Wheatley and Freneau

Upon reading Wheatley's On the Death of the Revereend Mr. George Whitefield, it gave me an uplifting feeling.  The way this poem was set up, it was like a eulogy in Whitefield's remembrance, giving praise;

"Hail, happy saint, on thine immortal throne,
Possest of glory, life, and bliss unknown;"

Then there is Freneau's The Wild Honey Suckle, which spoke of the living life of a beautiful flower.  The beginning of the poem starts out quite lovely;

"Fair flower, that dost so comely grow,
Hid in this silent, dull retreat,
Untouched thy honied blossoms blow,
Unseen thy little branches greet;"

Midway through the poem though, it takes a turn.  He starts to describe this flower as dying and decaying.  Turning this positive poem kind of depressing, describing death to such a beautiful thing.

"Smit with those charms, that must decay,
I grieve to see your future doom;
They died---nor were those flowers more gay,
The flowers that did in Eden bloom;"

Unlike Freneau, Wheatley was uplifting throughout the whole poem, even sounding exciting that he was going to heaven, as in the following;

"Behold the prophet in his tow'ring flight!
He leaves the earth for heav'n's unmeasur'd height,
And worlds unknown receive him from our sight.
There Whitefield wings with rapid course his way,
And sails to Zion through vast seas of day."

At the end of Wheatley's poem, she explains they need to move on and continue  the reverend's dream, while in Freneau's poem death stops any moving on and nothing comes from it.  Even though the first poem was more positive, I have got to say I enjoyed Freneau's much better.