Philip Freneau

(Philip Morin Freneau; Nueva York, 1752 - Middleton Point, Nueva

Jersey, 1832) Poeta estadounidense. Particip de forma activa en
las luchas por la independencia. Hecho prisionero por los
britnicos, evoc esta experiencia en La nave britnica de
presos (1781). Su obra doctrinal le emparenta con los pensadores
de las Luces, pero en sus obras lricas manifest una sensibilidad
prerromntica.
Philip Morin Freneau perteneci a una familia rica y culta, descendiente de
hugonotes franceses, y recibi su primera formacin de profesores
particulares, hasta que fue enviado a la universidad que ms tarde recibira
el nombre de Princeton; all se gradu en 1771 y tuvo el honor de recitar en
la clausura del ao escolar su poesa The rising Glory of America, escrita en
colaboracin con H. H. Brackenridge.
Al estallar la insurreccin, compuso breves stiras contra los ingleses; fue
secretario de un hacendado de la isla de Santa Cruz, donde permaneci
durante tres aos, sin descuidar por ello la poesa; a esta poca pertenecen
algunas de sus mejores composiciones: Santa Cruz, The Jamaica
Funeral y The House of Night. Atrado por el mar, Freneau se embarc como
oficial en una nave mercante; fue capturado por los ingleses, quienes lo
maltrataron cruelmente, y describi sus experiencias en el pequeo poema
en cuatro cantos La nave britnica de presos (1781).
Durante tres aos trabajara en la Administracin de Correos de Filadelfia;
pero ms tarde, en 1784, volvi al mar como capitn de un bergantn en el
que naveg durante algn tiempo a travs del Atlntico y del mar Caribe. En
1789 contrajo matrimonio y se estableci en tierra firme. Posteriormente fue
director de The New York Daily Adviser y luego de The National Gazette,
diario que apoyaba a Thomas Jefferson contra Alexander Hamilton y sus
tendencias aristocrticas. Ms tarde, interrumpida la publicacin de este
ltimo peridico, Philip Freneau dirigi otros dos menos importantes.
Finalmente se retir a su propiedad de Mount Pleasant y all muri a los
ochenta y un aos, vctima de un accidente, al caer por la noche en un
estanque.
La obra potica de Philip Freneau apareci bajo el ttulo de Poems en
sucesivos volmenes, publicados en 1786, 1788, 1795, 1809 y 1815. Si a
veces Freneau se eleva netamente por encima de todos los poetas
contemporneos de su patria, otras veces apenas si llega al mnimo de
originalidad exigible aun a los poetas menores. La ms caracterstica de sus
poesas es "El cementerio indio" ("The Indian Burying Ground"): junto a una
roca que todava conserva trozos de primitivas inscripciones, se yergue un
viejo olmo, al pie del cual las ondulaciones del terreno revelan la existencia
de tmulos indios. En las noches de luna pasan bajo el olmo gigante las
sombras fugitivas de un cazador y un gamo: en aquel lugar encantado, al
que hacen sagrado la historia y la piedad de un pueblo, la fra razn debe
inclinarse.
Entre las obras de mayor alcance est "La casa de la noche" ("The House of
Night"), cuyo tema es la muerte de la Muerte. Poemita dbil, comparado con

las composiciones de Edgar Allan Poe y de Algernon Charles Swinburne que

tratan del mismo tema, es sin embargo digno de ser recordado por la
eficacia de algunas estrofas y, sobre todo, por la atmsfera francamente
romntica que lo caracteriza. ste y otros versos inspirados en la naturaleza
indujeron a los crticos a hacer de Philip Freneau (al que en un tiempo slo
se le consideraba como el "poeta de la revolucin" por sus versos
patriticos, que son los ms flojos) un precursor del romanticismo,
reivindicando su derecho de prioridad sobre Wordsworth y Coleridge.
Es indudable que "La casa de la noche" fue escrita despus de la
publicacin de los poemas de Ossin, pero antes de las novelas de Mrs.
Radcliffe y de las obras de Godwin y Blake. Adems, se advierte fcilmente
una nota que podra llamarse wordsworthiana en poesas como "Retiro"
("Retirement"), en la que el poeta expresa el deseo de poseer una casa
solitaria junto a un arroyo, en los bosques; ella le dara ms sustanciosas
alegras que todas las riquezas amasadas por los avaros.
De inspiracin ms directa es "La madreselva silvestre" ("The wild
Honeysuckle"): el motivo de la flor solitaria cuya belleza slo vive un da no
es nuevo, pero la delicadeza de la expresin y la musical fusin del
sentimiento y el ritmo hacen del texto el mejor de los poemas de Philip
Freneau, y una de las primeras expresiones de la poesa de la naturaleza en
Amrica. Sin embargo, en vano buscaramos en estas poesas el indicio
claro de la genialidad que es el signo de los precursores. Es probable que el
poeta sufriera influencias anlogas a las de los dos grandes lricos ingleses,
y que su temperamento lo llevase a reaccionar contra la excesiva pasin
poltica que inspira su produccin satrica y a observar la naturaleza con
mayor inters y comprensin que los dems poetas contemporneos.
Philip Freneau
(Philip Morin Freneau, New York, 1752 - Middleton Point, New Jersey, 1832)
American poet. He participated actively in the struggle for independence.
Made prisoner by the British, recalled this experience in The British ship of
prisoners (1781). His doctrinal work will kinship with the thinkers of the
Enlightenment, but his lyrical works showed a pre-Romantic sensibility.
Philip Morin Freneau belonged to a wealthy and educated, descendant of
French Huguenots, family and received his first training tutors until he was
sent to college later be known as Princeton; there he graduated in 1771 and
had the honor of reciting at the close of the school year his poetry The
Rising Glory of America, written in collaboration with HH Brackenridge.
At the outbreak of the uprising, he wrote short satires against the English;
was secretary of a landowner on the island of Santa Cruz, where he
remained for three years, without neglecting poetry; to this period belong
some of his best compositions: Santa Cruz, The Jamaica Funeral and The
House of Night. Attracted by the sea, Freneau embarked as an officer on a
merchant ship; was captured by the English, who cruelly mistreated, and
described his experiences in the little poem in four cantos The British ship of
prisoners (1781).
For three years working in the Post Office in Philadelphia; but later, in 1784,
returned to sea as captain of a brig where for some time he sailed across

