Wheatley's Imagination

 Phillis Wheatley, a poet from West Africa, had a story that transposed into her writing allowing her to become the first African-American woman in London to have a book of poetry published. Her backstory consists of growing up in West Africa and by the age of seven, she had been moved to Boston due to slavery, working for a man of the name of John Wheatley. He was wealthy but soon realized Phillis' capabilities including her wide range of intellect. With this now coming to the surface, education was in Phillis' path of life. At a young age, Wheatley was creative and driven by writing as she found joy in the activity. Her hobby soon became her life and she became a publisher of her own work to share with the world. After publishing, Wheatley became praised and recognized for her work. Her stories, messages, and connections reached more than she could have dreamed, such like George Washington. her poems often related back to her life with one being, On Imagination. It describes the imagination to be divine and a gift to human nature. As a reader, each line I read filed into the phrase, "dream big to go far". Wheatley explains that the imagination dissolved the limitations reality alludes to making us believe. Even in the most dramatic, monotonous, and unpleasant events of time, imagination can be an escape. You are able to create beauty in the parts of life that seem to have none. Wheatley emphasizes how powerful and important our imagination can be as it can soon pave the path of our life.  She also allows us to see imagination as a connection to our insight rather than what is just in front of us. We are to expand our minds as far as they will reach and then some. There is no limit, reality is the limit and we must breach imagination to take a different approach. There is much more to life than each aspect in front of you. What you make of concepts is what will drive the future of your dreams seeding from imagination. There are struggles in life, much of which Wheatley experienced, but all can be changed. To dream big allows one to go far. It all starts with a thought, dream, desire, and idea to create a path leading to the enrichment of life. 


https://www.thoughtco.com/phillis-wheatley-biography-3528281


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