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

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

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** the Rev. Mr. George Whitefield, Whitefield

**First appearance:** 0010-on-the-death-of-the-rev-mr-george-whitefield-1770

## Snapshot

A celebrated evangelist whose death silences a voice that once inflamed hearts, mourned by thousands he drew to devotion on both sides of the Atlantic.

## Who they are

Whitefield is the era's most famous preacher, a man whose sermons 'in unequal'd accents flow'd' and whose prayers wrestled with God by night. His death leaves Americans, orphans, and the Countess of Huntingdon to grieve a figure they called more than a father. The elegy turns loss into vision, imagining him sailing to Zion while charging the living to take up the Saviour he offered to the wretched, the starving, and the Africans alike.

## In the story

### [Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poems_on_various_subjects_religious_and_moral_se/chapters/poems-on-various-subjects-religious-and-moral)

Mentioned in the context of his death and the elegy written in his honor.

### [On the Death of the Rev. Mr. George Whitefield. 1770](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poems_on_various_subjects_religious_and_moral_se/chapters/on-the-death-of-the-rev-mr-george-whitefield-1770)

The deceased reverend, celebrated for his eloquence, devotion, and missionary work in America and among Africans.

### [Endnotes](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poems_on_various_subjects_religious_and_moral_se/chapters/endnotes)

Referenced indirectly through the Countess of Huntingdon, to whom he was Chaplain.

## Links

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