Francis Crowley, PhD

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Francis Crowley, PhD Biography

I am a retired PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH. Soon to turn age 75, I write lyrical love poems. I have created a new CHAP BOOK: " bar poetry.")

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John Wheatley

I am John Wheatley, Bostonian merchant and tailor by trade, and I am here to introduce to you Phillis, our servant-for-life and brilliant poet. She is a Godsend to us: a genius with learning and language.

My wife, Susanna, purchased Phillis at Boston Harbor.
At only seven years old she was an anniversary gift from me. Phillis had just arrived on the slave ship, ‘THE PHILLIS, ' from Senegambia, a region of West Africa in July,1761. She came alone without family on her long passage.

At home with us Phillis showed very soon her remarkable genius for learning. Our 18 year old twins Mary and Nathaniel began teaching her to read the BIBLE. Many days Phillis spent her afternoons studying the classics with Mary, after chores. Soon she was reading Homer's ILLIAD, Alexander Pope's verse, and writing poems, too,
mainly elegies for recently deceased clergy which appeared in local newspapers.

Why am I telling you this! ? Because Phillis is a truly gifted prodigy with a stunning talent for imaginative language. She impresses our dinner guests at table, reciting verse and chapter of the BIBLE; moreover, she never fails to entertain them with her advanced, deep learning of John Milton's poem, PARADISE LOST. She is also unfailingly humble and respectful, always sitting
at a side table, insisting on keeping her place when she accompanies us to other houses in town for dinner.

When Phillis was 19, she presented us with a substantial collection of her own poems. We decided to approach a local publisher, but many doubted that she was the sole author. No publisher could be found in the colonies, so we arranged for a literary examination by learned men of Boston: scholars, ministers and public dignitaries.
A BILL OF ATTESTATION was drawn up and signed by these 18 men, certifying that, indeed, Phillis is the only authentic, true, original author of her poems. She had



simply amazed them with her natural genius for learning her remarkable proclivity for writing elegiac verse and
her learned discourse. Still, Phillis could not find a publisher, nor gather enough advanced subscriptions to engage one.

We have concluded that she has a better opportunity in London with our dear friend, the Countess of Huntingdon so we are sending Phillis to England with our son, Nathaniel. He carries several letters of introduction to the Countess ensuring a fruitful outcome in literary publishing. Her trip may help also with her serious asthma which worsens here in Spring. When she returns to us at end of summer, we pray that her poor health generally will be much improved by the English climate.

I can tell you with assurance that once published her poetry will be a sensation in the mother country! ! She promotes the creative imagination as the supreme value and faculty of the poet's mind. It seems to me that in a world that permits slavery, she uses her poetry as a kind of metaphysical search for order; moreover, when Phillis returns, Susanna and I will have her manumitted and freed from her bonds. Her strong independence of mind and publishing acumen should save the day abroad.


This prologue and introduction prepared and edited by dramaturge Francis E. Crowley, PhD, based on the book ‘PHILLIS WHEATLEY, GENIUS IN BONDAGE.'

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