the Atlantic and Caribbean Sea. In 1789 he married and settled on land.
Later he was editor of The New York Daily Adviser and then The National
Gazette newspaper that supported Thomas Jefferson against Alexander
Hamilton and his aristocratic tendencies. Later, interrupted the publication
of the last newspaper, Philip Freneau directed two other less important. He
finally retired to his estate of Mount Pleasant and he died at eighty-one,
victim of an accident, falling at night in a pond.
The poetry of Philip Freneau appeared under the title of Poems in successive
volumes, published in 1786, 1788, 1795, 1809 and 1815. If sometimes
Freneau is clearly rises above all contemporary poets of his country,
sometimes barely reaches the minimum requirement of originality even the
minor poets. The most characteristic of his poems is "The Indian burial"
("The Indian Burying Ground"): next to a rock which still has pieces of early
inscriptions, an old elm is situated at the foot of which the undulations
reveal the existence Indian mounds. On moonlit nights pass under the giant
elm fugitive shadows of a hunter and a deer: in that enchanted place, which
made sacred history and piety of the people, cold reason must bow.
Among the works of greater scope is "House of Night" ("The House of
Night"), whose theme is death of Death. Poemita weak compared with the
compositions of Edgar Allan Poe and Algernon Charles Swinburne dealing
with the same subject, is nevertheless worthy to be remembered for the
effectiveness of some verses and, above all, by the downright romantic
atmosphere that characterizes it. This and other verses inspired by nature
led critics to make Philip Freneau (at that time only he was regarded as the
"poet of the revolution" by his patriotic verses, which are the weakest) a
precursor of Romanticism , demanding the right of Wordsworth and
Coleridge override.
Undoubtedly, "House of Night" was written after the publication of the
poems of Ossian, but before Mrs. Radcliffe's novels and works of Godwin and
Blake. Also, a note might be called Wordsworthian in poems like
"Retirement" ("Retirement"), in which the poet expresses the desire to own
a lonely house beside a stream, forests can easily be seen; she would give
more substantial joys that all the wealth amassed by the greedy.
Of more direct inspiration is "The wild honeysuckle" ("The Wild
Honeysuckle"): the reason for the solitary flower whose beauty only lives
one day is not new, but the delicacy of expression and musical fusion of
feeling and rhythm make text the best poems of Philip Freneau, and one of
the first expressions of nature poetry in America. However, in vain seek in
these poems clear indication of the genius that is the sign of precursors. It is
likely that the poet suffered similar to those of the two major lyrical British
influences, and his temperament take him to react against excessive
political passion that inspires his satirical production and observe nature
with greater interest and understanding other contemporary poets.
_____________________________________________________________________________

Freneau was born in New York City, the oldest of the five children of Huguenot wine
merchant Pierre Fresneau and his Scottish wife. Philip was raised in Monmouth County,
New Jersey, where he studied under William Tennent, Jr., whose friend at Princeton
was James Madison, a relationship that would later contribute to his establishment as the
editor of the National Gazette. Freneau family tradition suggests that Madison became
acquainted with and fell in love with the poet's sister, Mary, during visits to their home while
he was studying at Princeton. While tradition has it that Mary rejected Madison's repeated
marriage proposals, this anecdote is undocumented and unsupported by other evidence. [2]
Freneau graduated Princeton in 1771,[3] having written the poetical History of the Prophet
Jonah, and, with Hugh Henry Brackenridge, the prose satire Father Bombo's Pilgrimage to
Mecca. Following his graduation, he tried his hand at teaching, but quickly gave it up. He
also pursued a further study of theology, but gave this up as well after about two years. As
the Revolutionary War approached in 1775, Freneau wrote a number of anti-British pieces.
However, by 1776, Freneau left America for the West Indies, where he would spend time
writing about the beauty of nature. In 1778, Freneau returned to America, and rejoined the
patriotic cause. Freneau eventually became a crew member on a revolutionary privateer,
and was captured in this capacity. He was held on a British prison ship for about six weeks.
This unpleasant experience (in which he almost died), detailed in his work The British
Prison Ship, would precipitate many more patriotic and anti-British writings throughout the
revolution and after. For this, he was named "The Poet of the American Revolution".
In 1790 Freneau married Eleanor Forman, and became an assistant editor of the New York
Daily Advertiser. Soon after, Madison and Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson worked to
get Freneau to move to Philadelphia in order to edit a partisan newspaper that would
counter the Federalist newspaper The Gazette of the United States. Jefferson was
criticized for hiring Freneau as a translator in the State Department, even though he spoke
no foreign languages except French, in which Jefferson was already fluent. Freneau
accepted this undemanding position, which left free time to head the DemocraticRepublican newspaper Jefferson and Madison envisioned.
This partisan newspaper, The National Gazette, provided a vehicle for Jefferson, Madison,
and others to promote criticism of the rival Federalists. The Gazette took particular aim at
the policies promoted byAlexander Hamilton, and like other papers of the day, would not
hesitate to shade into personal attacks, including President George Washington during his
second term. Owing to The Gazette's frequent attacks on his administration and himself,
Washington took a particular dislike to Freneau.
Freneau later retired to a more rural life and wrote a mix of political and nature works.
Freneau is buried in the Philip Morin Freneau Cemetery on Poet's Drive in Matawan, New
Jersey. His wife and mother are also buried here. He died at 80 years of age, frozen to
death when trying to get back home.

