"Celestial choir!..."See in text(Text of the Poem)
The poem opens with an invocation to the muses, a call for inspiration from a “celestial choir.” This device was typical of the poets of the neoclassical movement in which Wheatley wrote. The neoclassical poets drew themes and ideas from Greek and Roman antiquity, including the opening invocation favored by the ancient poets, from Homer to Virgil. Wheatley was familiar with the classics and read in both Greek and Latin.
