“To His Excellency General Washington'' was written in 1775 by Phillis Wheatley. The poem addresses George Washington following the commencement of the American Revolutionary War that year. At the time, Wheatley was writing in popular convention with a Victorian form praising poetry’s inherited forms. A striking dimension of the poem is its fealty to a slave owner, George Washington, by a woman who was still a slave at her time of writing and would remain so for much of her life. Her poetic depiction of the American colonial era, read here as “Columbia” (Line 2), would help to create an American mythology, installing Washington as a war hero and a harbinger of freedom for the American colonies. It was Wheatley’s deep hope that said freedom would extend to the slaves held in captivity.

Poet Biography

Aside from her prodigious works of verse, only the broad strokes of Phillis Wheatley’s life are known. Before Phillis Wheatley became an internationally renowned American poet, she was born somewhere near the regions of present-day Gambia and Ghana. When she was approximately seven years old, she was kidnapped into slavery. At Boston’s slave market in 1761, an affluent tailor and businessman, John Wheatley, and his wife Susanna Wheatley purchased the seven-year-old Phillis and took her into their home, where they taught her to read and write English as well as Greek and Latin.

Wheatley was an avid reader, consuming a comprehensive canon of classical and neoclassical poetry—especially of Alexander Pope, adopting his use of heroic couplets into her own style. Phillis developed her first elegy, “On Messrs. Hussey and Coffin” at age 12. By 15, she had composed what would be her most enduring and well-read poem, “On Being Brought from Africa to America” and, in 1770, her elegy for George Whitfield brought her verse to an international audience.

In 1772, Phillis traveled to London to publish her first book of poetry, Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral (1773), collecting 39 poems. While abroad, Phillis met with many dignitaries, including Benjamin Franklin. She did not return to Boston until the Wheatleys agreed to free her—a move speculated by scholars to be Wheatley’s primary reason for travelling to London to publish her poetry book. In 1778, Wheatley married John Peters, the owner of a Boston grocery store and free Black man, but by 1781 she died, succumbing to the harsh New England conditions and her chronic case of asthma. Peters passed away in 1801.

Poem Text

Celestial choir! enthron'd in realms of light,

Columbia's scenes of glorious toils I write.

While freedom's cause her anxious breast alarms,

She flashes dreadful in refulgent arms.

See mother earth her offspring's fate bemoan,     (5)

And nations gaze at scenes before unknown!

See the bright beams of heaven's revolving light

Involved in sorrows and the veil of night!

The Goddess comes, she moves divinely fair,

Olive and laurel binds Her golden hair:        (10)

Wherever shines this native of the skies,

Unnumber'd charms and recent graces rise.

Muse! Bow propitious while my pen relates

How pour her armies through a thousand gates,

As when Eolus heaven's fair face deforms,          (15)

Enwrapp'd in tempest and a night of storms;

Astonish'd ocean feels the wild uproar,

The refluent surges beat the sounding shore;

Or think as leaves in Autumn's golden reign,

Such, and so many, moves the warrior's train.     (20)

In bright array they seek the work of war,

Where high unfurl'd the ensign waves in air.

Shall I to Washington their praise recite?

Enough thou know'st them in the fields of fight.

Thee, first in peace and honors—we demand       (25)

The grace and glory of thy martial band.

Fam'd for thy valour, for thy virtues more,

Hear every tongue thy guardian aid implore!

One century scarce perform'd its destined round,

When Gallic powers Columbia's fury found;         (30)

And so may you, whoever dares disgrace

The land of freedom's heaven-defended race!

Fix'd are the eyes of nations on the scales,

For in their hopes Columbia's arm prevails.

Anon Britannia droops the pensive head,             (35)

While round increase the rising hills of dead.

Ah! Cruel blindness to Columbia's state!

Lament thy thirst of boundless power too late.

Proceed, great chief, with virtue on thy side,

Thy ev'ry action let the Goddess guide.               (40)

A crown, a mansion, and a throne that shine,

With gold unfading, WASHINGTON! Be thine.

Wheatley, Phillis. “To His Excellency General Washington.” 1775. Academy of American Poets.

Summary

The poem begins with the speaker’s invocation to the muse; the speaker proclaims they are writing of the story of America. America is represented as a goddess with olive and laurel wreaths of antiquity in her hair as she fights for freedom—alluding to America’s Revolutionary War. The speaker states that such an act is novel on the world stage, drawing the attention of other imperialist powers.

The speaker issues a second invocation to the muse, describing the war in soaring and heroic language, and noting the banners of George Washington’s army of revolutionaries and battles fought through the turning seasons. The poem presents the French and Indian War as proof of the colonial army’s ability to fend off invaders who might try to take the newly formed country, describing the casualties of such as “hills of dead” (Line 36). The poem draws closed by reaffirming George Washington’s just cause and virtuous fight. The speaker again calls on the Goddess of Columbia to guide the general’s hand and for the poem’s final couplet, calls for Washington to have a crown, a mansion, and a gilded throne, depicting the victorious General Washington amid his spoils of war.