Aiming to rectify the neglect of Wheatley's work, Shields (English, Illinois State U.) argues that African American poet Phyllis Wheatley (1753-1784) influenced Romantic era poets such as
Samuel Taylor Coleridge, who borrowed from her works in his distinction between fancy and imagination. He traces her impact on these poets, noting the influence from America to Europe and not
the other way around, and demonstrates how her texts such as her "Long Poem" (consisting of "On Recollection," "Thoughts on the Works of Providence," and "On Imagination") shaped romanticism.
He discusses the impact of ancient, Renaissance, and other poets on her, and the British, German, and French writers influenced by her, including connections to Kant. Annotation 穢2010 Book
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