Legacy[edit]
The non-political works of Freneau are a combination of neoclassicism and romanticism.
His poem "The House of Night" makes its mark as one of the first romantic poems written
and published in America. The Gothic elements and dark imagery are later seen in the
poetry by Edgar Allan Poe, who is well known for his gothic works of literature. Freneau's
nature poem, "The Wild Honey Suckle" (1786), is considered an early seed to the
later Transcendentalist movement taken up by William Cullen Bryant, Ralph Waldo
Emerson, and Henry David Thoreau. Romantic primitivism is also anticipated by his poems
"The Indian Burying Ground," and "Noble Savage."
Although he is not as well known as Ralph Waldo Emerson or James Fenimore Cooper,
Freneau introduced many of the themes and images in his literature that later authors are
famous for.
The Matawan Post Office on Main Street has a sculpture on the wall of Freneau. It features
him with black slaves as he was an abolitionist later in life. It was created in 1939 by Armin
Scheler, under a New Deal commission from the Treasury Department.
There is a Freneau fire company on Main Street/Route 79. Until a name change in mid2000's, there was a restaurant called the Poet's Inn, where Freneau was supposed to have
had many a rum.

Freneau naci en la ciudad de Nueva York, el mayor de los cinco hijos del
comerciante de vinos hugonote Pierre Fresneau y su mujer escocesa. Philip
se cri en el condado de Monmouth, Nueva Jersey, donde estudi con
William Tennent, Jr., cuyo amigo en Princeton fue James Madison, una
relacin que luego contribuir a su establecimiento como el editor de la
Gaceta Nacional. Tradicin familiar Freneau sugiere que Madison conoci y
se enamor de la hermana del poeta, Mara, durante las visitas a su casa
mientras l estudiaba en Princeton. Mientras que la tradicin dice que Mara
rechaz propuestas de matrimonio repetidas de Madison, esta ancdota es
indocumentado y sin el apoyo de otras pruebas. [2]
Freneau se gradu de Princeton en 1771, [3] despus de haber escrito la
historia potica del profeta Jons, y, con Hugh Henry Brackenridge,
Peregrinacin la stira en prosa Padre del Bombo a La Meca. Despus de su
graduacin, l intent su mano en la enseanza, pero rpidamente se
rindi. l tambin persigui un nuevo estudio de la teologa, pero dio esto
como bien despus de unos dos aos. A medida que la guerra revolucionaria
se acerc en 1775, Freneau escribi una serie de piezas anti-britnicas. Sin
embargo, por 1776, Freneau dej Amrica por las Antillas, donde iba a pasar
el tiempo escribiendo acerca de la belleza de la naturaleza. En 1778,
Freneau regres a Estados Unidos, y se reincorpor a la causa patritica.
Freneau tiempo se convirti en un miembro de la tripulacin de un barco
corsario revolucionario, y fue capturado en esta capacidad. Estuvo recluido
en un barco prisin britnica durante unas seis semanas. Esta desagradable
experiencia (en el que casi muere), se detalla en su obra Los britnicos

Prisin Barco, precipitara muchos escritos ms patriticas y anti-britnicas

durante todo la revolucin y despus. Para ello, fue nombrado "El Poeta de
la Revolucin Americana".
En 1790 se cas con Eleanor Freneau Forman, y se convirti en asistente de
editor del New York Daily Advertiser. Poco despus, Madison y la secretaria
de Estado, Thomas Jefferson trabajaron para conseguir Freneau para
desplazarse a Filadelfia con el fin de editar un peridico partidista que
contrarrestara el peridico federalista La Gaceta de los Estados Unidos.
Jefferson fue criticado por contratar Freneau como traductor en el
Departamento de Estado, a pesar de que no hablaba idiomas extranjeros
excepto francesa, en la que Jefferson ya era fluida. Freneau acept esta
posicin poco exigente, que dej tiempo libre para dirigir el peridicoDemcrata Republicano de Jefferson y Madison imaginaron.
Este peridico partidista, La Gaceta Nacional, proporcion un vehculo para
Jefferson, Madison y otros para promover la crtica de los federalistas
rivales. La Gaceta tom especialmente apuntando a las polticas impulsadas
por Alexander Hamilton, y al igual que otros documentos de la poca, no
dudara en sombra en ataques personales, incluyendo el presidente George
Washington durante su segundo mandato. Debido a los frecuentes ataques
del Gazette en su gobierno y l mismo, Washington tom una aversin
especial a Freneau.

Freneau ms tarde se retir a una vida ms rural y escribi una mezcla de

obras polticas y de la naturaleza.
Freneau est enterrado en el cementerio de Philip Morin Freneau en la
unidad del poeta en Matawan, Nueva Jersey. Su esposa y su madre tambin
estn enterrados aqu. Muri a los 80 aos de edad, muerto de fro cuando
se trata de volver a casa.
Legado [editar]
Las obras no polticas de Freneau son una combinacin de neoclasicismo y
el romanticismo. Su poema "La Casa de la Noche" deja su huella como uno
de los primeros poemas romnticos escritos y publicados en Estados Unidos.
Los elementos gticos y la imaginera oscura se ver ms adelante en la
poesa de Edgar Allan Poe, que es bien conocido por sus obras gticas de la
literatura. Poema naturaleza de Freneau, "The Wild miel amamanta" (1786),
es considerado como una semilla temprano para el movimiento
trascendentalista ms tarde retomada por William Cullen Bryant, Ralph
Waldo Emerson y Henry David Thoreau. Primitivismo romntico tambin se
prev por sus poemas "El indio entierra la tierra" y "buen salvaje".
A pesar de que no es tan conocido como Ralph Waldo Emerson o James
Fenimore Cooper, Freneau introdujo muchos de los temas y las imgenes en
su literatura que autores posteriores son famosos por.
La Oficina de Correos Matawan en la calle principal tiene una escultura en la
pared de Freneau. Le cuenta con esclavos negros como l era un
abolicionista ms tarde en la vida. Fue creado en 1939 por Armin Scheler,
bajo una comisin New Deal del Departamento del Tesoro.

Hay una compaa de bomberos Freneau en la calle principal / Ruta 79.

Hasta que un cambio de nombre a mediados de 2000 de, haba un
restaurante llamado del Poeta Inn, donde se supona Freneau haber tenido
ms de un ron.

