Phillis Wheatley in American Literary History and African American Literary Criticism

Abstract

The paper makes a survey of the life and works by Phillis Wheatley (1753?- 1784), the first African American female poet, analyses critical reception of her poetry during her lifetime and up to nowadays, shows the way her literary reputation has been changing (sometimes drastically) as a result of the changing bias and attitudes in the course of the development of African American literary studies since 1960s till 2010s.The paper also attempts to assess Phillis Wheatley’s role in American literary and cultural history.

Keywords

• phillis wheatley
• american literature
• african american literature
• african american literary criticism
• african american studies
• literary reputation