Phillis Wheatley was born in Africa and spent most of her short life as a slave in Boston. She became a literary wonder when her book, Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral, was published in London in 1773. The poems were quite conventional, but that they were written at all amazed her readers. Despite her circumstances, Wheatley had managed, to learn to read and write and had mastered poetic forms and could even read Latin. Few white women could match her accomplishments. She had also become a deeply committed Christian, under the influence of her owners, the Wheatleys. One of her most famous poems was "On t he Death of the Rev. Mr. George Whitefield, 1770." It suggests both Wheatley's own spiritual life as well as the huge influence of the English preacher in America.
Hail, happy saint, on thine immortal throne...