"On the Death of Love Rotch," a New Poem Attributed to Phillis Wheatley (Peters): And a Speculative Attribution

Abstract:This article argues that the manuscript poem "On the Death of Love Rotch" recently recovered from a Quaker commonplace book kept in 1782 can be confidently attributed to Phillis Wheatley (Peters). The attribution of the poem provides crucial new evidence for Wheatley's early presence and influence in Nantucket, New Bedford, and Newport; supplies new evidence for how her poems first appear in these regions that map onto Quaker ministerial routes; and bares traces of her poetic and political influence on these hotbeds for early abolitionist efforts. In addition to placing Wheatley physically closer to Obour Tanner and others in the Newport community before the Revolution, the poem's presence points toward other communities of color Wheatley engaged with, including New Guinea and Philadelphia, and the possibility that she wrote an elegy for a Black woman named Rose. Combined the article not only makes a case for the expansion of the Wheatley canon but also demonstrates how attribution studies can inform knowledge of the author's life, location, activities, public contributions, and influence on the larger cultural climate.