conquest, and how bright thy crown!

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War with each princedom, throne, and pow'r is o'er,
The scene is ended to return no more.
O could my muse thy feat on high behold,
How deck'd with laurel, how enrich'd with gold!
O could she hear what praise thine harp employs,
How sweet thine anthems, how divine thy joys!
What heav'nly grandeur should exalt her strain!
What holy raptures in her numbers reign!
To sooth the troubles of her mind to peace,
To still the tumult of life's tossing seas,
To ease the anguish of the parents heart,
What shall my sympathizing verse impart?
Where is the balm to heal so deep a wound?
Where shall a sov'reign remedy be sound?
Look, gracious Spirit, from thine heavenly bow'r,
And thy full joys into their bosom pour;
The raging tempest of their grief control,
And spread the dawn of glory thro' the soul,
To eye the path the saint, departed, trod,
And trace him to the bosom of his God.