To the Honourable T. H. Esq;
on the Death of his Daughter
By Phillis Wheatley
While deep you mourn beneath the cypress-shade
The hand of Death, and your dear daughter laid
In dust, whose absence gives your tears to flow,
And racks your bosom with incessant woe,
Let Recollection take a tender part,
Assuage the raging tortures of your heart,
Still the wild tempest of tumultuous grief,
And pour the heav’nly nectar of relief:
Suspend the sigh, dear Sir, and check the groan,
Divinely bright your daughter’s Virtues shone:
How free from scornful pride her gentle mind,
Which ne’er its aid to indigence declin’d!
Expanding free, it sought the means to prove
Unfailing charity, unbounded love!
She unreluctant flies to see no more
Her dear-lov’d parents on earth’s dusky shore:
Impatient heav’n’s resplendent goal to gain,
She with swift progress cuts the azure plain,
Where grief subsides, where changes are no more,
And life’s tumultuous billows cease to roar;
She leaves her earthly mansion for the skies,
Where new creations feast her wond’ring eyes.
To heav’n’s high mandate cheerfully resign’d
She mounts, and leaves the rolling globe behind;
She, who late wish’d that Leonard might return,
Has ceas’d to languish, and forgot to mourn;
To the same high empyreal mansions come,
She joins her spouse, and smiles upon the tomb:
And thus I hear her from the realms above:
“Lo! this the kingdom of celestial love!
“Could ye, fond parents, see our present bliss,
“How soon would you each sigh, each fear dismiss?
“Amidst unutter’d pleasures whilst I play
“In the fair sunshine of celestial day,
“As far as grief affects an happy soul
“So far doth grief my better mind controul,
“To see on earth my aged parents mourn,
“And secret wish for T — ! to return:
“Let brighter scenes your ev’ning-hours employ:
“Converse with heav’n, and taste the promis’d joy”
Poem Analysis:
Phillis Wheatley’s elegy “To the Honourable T. H. Esq; on the Death of His Daughter” is a highly crafted poem of consolation, blending classical elegiac tradition with Christian theology and the poet’s characteristic moral tenderness. Written to comfort a grieving father, the poem guides the reader from raw sorrow toward a vision of spiritual transcendence. Wheatley’s voice is gentle yet authoritative, weaving together emotional empathy, theological reassurance, and imaginative vision to transform grief into a contemplative acceptance.
Structure and Tone
The poem is written in heroic couplets—rhymed iambic pentameter couplets—an established form for eighteenth-century elegies. The formal structure provides a sense of order and restraint that mirrors the poem’s deeper purpose: to impose spiritual clarity and harmony on the chaotic experience of grief.
The tone evolves through three phases:
- Empathic recognition of grief
- Elevation of the daughter’s virtues and heavenly state
- Direct consolation through imagined heavenly speech
This progression embodies the emotional trajectory of classical consolation literature: from lament to praise to acceptance.
Acknowledging Grief
The poem begins by fully acknowledging the father’s sorrow:
“While deep you mourn beneath the cypress-shadeThe hand of Death…”
Cypress trees—traditional symbols of mourning—establish a somber setting. Wheatley respects the father’s “incessant woe” but immediately introduces Recollection as a healing force:
“Let Recollection take a tender part,Assuage the raging tortures of your heart.”
Memory is framed as both tender and medicinal, capable of calming the “wild tempest” of grief. Wheatley’s rhetoric here balances emotional understanding with gentle guidance, positioning herself as a compassionate mediator between sorrow and divine comfort.
Virtue as Consolation
The poem then turns to the daughter's virtues, which serve as both a tribute and a source of solace:
“Divinely bright your daughter’s Virtues shone:How free from scornful pride her gentle mind…”
Wheatley emphasizes humility, generosity, and charity, virtues central to Christian ethics. By focusing on moral qualities rather than social rank or beauty, Wheatley elevates the daughter’s spiritual worth and frames her death as a transition to deserved heavenly reward.
This praise also deepens the emotional weight of the father’s loss: the daughter is not merely mourned because she is beloved but because she is good.
Heavenly Ascent and Transformation
The central section shifts from earthly grief to celestial glory:
“Impatient heav’n’s resplendent goal to gain,She with swift progress cuts the azure plain…”
In describing the daughter’s ascent, Wheatley uses vivid celestial imagery—“azure plain,” “resplendent goal,” “new creations”—to emphasize the beauty and joy of heaven. The contrast with the poem’s earlier images of “dust” and “earth’s dusky shore” creates a symbolic movement from darkness to illumination.
Importantly, Wheatley portrays the daughter as eager for heaven, not reluctant to leave earth. This reframes death not as loss but as fulfillment.
She also unites the daughter with her deceased husband:
“She joins her spouse, and smiles upon the tomb.”
This reunion further softens the tragedy by placing it in the context of spiritual restoration.
The Daughter’s Voice: A Divine Consolation
The poem’s final movement is dramatic: Wheatley gives voice to the daughter herself, speaking from heaven:
“Lo! this the kingdom of celestial love!”
This shift imbues the poem with authority—the comfort now comes not from the poet, but from the dead child transformed into a heavenly messenger.
The daughter encourages her parents to:
- dismiss their sighs,
- imagine her bliss,
- and prepare their own hearts for divine communion.
Yet Wheatley preserves emotional realism:
The daughter admits that “as far as grief affects an happy soul,” she still feels sorrow when watching her parents mourn. This is a delicate theological balance: the dead are joyful, but not detached from earthly love.
The closing admonition is tender rather than didactic:
“Let brighter scenes your ev’ning-hours employ:Converse with heav’n, and taste the promis’d joy.”
Here Wheatley redirects grief toward spiritual contemplation, framing divine communion as the path to peace.
Themes
- Christian Consolation: The poem embodies the tradition of religious elegy, asserting that death is a transition to eternal joy.
- The Power of Virtue: The daughter’s moral goodness becomes the basis for her heavenly reward.
- Grief Humanized and Elevated: Wheatley neither diminishes sorrow nor lets it dominate; grief is real but not final.
- Continuity of Love Beyond Death: The daughter maintains emotional ties to her parents even from heaven.
- The Poet as Comforter: Wheatley assumes an authoritative yet gentle voice, guiding the grieving father toward spiritual peace.
Phillis Wheatley’s “To the Honourable T. H. Esq; on the Death of His Daughter” is a masterful elegy that blends empathy, praise, theology, and imaginative vision. Through disciplined verse and elevated diction, Wheatley transforms a personal tragedy into a reflection on divine providence and eternal love. Her rhetorical progression—from shared sorrow, to celebration of virtue, to heavenly reassurance—offers a consolatory journey that embodies both eighteenth-century literary elegance and deeply felt spiritual conviction.
Wheatley’s poem ultimately affirms that loss is not annihilation but transformation, and that love, virtue, and faith bridge the divide between earth and heaven.