31 pages • 1 hour read
To His Excellency General Washington
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Background
Literary Context
The neoclassical movement began in Rome in the 1800s, especially owing to the rediscovery of the ruins at Pompeii. The movement—which laterally spanned across architecture, literature, and art—found inspiration from ancient Greek and Roman works. Consequently, neoclassical works are characterized by an importance on tight aesthetic control and rigid inherited forms, which conjured the wonder of ancient artistic styles. Although Wheatley was widely read and influenced by many classical poets, Alexander Pope was thought to have been one of the strongest influences on her work.
Pope was a landmark among early 18th-century poets. The period during which he was producing poetry is interchangeably referred to as the Augustan age or Age of Pope (1700-1744) for the renown and wide influence his work affected. Pope was known for his mastery of heroic couplets and strong sense of both satire and political justice. Pope’s works fell out of popularity with the rise of romantics-era literature (1790-1850), which signaled a turn away from the high-formalism of the neoclassical movement in favor of deep emotional authenticity, independence, and focus on imagistic meditations of nature.
In “To His Excellency General Washington” Wheatley’s poem draws on the metrical power of Pope’s heroic couplet in a genuine embrace of neoclassical grandiosity. Under her pen, Wheatley uses the strengths of the neoclassical construction to commemorate and capture the epic “spirit” of an American revolution, which must have been a palpable atmosphere in her time of writing. Wheatley’s strong ear for rhetoric is among her works’ most defining qualities.
Historical Context
While composing “To His Excellency General Washington,” Wheatley was already a fixture in both Boston—where she had lived as a slave from an early age—and Britain—where she published, met with dignitaries, and likely used the nation as a sanctuary until freed by her mistress Susanna Wheatley. Although she made political allies in Britain, and years earlier penned a similar poem, “To The King’s Most Excellent Majesty,” honoring King George III for his repeal of the Stamp Act, in deciding to write her ode to General Washington’s, Wheatley made the courageous choice to publicly favor the yet unfounded America’s daring experiment.
Although the Declaration of Independence was not signed and ratified until 1776, in 1775, the American Revolutionary War had already begun following a skirmish between British Officers and local militia men outside of Boston. At this stage in the fighting, the colony of Massachusetts had been placed under martial law by occupying British forces, beginning a cascading effect that would summon the colonial nation-states to war to throw off British rule.
In May of 1775, Virginian General and plantation owner George Washington, who had participated in the French and Indian War on behalf of the British crown, rode out to attend the Continental Congress in Philadelphia. Washington dressed in his officer’s uniform and was certain a war for independence was inevitable and underway. Due to his military experience, in June 1775, Congress elected Washington to lead the Continental Army as its Commander in Chief. Washington took control of the militia outside of Boston and advanced on the British positions within the city. Wheatley sent George Washington a copy of her poem in 1775, and in 1776 accepted his invitation to meet with him at his headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
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