what does the speaker compare imagination to in the poem on imagination by phillis wheatley
Answers
The poet gives imagination quite the entrance, personifying it as a ‘queen’, beautiful and majestic. Then she mentions it’s ‘bright forms’ which are ‘deck’d with pomp’, meaning it’s covered in splendour and elegance. ‘From Helicon’ is reference to Mt. Helicon, home of the Greek goddesses of literature, art and music, suggests not only the poet’s intellect in classic literature, but also suggests that imagination is a god given expression ‘from’ them. The stanza ends with a nice oxymoron. ‘Silken fetters’ and ‘soft captivity’. Phillis was a slave, and taken to America in 1761 to be sold. The family who bought her were a bit more open-minded and tutored her, contrary to the usual treatment of slaves, let alone women. So you could say she escaped a harsher reality. The family encouraged her to learn, think and imagine. In that sense, imagination freed her.
That links to the second stanza. ‘Soaring through the air’ gives an impression of freedom. Quite a jump from the last few lines about captivity, again knocking at the power of imagination to literally liberate people. The air, or sky, is also seen as endless, hinting at imagination’s limitless potential. ‘Th’empyreal palace’ relates to Mt. Olympia, home of the gods. ‘The Thund’ring God’ is obviously Zeus. More classical literature references and more of a relationship being built between Gods and imagination. Wheatley really wants to get that link across. Imagination is like looking through the eyes of a God. ‘new worlds amaze th' unbounded soul’. It sounds like imagination is a way of looking at the world from a new perspective, like the Gods do. Or perhaps seeing a new world altogether.
And I’ll stop there. To be honest poetry is about self-interpretation. You’re just reading mine for now so it’s important you cover the last half of the poem yourself. The main thing you should keep in mind is that the poet is promoting imagination. She uses a great deal of imagery, references and other literary techniques to elevate her point, trying as much to share her own visions with her reader. Take it one line at a time, research it’s meaning and see what you can do.
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