Known as the poet of the American Revolution, Philip Freneau was influenced by both
the political situation of his time and the full, active life he led. He attended Princeton
University, where James Madison was his roommate, and planned to become a
minister. However, at Princeton he became engaged in political debates with fellow
students and pursued his interest in writing.
Freneau was torn between his involvement in the social turmoil of his times and the
more solitary life of writing. After graduation, he wrote a series of anti-British satires.
In 1776 Freneau travelled to the West Indies, where he studied navigation and wrote,
largely about his surroundings. In 1778 he returned to New Jersey, joined the militia,
and served as a ships captain. He was eventually captured by the British and spent six
weeks on a prison ship. By 1790, Freneau had published two collections of poetry.
Encouraged by James Madison and Thomas Jefferson, Freneau established a
newspaper, the National Gazette, in Philadelphia, which promoted Jeffersons
principles. By the early 1800s, Freneau had retired to his farm to write essays and
poetry.
As a journalist and poet, Freneau was prolific. His poetry covers a variety of subjects,
including the political situation, American Indians, nature, the sea, and naval battles.
His political poems are often satiric, but his nature poetry is marked by lyricism and
close observation of the details of the American landscape. Freneaus work displays
some of the characteristics of Romanticismespecially in its close attention to, and
feeling for, nature.
Conocido como el poeta de la revolucin americana, Philip Freneau fue
influenciado tanto por la situacin poltica de su tiempo y de la vida plena y
activa que dirigi. Asisti a la Universidad de Princeton, donde James
Madison fue su compaero de habitacin, y planeaba convertirse en
ministro. Sin embargo, en Princeton que se enganch en los debates
polticos con otros estudiantes y persigui su inters por escrito.

Freneau se debata entre su participacin en la agitacin social de su poca

y la vida ms solitaria de la escritura. Despus de graduarse, escribi una
serie de stiras contra de los britnicos. En 1776 Freneau viaj a las Indias
Occidentales, donde estudi la navegacin y escribi gran parte de sus
alrededores. En 1778 regres a Nueva Jersey, se uni a la milicia, y sirvi
como capitn de un barco. Fue capturado finalmente por los britnicos y
pas seis semanas con un barco-prisin. En 1790, Freneau haba publicado
dos colecciones de poesa. Animado por James Madison y Thomas Jefferson,
Freneau estableci un peridico, la Gaceta Nacional, en Filadelfia, que
promueve principios de Jefferson. A principios de 1800, Freneau haba
retirado a su granja para escribir ensayos y poesa.

Como periodista y poeta, Freneau fue prolfica. Su poesa cubre una

variedad de temas, incluyendo la situacin poltica, los indios americanos, la
naturaleza, el mar, y las batallas navales. Sus poemas polticos son a
menudo satrica, pero su poesa de la naturaleza est marcada por el lirismo
y la observacin minuciosa de los detalles del paisaje americano. El trabajo
de Freneau muestra algunas de las caractersticas del Romanticismo,
especialmente en su estrecha atencin y sentimiento por la naturaleza.

Philip Freneau was born in New York of Huguenot ancestry in 1752, and died near Freehold,
New Jersey, in 1832.
Well versed in the classics in Monmouth County under the tutelage of William Tennent, Philip
entered Princeton as a sophomore in 1768, but the joy of the occasion was marred by his
father's financial losses and death the year before. In spite of financial hardships, Philip's
Scottish mother believed that her oldest of five children would graduate and join the clergy.
Though he was a serious student of theology and a stern moralist all his life, Freneau found his
true calling in literature. As his roommate and close friend James Madison recognized early,
Freneau's wit and verbal skills would make him a powerful wielder of the pen and a formidable
adversary on the battlefields of print. Freneau soon became the unrivaled "poet of the
Revolution" and is still widely regarded as the "Father of American Literature". Although Freneau
had produced several accomplished private poems before college, it was the intense
experience of pre-Revolutionary-War Princeton that turned the poet's interest to public writing.
Political concerns led Madison, Freneau, and their friends Hugh Henry Brackenridge and
William Bradford, Jr., to revive the defunct Plain Dealing Club as the American Whig Society.
Their verbal skirmishes with the conservative Cliosophic Society provided ample opportunities
for sharpening Freneau's skills in prose and poetic satire. Charged with literary and political
enthusiasm, Freneau and Brackenridge collaborated on a rollicking, picaresque narrative,
Father Bombo's Pilgrimage to Mecca in Arabia, which presents comic glimpses of life in
eighteenth-century America. This piece, recently acquired by Princeton and published by the
University Library (1975), may well be the first work of prose fiction written in America.
During their senior year Freneau and Brackenridge labored long on another joint project to
which Freneau contributed the greater share. Their composition was a patriotic poem of epic
design, The Rising Glory of America, a prophecy of a time when a united nation should rule the
vast continent from the Atlantic to the Pacific. At the commencement exercises of September
1771, Brackenridge read this poem to a "vast concourse of the politest company," gathered at
Nassau Hall. The poem articulated the vision and fervor of a young revolutionary generation.
After he graduated from Princeton in 1771, he was author, editor, government official, trader,
and farmer. He tried teaching and soon found that he hated it. As regards the genesis of his
poems, two facts in his life are especially important. His newspaper work encouraged a fatal
production of the satirical and humorous verse that gave him reputation; and his trading
voyages inspired poems descriptive of the scenery of the southern islands, and made possible
what is perhaps his most original work, his naval ballads.
He felt a deep obligation to perform public service, and his satires against the British in 1775
were written out of fervent patriotism. At the same time he distrusted politics and had a personal
yearning to escape social turmoil and war. The romantic private poet within him struggled
against his public role. Thus, paradoxically, in 1776 the "poet of the revolution" set sail for the
West Indies where he spent two years writing of the beauties of nature and learning navigation.
Suddenly in 1778, he returned to New Jersey and joined the militia and sailed the Atlantic as a
ship captain. After suffering for six weeks on a British prison ship, he poured his bitterness into
his political writing and into much of his voluminous poetry of the early 1780s.
By 1790, at the age of thirty-eight, with two collections of poetry in print and a reputation as a
fiery propagandist and skillful sea captain, Freneau decided to settle down. He married Eleanor
Forman and tried to withdraw to a quiet job as an assistant editor in New York. But politics called

