Philip Freneau

1752-1832

Life

Homes

New York
New Jersey
Santa Cruz, West Indies (1776-1778)
Charleston, South Carolina
Philadelphia

Occupations

teacher
sea captain
journalist
bureacrat
farmer

Religion

deism
Swedenborgianism
Neo-Epicurean

Chronology

c. 1767: enrolls at College of New Jersey, now Princeton, where becomes friends with James Madison and Hugh Henry Brackenridge
1771: graduated from Princeton
1775: publishes "A Political Litany" and other verse satires
1776-1778: lives in Santa Cruz, West Indies, where he is secretary on a plantation
1778-1780: serves on a blockade runner
1780: incarcerated on British prison ship in New York Harbor
c. 1780-1784: writes political verse for the Freeman's Journal, which he edits, and becomes known as the "Poet of the American Revolution"
1784: becomes master of a merchant ship
1790-1793: edits National Gazette

Issues and themes

Although he wrote several poems about nature, including "The Wild Honey Suckle" and "On a Honey Bee," Philip Freneau achieved distinction primarily for his political verse, which earned him the nickname "The Poet of the American Revolution." In his bitter denunciations of monarchy and his celebrations of America's natural and political glories, Freneau expressed a bold nationalism that was common during the era and can be found in the works of J. Hector St. John de Crevecoeur and Benjamin Franklin.

Work

"On the Emigration to America and Peopling the Western Country"

Publication: 1785
How would you describe the tone of this poem? Cite evidence to back up your reading.
What does Freneau mean when he says "commerce plans new freights for thee"? Whom or what is he addressing?
What does Freneau mean by "heaven-born freedom"? What is American about this sentiment?
In what ways do the ideas expressed in this poem resemble those J. Hector St. John de Crevecoeur voices in "What Is an American"? Cite specific examples.
What aspects of this poem serve as clues that it was written during the Enlightenment?

"The Wild Honey Suckle"

Publication: 1786
What is unusual about this flower? Why do you suppose Freneau chose to write about it?
Analyze the final couplet: "The space between, is but an hour, / The frail duration of a flower."

"On Mr. Paine's Rights of Man"

Publication: 1795
Look up the words "bauble" and "gilded" in the dictionary. Why did Freneau use these words instead of "gem" or "golden" in his description of crowns?
What does Freneau admire most about America?
The ideas of the English philosopher John Locke (1632-1704)--who suggested that humans have natural rights, not just those granted to them by a government--profoundly influenced colonial leaders such as Thomas Jefferson. Indeed, this notion has been preserved in the most famous sentence from Jefferson's Declaration of Independence: "We hold these truths to be self evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men . . ." What evidence can you find in this poem that Locke's ideas also influenced Philip Freneau?

Bibliography

Freneau, Philip. Poems. Norton Anthology of American Literature. Shorter Fourth Edition. New York: W.W. Norton, 1995. 366-370.
"Philip Freneau." Norton Anthology of American Literature. Shorter Fourth Edition. New York: W.W. Norton, 1995. 365-366.

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