While reading Phillis Wheatley, I became interested in her poem “To The King’s Most Excellent Majesty” and the historical context surrounding its publication. The poem was written in 1768, but it wasn’t published until 1773 (90). These dates are near the beginning of the American Revolution. At this time, Wheatley was living in Boston, and the relationship between the British and Boston specifically was rocky at best. Wheatley wrote the poem when colonists and the British were still trying to salvage their relationship, but she published it the same year as one of the most significant events to lead to the American Revolution: The Boston Tea Party.
Wheatley choosing to publish a poem praising the king of England after an event that disrespected his tradesmanship was a courageous move as an African female writer. She writes, “And all with love and readiness obey,” talking about the king’s subjects as loyal, but many colonists were rebelling against the crown because of the unfair taxes and laws (line 5). In the next stanza, she asks how his subjects should reward him for his kindness, though the colonists are not pleased with his ruling (line 6).
Wheatley writes as if the colonists were happy with King George, and that could be because her masters were loyalists. If Wheatley lived with a family loyal to the king, it would follow that she would write a poem about loyalty to the king; however, the time of publication implies that Wheatley knows the colonists have reason to be upset. She ends the poem by focusing on how King George should respond to his subjects saying, “A monarch’s smile can set his subjects free” (line 15)! If Wheatley is publishing this in response to The Boston Tea Party, she is suggesting King George should not punish the colonists for their disrespect. Wheatley is brave for publishing under her own name, publishing during a time of unrest between the colonists and the British, and publishing a poem with advice to the king of England.
Romantic--with a Capitol 'R'--Poetry 