Poem Analysis:
Phillis Wheatley’s “A Funeral Poem on the Death of Charles” is a moving elegy that presents the death of a young child from a Christian perspective. Rather than focusing only on grief and loss, Wheatley transforms death into a journey from the earthly world to the heavenly realm. Through vivid religious imagery, emotional contrasts, and direct addresses to the grieving parents, the poem offers consolation and encourages faith in the promise of eternal life.
The poem begins with an image of the child ascending toward heaven. Charles “wings his instant flight / To purer regions of celestial light.” Wheatley describes the universe as vast and magnificent, filled with planets, angels, and heavenly splendor. This imagery makes heaven appear beautiful, glorious, and welcoming. The child is not portrayed as a victim of death but as someone who has been released from the dangers and temptations of earthly life.
A central idea of the poem is the Christian belief that death can be a form of salvation, especially for an innocent child. Charles rejoices that he has reached heaven before he could become corrupted by “vice,” “sin,” “temptation,” and “guilt.” His death, therefore, is presented as protection from the moral dangers of the world. Wheatley suggests that his early death has allowed him to enter heaven with his innocence intact.
The poem also explores the contrast between earthly grief and heavenly happiness. The parents mourn deeply and naturally question why their beloved child has been taken from them. Wheatley responds by asking whether they would really bring Charles back from heaven. Through this rhetorical question, she encourages the parents to replace sorrow with faith. Charles himself is imagined as refusing earthly pleasures, declaring that even “Thrones and dominions cannot tempt me there.” Heaven is presented as infinitely more valuable than anything the earthly world can offer.
Another important feature of the poem is its use of religious consolation. Wheatley does not deny the parents’ grief; instead, she acknowledges their pain through images of sighing, tears, dreams, and the desire to hold the child again. However, she ultimately redirects their sorrow toward hope. The final lines encourage the parents to let their “faith ascend” to the heavenly regions and look forward to being reunited with their child.
Wheatley’s language is strongly influenced by eighteenth-century Christian poetic traditions, particularly through references to angels, cherubs, celestial light, saints, seraphs, and God. Her elevated diction and descriptions of the heavens create a sense of grandeur appropriate to a funeral poem. The contrast between the temporary nature of earthly existence and the eternal nature of heaven reinforces the poem’s central religious message.
“A Funeral Poem on the Death of Charles” is not simply a poem about mourning; it is a poem about faith, innocence, salvation, and hope. Wheatley transforms the painful death of a child into a vision of heavenly triumph. By imagining Charles happy among the angels and encouraging his parents to look toward eternal reunion, she turns personal grief into a lesson in Christian faith and spiritual consolation.