# Britannia — Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral character guide

> Britannia in Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral by Phillis Wheatley.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** thy, Thy

**First appearance:** 0007-to-the-king-s-most-excellent-majesty-1768

## Snapshot

An imagined Britain whose distant shore pulls the speaker across the sea, even as her soul grieves and her charms tempt the wandering heart.

## Who they are

Britannia is the personified island the poet sails toward, a motherland whose fame and beauty are invoked with longing and reverence. Yet the same voice warns against her 'fatal train' of temptation, asking heaven to shield the soul from her 'enchanting strain.' That double pull — devotion and danger — shapes the poems of departure and return, where leaving New-England's fields for her shore becomes both a joy and a spiritual test.

## Relationships

### [Unknown Narrator](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poems_on_various_subjects_religious_and_moral_se/characters/unknown_narrator)

_social_

Britannia is a personification of Britain, addressed by the narrator with patriotic or critical overtones.

### [Sol](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poems_on_various_subjects_religious_and_moral_se/characters/sol)

_social_

Britannia and Sol (the sun) are personified entities that interact in allegorical or patriotic verse.

### [Susanna](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poems_on_various_subjects_religious_and_moral_se/characters/susanna)

_friendship_

Britannia and Susanna are both virtuous female figures, often linked in moral or allegorical contexts.

## In the story

### [To Captain H⸺d, of the 65th Regiment](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poems_on_various_subjects_religious_and_moral_se/chapters/to-captain-h-d-of-the-65th-regiment)

Britannia is mentioned as the nation that glories in Captain H⸺d's virtues.

### [Ode to Neptune](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poems_on_various_subjects_religious_and_moral_se/chapters/ode-to-neptune)

The welcoming land to which Susanna travels.

### [III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poems_on_various_subjects_religious_and_moral_se/chapters/iii)

Addressed as the welcoming figure with serene climes and unnumber'd charms.

### [A Farewel to America. To Mrs. S. W.](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poems_on_various_subjects_religious_and_moral_se/chapters/a-farewel-to-america-to-mrs-s-w)

The distant shore for which the speaker leaves New England.

### [VII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poems_on_various_subjects_religious_and_moral_se/chapters/vii)

Britannia is referenced as the distant shore toward which the voyage is directed.

### [XI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poems_on_various_subjects_religious_and_moral_se/chapters/xi)

The speaker addresses Britannia directly, resigning New England's fields for her.

### [A Rebus, by I. B.](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poems_on_various_subjects_religious_and_moral_se/chapters/a-rebus-by-i-b)

Referenced in the final line as 'old Britannia’s fame', the poem's patriotic subject.

### [III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poems_on_various_subjects_religious_and_moral_se/chapters/iii)

Britannia's fame is enhanced by the vanquished town's glory.

### [An Answer to the Rebus, by the Author of These Poems](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poems_on_various_subjects_religious_and_moral_se/chapters/an-answer-to-the-rebus-by-the-author-of-these-poems)

Britain's royal standard bears the unicorn, and Quebec must pay tribute to Britain of immortal fame.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poems_on_various_subjects_religious_and_moral_se/characters/britannia
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poems_on_various_subjects_religious_and_moral_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poems_on_various_subjects_religious_and_moral_se/characters