again. His friends Madison and Jefferson persuaded him to set up his own newspaper in
Philadelphia to counter the powerful Hamiltonian paper of John Fenno. Freneau's National
Gazette upheld Jefferson's "Republican" principles and even condemned Washington's foreign
policy.
After another decade of feverish public action, Freneau withdrew again in 1801, when Jefferson
was elected president. He retired to his farm and returned occasionally to the sea. During his
last thirty years, he worked on his poems, wrote essays attacking the greed and selfishness of
corrupt politicians, and sold pieces of his lands to produce a small income. He discovered that
he had given his best years of literary productivity to his country, for it had been in the few stolen
moments of the hectic 1780s that he found the inspiration for his best poems, such as The
Indian Burying Ground and The Wild Honeysuckle.
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Philip Freneau naci en Nueva York de ascendencia hugonote en 1752, y

muri cerca de Freehold, Nueva Jersey, en 1832.
Bien versado en los clsicos en el Condado de Monmouth, bajo la tutela de
Guillermo Tennent, Philip entr en Princeton en su segundo ao en 1768,
pero la alegra de la ocasin se vio empaado por las prdidas financieras
de su padre y la muerte en el ao anterior. A pesar de las dificultades
financieras, madre escocesa de Felipe crea que su mayor de cinco hijos se
graduara y unirse al clero. Aunque l era un estudiante serio de la teologa
y un moralista severo toda su vida, Freneau encontr su verdadera vocacin
en la literatura. Como su compaero de habitacin y amigo cercano James
Madison reconoci temprano, ingenio y habilidades verbales de Freneau le
haran un poderoso portador de la pluma y un adversario formidable en los
campos de batalla de la impresin. Freneau pronto se convirti en el "poeta
de la revolucin" sin igual y sigue siendo ampliamente considerado como el
"padre de la literatura americana". Aunque Freneau haba producido varios
poemas privados realizados antes de la universidad, fue la intensa
experiencia de pre-revolucionario-guerra Princeton que convirti el inters
del poeta a la escritura pblica. Las preocupaciones polticas condujeron
Madison, Freneau, y sus amigos Hugh Henry Brackenridge y William
Bradford, Jr., para revivir la Llanura desaparecida Tratar club como la
Sociedad Americana del Whig. Sus escaramuzas verbales con la
conservadora Sociedad Cliosophic proporcionado amplias oportunidades
para aumentar las habilidades de Freneau en prosa potica y la stira.
Acusado de entusiasmo literario y poltico, Freneau y Brackenridge
colaboraron en una narrativa picaresca jovial, Romera del Padre Bombo a
La Meca en Arabia, el cual presenta atisbos cmicas de la vida en la Amrica
del siglo XVIII. Esta pieza, recientemente adquirida por Princeton y publicado
por la Biblioteca de la Universidad (1975), puede muy bien ser la primera
obra de ficcin en prosa escrita en Amrica.
Durante su ltimo ao Freneau y Brackenridge trabajaron mucho en otro
proyecto conjunto para que Freneau contribuy la mayor participacin. Su
composicin era un poema patritico de diseo pico, La Gloria Naciente de
Amrica, una profeca de un momento en que una nacin unida debe
gobernar el vasto continente desde el Atlntico hasta el Pacfico. En la
ceremonia de graduacin del mes de septiembre de 1771, Brackenridge

ley este poema a un "vasto concurso de la empresa ms educada", reunido

en Nassau Hall. El poema articula la visin y el fervor de una joven
generacin revolucionaria.
Despus se gradu de Princeton en 1771, fue autor, editor, funcionario del
gobierno, comerciante y agricultor. Trat enseanza y pronto descubri que
lo odiaba. En cuanto a la gnesis de sus poemas, dos hechos en su vida son
especialmente importantes. Su trabajo diario anim a una produccin fatal
del verso satrico y humorstico que le dio la reputacin; y sus viajes
comerciales inspirados poemas descriptivos de los paisajes de las islas del
sur, e hicieron posible lo que es quizs su obra ms original, sus baladas
navales.
Sinti una profunda obligacin de prestar el servicio pblico, y sus stiras
contra los britnicos en 1775 fueron escritos de ferviente patriotismo. Al
mismo tiempo que desconfiaba poltica y tena un anhelo personal de
escapar de la agitacin social y la guerra. El poeta romntica privada dentro
de l luch contra su papel pblico. As, paradjicamente, en 1776 el "poeta
de la revolucin" zarp de las Antillas donde pas dos aos escribiendo de
las bellezas de la naturaleza y el aprendizaje de la navegacin. De pronto,
en 1778, regres a Nueva Jersey y se uni a la milicia y naveg el Atlntico
como un capitn de barco. Despus de sufrir durante seis semanas en un
barco prisin britnica, verti su amargura en sus escritos polticos y en
gran parte de su poesa voluminosa de la dcada de 1780.
En 1790, a la edad de treinta y ocho aos, con dos colecciones de poesa en
la impresin y la reputacin de ser un propagandista ardiente y hbil
capitn de barco, Freneau decidi establecerse. Se cas con Eleanor Forman
y trat de retirar a un trabajo tranquilo como asistente de editor en Nueva
York. Pero la poltica llamaron de nuevo. Sus amigos de Madison y Jefferson
lo persuadieron para establecer su propio peridico en Filadelfia para
contrarrestar el poderoso papel de Hamilton de John Fenno. Boletn Oficial
de Freneau confirm principios "republicanos" de Jefferson e incluso
conden la poltica exterior de Washington.
Despus de una dcada de accin pblica febril, Freneau se retir otra vez
en 1801, cuando Jefferson fue elegido presidente. Se retir a su granja y
regres ocasionalmente a la mar. Durante sus ltimos treinta aos, trabaj
en sus poemas, escribi ensayos que atacan a la codicia y el egosmo de los
polticos corruptos, y se vende piezas de sus tierras para producir un
pequeo ingreso. Descubri que haba dado sus mejores aos de produccin
literaria de su pas, por lo que haba sido en los pocos momentos robados de
la dcada de 1780 agitado que encontr la inspiracin para sus mejores
poemas, como el indio entierra la tierra y la madreselva salvaje.
Esta pgina se basa en la Wikipedia con derechos de autor Philip Freneau;
se usa bajo la licencia Creative Commons Atribucin-Compartir bajo la
misma licencia 3.0 Unported. Usted puede redistribuirlo, literal o modificado,
siempre que usted cumpla con los trminos de la CC-BY-SA.

