Quiz on Wheatley's Perspectives

According to Wheatley, what brought her out of Africa?

• mercy

• slavery

• providence

• God

Answer explanation

Although Wheatley has been enslaved, she casts the situation in a different light, preferring to see her subjugated condition as mercy: "'Twas mercy brought me from my pagan land" (l.1).

What evidence does Wheatley provide that Africans may be redeemed?

• Wheatley's father's conversion to Christianity

• Wheatley's own conversion to Christianity

• Wheatley's statement that many Africans want to be Christian

• Wheatley's years working as a missionary in Africa

Answer explanation

Wheatley states that she has become a Christian in the first two lines, stating, "'Twas mercy brought me from my pagan land/ Taught my benighted soul to understand." Although "[o]nce [she] redemption neither sought nor knew," Wheatley now is redeemed by converting to Christianity (ll.1-2 and 4).

What lesson from the Bible does Wheatley say she has learned?

• There is a Christian God and savior.

• Christians believe in equality and mercy.

• Religious observance will lead to salvation.

• The twelve tribes of Judea are God's chosen people.

Answer explanation

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Wheatley says that she has learned "[t]hat there's a God, that there's a Savior too" (l.3).

Wheatley says that those who view Negroes with a "scornful eye" see their skin color by what adjective?

• dusky

• foreign

• black

• diabolic

Answer explanation

Wheatley writes, "Some view our sable race with scornful eye, / 'Their color is a diabolic dye'" (ll.5-6).

Who is the explicit audience of this short poem?

• Wheatley's father

• African Americans

• Christians

• Americans

Answer explanation

In the penultimate line of the poem, Wheatley address the audience, exhorting, "Remember, Christians, … " (l.7).

Wheatley makes one allusion to the Old Testament in the poem. To whom in the Old Testament does Wheatley refer?

• Moses

• Cain

• Adam

Answer explanation

Wheatley refers to Cain, who "has sometimes been taken to be the origin of dark-skinned peoples" when she says, "Negroes, black as Cain" (l.7).

What explicit assumption of Americans is this poem working actively to dispel?

• Africans cannot be Christians.

• Africans cannot write poetry.

• Women cannot write poetry.

• Africans are not intelligent.

Answer explanation

"Remember, Christians, Negroes, black as Cain, / May be refined, and join the angelic train" (ll.7-8).

In what verse form is 'On Being Brought from Africa to America' written?

• quatrains

• heroic couplets

• blank verse

• free verse

Answer explanation

The poem is a series of four rhyming couplets written in iambic pentameter. For example, the first heroic couplet of the poem reads, "'Twas mercy brought me from my pagan land, / Taught my benighted soul to understand” (ll. 1-2).

Who was Philip Freneau most known for criticizing? Why was he so critical of them?

• Thomas Jefferson, because he wanted to be the President.

• John Smith, because of his relationship with the Native Americans.

• William Bradford, because he was a Puritan.

• George Washington, because of his Federalism.

What does the flower represent in The Wild Honey Suckle poem?

• The brevity of human life.

• The untamed beauty of the outdoors.

• Honesty and fairness.