On Being Brought from Africa to America

by Phillis Wheatley


'Twas mercy brought me from my Pagan land,

Taught my benighted soul to understand

That there's a God, that there's a Saviour too:

Once I redemption neither sought nor knew.

Some view our sable race with scornful eye,

"Their colour is a diabolic die."

Remember, Christians, Negros, black as Cain,

May be refin'd, and join th' angelic train.


Which literary element is responsible for the change of tone in the last couplet of the poem?

diction

irony

imagery

syntax