Most famous as the Poet of the Revolution, Freneau is also known for his
romantic involvement in poetry. Born in New York, Philip Freneau was well
educated early in life. His mother taught him at home until the age of thirteen,
when she sent him to a Latin School. He later entered the College of New
Jersey, now Princeton, at the sophomore level at the age of sixteen. These
years of his life laid the foundation of his future career for becoming a poet. A
few people whom Freneau met at Princeton that made inspirational influences
in his life were James Madison, William Bradford, and Henry Brackenridge.
During this time, Freneau and his friends formed a group called the American
Whig Society, which was a group that opposed the British-oriented Tory ClioSophic Society. Freneau produced his first piece of political satire, Father
Bombos Pilgrimage to Mecca, while becoming fascinated by the interest in
the arguments between his rival association. However, one of his most
important developments was The Rising Glory of America, which he wrote
along with the assistance of Brackenridge. The poem speaks about the
integrity of a new country approaching a neoteric era, which would be blessed
with sweet liberty! /Without whose aid the noblest genius fails, /And science
irretrievably must die. The poem was read and well liked at the
commencement on graduation day, and later published the next year.
After graduation, Freneau had many jobs of employment, but never content
with any of these unless he was writing. For two years he sailed the islands of
the West Indies, composing poems that expressed his romantic appreciation
for the islands and the ways their beauty enchanted his soul. Knowledge of
the war, brought Freneau back to the states, where he joined the New Jersey
militia, but later became a sea captain. On his many voyages at sea, he wrote
The British-Prison Ship, which is a poem about the horrifying adventures
Freneau experienced when imprisoned by the British during the war.
However, Freneaus best work was done while he was the editor of the
National Gazette and a foreign translator in Philadelphia, encouraged by
Thomas Jefferson. Meanwhile, Freneau became known as a critic of George
Washington, Alexander Hamilton, and John Adams, and a fiery exponent of
the Jefferson Republic. George Washington referred to Freneau as that rascal
Freneau, while on the same note, Jefferson believed that Freneau saved our
constitution which was galloping fast into monarchy.
Although Freneaus life and work are filled with excitement, it is left
unfinished without an originator and experimenter. As I did mention and you
could see for yourself, he was in and out of numerous jobs, as he attempted to
find his place in the world of writing. He struggled to communicate for the
new nation, as he analyzed with countless forms of phraseology, such as

poems and journalism. Among his innumerable downfalls, he did succeed in

creating significant poems and essays that helped to structure American
literature. Freneau is surely the Poet of the Revolution, as his work reflects
the subject and sense of mission of his time, and one who lived to drive
America in the direction of freedom.
El ms famoso como el "Poeta de la Revolucin", Freneau es tambin
conocido por su participacin en la poesa romntica. Nacido en Nueva York,
Philip Freneau fue bien educado temprano en la vida. Su madre le ense en
casa hasta la edad de trece aos, cuando ella lo envi a una escuela latina.
Ms tarde ingres en la Universidad de Nueva Jersey, ahora Princeton, en el
nivel de segundo ao a la edad de diecisis aos. Estos aos de su vida
sentaron las bases de su futura carrera para convertirse en un poeta. Unas
pocas personas a quien conoci en Princeton Freneau que hicieron
influencias de inspiracin en su vida fueron James Madison, William
Bradford, y Henry Brackenridge. Durante este tiempo, Freneau y sus amigos
formaron un grupo llamado la Sociedad Americana Whig, que era un grupo
que se opuso a la orientada al conservador britnico Clio-Sfico Sociedad.
Freneau produjo su primera pieza de la stira poltica, "Peregrinacin del
Padre Bombo a La Meca", mientras que quedar fascinado por el inters en
las discusiones entre su asociacin rival. Sin embargo, uno de sus
acontecimientos ms importantes fue "La Gloria de levantamiento de
Amrica", que escribi junto con la ayuda de Brackenridge. El poema habla
de la integridad de un nuevo pas que se acerca una poca neotrica, que
sera bendecido con la "libertad dulce! / Sin cuya ayuda el genio ms noble
falla, / Y la ciencia irremediablemente debe morir. "El poema fue ledo y muy
querido en el comienzo en el da de la graduacin, y ms tarde public el
prximo ao.

Despus de su graduacin, Freneau haba muchos puestos de trabajo de

empleo, pero sin darse por satisfecha con ninguno de estos a menos que
estaba escribiendo. Durante dos aos se embarc a las islas de las Indias
Occidentales, componiendo poemas que expresaron su agradecimiento
romntico para las islas y las formas de su belleza encantaran su alma. El
conocimiento de la guerra, llev Freneau a los Estados Unidos, donde se
uni a la milicia de Nueva Jersey, pero ms tarde se convirti en un capitn
de barco. En sus muchos viajes en el mar, escribi "El britnico-prisin de la
nave", que es un poema sobre las aventuras espeluznantes Freneau
experiment cuando encarcelado por los britnicos durante la guerra.

Sin embargo, el mejor trabajo de Freneau fue hecho mientras l era el editor
de la Gaceta Nacional y un traductor extranjero en Filadelfia, alentado por
Thomas Jefferson. Mientras tanto, Freneau se hizo conocido como un crtico
de George Washington, Alexander Hamilton y John Adams, y un exponente
de fuego de la Repblica Jefferson. George Washington se refiri a Freneau
como "ese sinvergenza Freneau", mientras que en la misma nota, Jefferson

crea que Freneau "salv nuestra constitucin que galopaba rpida a la

monarqua".

Aunque la vida y la obra de Freneau se llenan de emocin, se dej sin

terminar sin un originador y experimentador. Como he mencionado y se
poda ver por s mismo, que se encontraba y de numerosos puestos de
trabajo, mientras trataba de encontrar su lugar en el mundo de la escritura.
Se esforz por comunicar para la nueva nacin, como lo analiz con
innumerables formas de fraseologa, tales como poemas y periodismo. Entre
sus innumerables cadas, l tuvo xito en la creacin de poemas y ensayos
importantes que ayudaron a estructurar la literatura americana. Freneau es
sin duda el "Poeta de la Revolucin", como su obra refleja el tema y "sentido
de misin de su tiempo", y que vivi para conducir Latina en el sentido de la
libertad.

