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Outlines of English and American Literature
Philip Freneau
by Long, William J.
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By far the best poet of the Revolution was Philip Freneau (1752-1832). In
his early years he took Milton instead of Pope for his poetic master; then,
as his independence increased, he sought the ancient source of all poetry
in the feeling of the human heart in presence of nature or human nature. In
such poems as "The House of Night," "Indian Burying Ground," "Wild
Honeysuckle," "Eutaw Springs," "Ruins of a Country Inn" and a few others in
which he speaks from his own heart, he anticipated the work of Wordsworth,
Coleridge and other leaders of what is now commonly known as the romantic
revival in English poetry.
When the Revolution drew on apace Freneau abandoned his poetic dream and
exercised a ferocious talent for satiric verse in lashing English generals,
native Tories, royal proclamations and other matters far removed from
poetry. In later years he wrote much prose also, and being a radical and
outspoken democrat he became a thorn in the side of Washington and the
Federal party. The bulk of his work, both prose and verse, is a red-peppery
kind of commentary on the political history of the age in which he lived.
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