Sable: A Poem
Arts & Culture Podcasts
Sable is a poem by Chicago poet Allan Johnston. Sable is based on the life of Phillis Wheatley, a well-known poet of the eighteenth century who was enslaved in the household of John Wheatley, a prominent Boston businessman. In Sable, Johnston explores how Wheatley discovered her artistic and literary voice and how she managed the complex identities of artist, woman and African as she moved from enslavement to emancipation.
Location:
United States
Genres:
Arts & Culture Podcasts
Description:
Sable is a poem by Chicago poet Allan Johnston. Sable is based on the life of Phillis Wheatley, a well-known poet of the eighteenth century who was enslaved in the household of John Wheatley, a prominent Boston businessman. In Sable, Johnston explores how Wheatley discovered her artistic and literary voice and how she managed the complex identities of artist, woman and African as she moved from enslavement to emancipation.
Language:
English
Episodes
Sable: Part the Fourth
1/6/2023
The war continues, causing much suffering, as wars so often do, among the non-combatants. Mistress Wheatley experiences the war as a battle between liberation and deprivation. She, being crafty and courageous, survives--as does her hope.
Duration:00:24:46
Sable: Part the Third
1/6/2023
The endowment of instruction upon Mistress Wheatley and inquiry into her capacity with letters. The increased notice of her ability and publication of her tome. She travels to England to meet her benefactress, a meeting that never occurs. She returns to Boston to tend to her mistress' health. She is freed following her mistress' death. She marries. The colonialist rebellion begins.
Duration:00:29:18
Sable: Part the Second
1/6/2023
Mistress Wheatley becomes a familiar of the family and discovers a propensity for letters, for words, and for sentences. Within 16 months of her enslavement, she is reading the Bible, and other works of literature.
Duration:00:22:26
Sable: Part the First
1/6/2023
In the year 1761, a young girl is stolen from Africa and carried to the New World in a journey she closely observes. Her name, Phillis Wheatley, derives from the name of the slave ship she was abducted in, and the name of the family who purchased her. We do not know the name she carried with her from her homeland.
Duration:00:21:28