Patriot. Philip Freneau was well prepared for a career as one of the most prominent literary
figures in the early United States. He was born on 2 January 1752 to a wealthy New York family
at the center of the cultural life of that colonial city. Freneau entered the College of New
Jersey (now Princeton University) at age fifteen, and there made contacts among the emerging
political and cultural leaders of America, including a future president, James Madison. He also
read English poetry and began to desire a career as a poet. He had his first literary success in
1771 when he coauthored with his friend Hugh Henry Brackenridge a poem titled The Rising
Glory of America, capturing the spirit of a nation on the verge of independence. During the
revolutionary years Freneau lived for a time in theWest Indies and served aboard a privateer in
the Caribbean Sea. This was a hazardous job, and it ended with him in a British prison ship in
New York harbor. He wrote constantly of his experiences, developing a distinctively romantic
poetic voice.
Political Writing. After the war ended Freneau settled in Philadelphia and became a leader of
the citys literary circle. He edited magazines and published many poems praising the
Patriots efforts, earning the title of thePoet of the American Revolution. After more travel, and
a further period publishing a newspaper in New York, he returned to Philadelphia to serve under
Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, who shared his democratic principles. He founded
the National Gazette in October 1791, and it soon became a significant mouthpiece for the
Jeffersonians. The National Gazette was much livelier than its stately rival, the
FederalistGazette of the United States. Freneau poked fun at Secretary of the Treasury
Alexander Hamilton as a would-be king and worked hard to shape public opinion on republican
principles. Both Hamilton and PresidentGeorge Washington were angry at the radical
democratic opinions Freneau expressed in the paper. Washington pressured Jefferson to fire
Freneau from his State Department job because of his outside activities, but Jefferson refused,
standing up for Freneaus right of free expression. Jefferson wrote that no government ought
to be without censors; and where the press is free, no one ever will. But even Jefferson was
uneasy about Freneaus whole-hearted support of the French Revolution and of the
controversial French ambassador, Edmond Genet. The National Gazette closed in October
1793, a victim of financial pressures and the disruption caused by a yellow fever epidemic.
Freneau spent the rest of his life at sea or on his New Jersey farm, occasionally involved in
publishing, and still writing poetry. In 1794 he wrote an almanac which sold well. Two years later
he began a literary journal called the Time-Piece, but like the National Gazette, it suffered from
inadequate financial backing and quickly closed. Freneau froze to death in a blizzard near
Freehold, New Jersey, on 18 December 1832.

Patriota. Philip Freneau estaba bien preparado para una carrera como una
de las figuras literarias ms importantes en los Estados Unidos tempranos.
Naci el 02 de enero 1752 a una familia rica de Nueva York en el centro de
la vida cultural de esta ciudad colonial. Freneau entr en la Universidad de
Nueva Jersey (ahora Universidad de Princeton) a los quince aos, y no hizo
los contactos entre los lderes polticos y culturales emergentes de Amrica,
entre ellos un futuro presidente, James Madison. Tambin ley poesa Ingls
y comenz a desear una carrera como poeta. Tuvo su primer xito literario
en 1771 cuando fue coautor con su amigo Hugh Henry Brackenridge un
poema titulado "The Rising Gloria de Amrica", capturando el espritu de
una nacin al borde de la independencia. Durante los aos revolucionarios
Freneau vivi durante un tiempo en las Indias Occidentales y sirvi a bordo
de un corsario en el Mar Caribe. Este fue un trabajo peligroso, y termin con
l en un barco prisin britnica en el puerto de Nueva York. Escribi
constantemente de sus experiencias, el desarrollo de una voz potica
distintiva romntica.

Redaccin Poltica. Cuando termin la guerra Freneau se estableci en

Filadelfia y se convirti en un lder del crculo literario de la ciudad. Edit
revistas y public muchos poemas alabando los esfuerzos de los Patriots,
ganando el ttulo de la "Poeta de la Revolucin Americana." Despus de ms
de viaje, y un perodo adicional de publicar un peridico en Nueva York,
regres a Filadelfia para servir bajo el Secretario de Estado Thomas
Jefferson, quien comparti sus principios democrticos. Fund la Gaceta
Nacional en octubre de 1791, y pronto se convirti en una boquilla
significativo para los jeffersonianos. La Gaceta Nacional era mucho ms
animado que su rival seorial, la Gaceta federalista de los Estados Unidos.
Freneau burl de Secretario del Tesoro Alexander Hamilton como un rey a
los posibles y trabaj duro para dar forma a la opinin pblica sobre los
principios republicanos. Tanto Hamilton y el presidente George Washington
estaban enojados con las opiniones democrticas radicales Freneau
expresadas en el documento. Washington presion a Jefferson al fuego
Freneau de su trabajo del Departamento de Estado a causa de sus
actividades externas, pero Jefferson neg, defendiendo el derecho a la libre
expresin de Freneau. Jefferson escribi que "ningn gobierno debera ser
sin censura; y donde la prensa es libre, nadie lo har. "Pero incluso Jefferson
estaba inquieto por el apoyo de todo corazn de Freneau de la Revolucin
Francesa y del embajador francs controvertido, Edmond Genet. La Gaceta
Nacional se cerr en octubre de 1793, vctima de presiones financieras y los
trastornos causados por una epidemia de fiebre amarilla. Freneau pas el
resto de su vida en el mar o en su granja de Nueva Jersey, en ocasiones
participan en la edicin, y sigue escribiendo poesa. En 1794 escribi un
almanaque que se vendi bien. Dos aos despus comenz una revista
literaria llamada Time-Piece, pero al igual que el Boletn Oficial, que sufra
de apoyo financiero insuficiente y cerr rpidamente. Freneau muri
congelado en una tormenta de nieve cerca de Freehold, Nueva Jersey, el 18
de diciembre 1832.

