Thoughts on the Work of Providence by Phillis Wheatley
"Thoughts on the Work of Providence" is a poem by Phillis Wheatley that explores the relationship between the divine and the natural world. In this work, the speaker invites the reader to reflect on the greatness of God as evident in the beauty and order of creation, from the vast cosmos to the everyday cycle of day and night. Wheatley asserts that while God remains unseen, His presence manifests through remarkable elements such as the sun, serving as a testament to His divine imagination and power.
The poem emphasizes the duality of light and darkness, illustrating how both are essential for life, portraying God as both powerful and merciful. Central to the narrative is the personification of Reason and Love, who seek to understand the nature of God. Ultimately, Wheatley concludes that God's infinite love is observable in all aspects of life, suggesting that the true understanding of the divine transcends human reason and invites a response of praise and worship. This poem is significant for its exploration of faith, nature, and the human experience, particularly within the context of Wheatley's own life as an African American woman in the 18th century.
Thoughts on the Work of Providence by Phillis Wheatley
Excerpted from an article in Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition
First published: 1773 (collected in Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral, 1773)
Type of work: Poem
The Work
The speaker of the poem urges her soul to rise and contemplate the majesty of God through the vastness and orderliness of his creation. Though God himself is unseen, he is made manifest in the heavens and the earth through such powerful objects as the sun. Wheatley takes the grandeur of the cosmos as proof of God’s sublime, divine imagination. The poem is shaped by the pattern of day’s light being following by night’s darkness and the return of daylight on the following morning. Humans and the vegetative world require the productive light of the day and the restorative darkness of night, so God is not only powerful but also merciful. The poem ends with Reason and Love, personified, asking what most shows forth almighty God. The poet’s answer is that everywhere one looks one sees God’s infinite love made visible; humans know him through their senses. Reason falters and fails in the face of the Eternal. All that is left is for humans to praise and worship.
Bibliography
Bassard, Katherine Clay. Spiritual Interrogations: Culture, Gender, and Community in Early African American Women’s Writing. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1999.
Carretta, Vincent, and Philip Gould, eds. Genius in Bondage: Literature of the Early Black Atlantic. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2001.
Lasky, Kathryn. A Voice of Her Own: The Story of Phillis Wheatley, Slave Poet. Cambridge, Mass.: Candlewick Press, 2003.
Renfro, G. Herbert. Life and Works of Phillis Wheatley. The Black Heritage Library Collection. Plainview, N.Y.: Books for Libraries Press, 1970.
Richmond, Merle. Phillis Wheatley. American Women of Achievement. New York: Chelsea House, 1988.
Robinson, William H., ed. Critical Essays on Phillis Wheatley. Boston: G. K. Hall, 1982.
Shields, John C. “The American Epic Writ Large: The Example of Phillis Wheatley.” In The American Aeneas:Classical Origins of the American Self. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 2001.