Phillis Wheatley Poems

Phillis Wheatley was born in 1753 as an enslaved person. She is one of the best-known and most important poets of pre-19th-century America. She was taken from West Africa when she was seven years old and transported to Boston. Her first published poem is considered ‘An Elegiac Poem, on the Death of that Celebrated Divine, and Eminent Servant of Jesus Christ, the Reverend and Learned George Whitefield …’ Read more about Phillis Wheatley.

A Hymn to the Evening

by Phillis Wheatley

‘A Hymn to the Evening’ by Phillis Wheatley describes a speaker’s desire to take on the glow of evening so that she may show her love for God.

Phillis Wheatley's poetry, including this poem, showcases her exceptional talent as a poet. As an enslaved African American woman writing in the 18th century, her poetry defied societal expectations and highlighted her intellectual and creative prowess. Wheatley's poems often explored themes of religion, nature, and the human experience, leaving a lasting legacy as one of the earliest African American poets in American literature.

Soon as the sun forsook the eastern main

The pealing thunder shook the heav'nly plain;

Majestic grandeur! From the zephyr's wing,

Exhales the incense of the blooming spring.

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