Freneau, Philip [Morin] (1752-1832) fulfilled the dream of his wine

merchant father, Pierre Fresneau (old spelling) when he entered the Class of
1771 to prepare for the ministry. Well versed in the classics in Monmouth
County under the tutelage of William Tennent, Philip entered Princeton as a
sophomore in 1768, but the joy of the occasion was marred by his father's
financial losses and death the year before. In spite of financial hardships,
Philip's Scottish mother believed that her oldest of five children would
graduate and join the clergy. Though he was a serious student of theology and
a stern moralist all his life, Freneau found his true calling in literature. As his
roommate and close friend James Madison recognized early, Freneau's wit and
verbal skills would make him a powerful wielder of the pen and a formidable
adversary on the battlefields of print. Freneau soon became the unrivaled
``poet of the Revolution'' and is still widely regarded as the ``Father of
American Literature.''
Although Freneau had produced several accomplished private poems before
college, it was the intense experience of pre-Revolutionary-War Princeton that
turned the poet's interest to public writing. Political concerns led Madison,
Freneau, and their friends Hugh Henry Brackenridge and William Bradford,
Jr., to revive the defunct Plain Dealing Club as the American Whig Society.
Their verbal skirmishes with the conservative Cliosophic Society provided
ample opportunities for sharpening Freneau's skills in prose and poetic satire.
Charged with literary and political enthusiasm, Freneau and Brackenridge
collaborated on a rollicking, picaresque narrative, Father Bombo's Pilgrimage
to Mecca in Arabia, which presents comic glimpses of life in eighteenthcentury America. This piece, recently acquired by Princeton and published by
the University Library (1975), may well be the first work of prose fiction
written in America.
During their senior year Freneau and Brackenridge labored long on another
joint project to which Freneau contributed the greater share. Their
composition was a patriotic poem of epic design, ``The Rising Glory of
America,'' a prophecy of a time when a united nation should rule the vast
continent from the Atlantic to the Pacific. At the commencement exercises of
September 1771, Brackenridge read this poem to a ``vast concourse of the
politest company,'' gathered at Nassau Hall. The poem articulated the vision
and fervor of a young revolutionary generation.
Freneau's life after Princeton was one of change and conflict. He tried
teaching and hated it. He spent two more years studying theology, but gave it
up. He felt a deep obligation to perform public service, and his satires against
the British in 1775 were written out of fervent patriotism. At the same time he
distrusted politics and had a personal yearning to escape social turmoil and
war. The romantic private poet within him struggled against his public role.
Thus, paradoxically, in 1776 the ``poet of the revolution'' set sail for the West

Indies where he spent two years writing of the beauties of nature and learning
navigation. Suddenly in 1778, he returned to New Jersey and joined the militia
and sailed the Atlantic as a ship captain. After suffering for six weeks on a
British prison ship, he poured his bitterness into his political writing and into
much of his voluminous poetry of the early 1780s.
By 1790, at the age of thirty-eight, with two collections of poetry in print and
a reputation as a fiery propagandist and skillful sea captain, Freneau decided
to settle down. He married Eleanor Forman and tried to withdraw to a quiet
job as an assistant editor in New York. But politics called again. His friends
Madison and Jefferson persuaded him to set up his own newspaper in
Philadelphia to counter the powerful Hamiltonian paper of John Fenno.
Freneau's National Gazette upheld Jefferson's ``Republican'' principles and
even condemned Washington's foreign policy. Jefferson later praised Freneau
for having ``saved our Constitution which was galloping fast into monarchy,''
while Washington grumbled of ``that rascal Freneau'' -- an epithet that became
the title of Lewis Leary's authoritative biography (1949).
After another decade of feverish public action, Freneau withdrew again in
1801, when Jefferson was elected president. He retired to his farm and
returned occasionally to the sea. During his last thirty years, he worked on his
poems, wrote essays attacking the greed and selfishness of corrupt politicians,
and sold pieces of his lands to produce a small income. He discovered that he
had given his best years of literary productivity to his country, for it had been
in the few stolen moments of the hectic 1780s that he found the inspiration for
his best poems, such as ``The Indian Burying Ground'' and ``The Wild Honey
Suckle,'' a beautiful lyric which established him as an important American
precursor of the Romantics.
Most students of Freneau's life and writing agree that he could have produced
much more poetry of high literary merit had he not expended so much energy
and talent for his country's political goals. In a way, though, he had fulfilled
his father's hopes for him, for he had devoted his life to public service as a
guardian of the morals of his society and as a spokesman for the needs of its
people.
Freneau, Philip [Morin] (1752-1832) cumpli el sueo de su padre
comerciante de vinos, Pierre Fresneau (antigua ortografa) cuando entr en la
clase de 1771 para prepararse para el ministerio. Bien versado en los clsicos
en el Condado de Monmouth, bajo la tutela de Guillermo Tennent, Philip
entr en Princeton en su segundo ao en 1768, pero la alegra de la ocasin se
vio empaado por las prdidas financieras de su padre y la muerte en el ao
anterior. A pesar de las dificultades financieras, madre escocesa de Felipe
crea que su mayor de cinco hijos se graduara y unirse al clero. Aunque l era
un estudiante serio de la teologa y un moralista severo toda su vida, Freneau

encontr su verdadera vocacin en la literatura. Como su compaero de

habitacin y amigo cercano James Madison reconoci temprano, ingenio y
habilidades verbales de Freneau le haran un poderoso portador de la pluma y
un adversario formidable en los campos de batalla de la impresin. Freneau
pronto se convirti en el incomparable `` poeta de la Revolucin '' y sigue
siendo ampliamente considerado como el `` Padre de la literatura
estadounidense. ''
Aunque Freneau haba producido varios poemas privados realizados antes de
la universidad, fue la intensa experiencia de pre-revolucionario-guerra
Princeton que convirti el inters del poeta a la escritura pblica. Las
preocupaciones polticas condujeron Madison, Freneau, y sus amigos Hugh
Henry Brackenridge y William Bradford, Jr., para revivir la Llanura
desaparecida Tratar club como la Sociedad Americana del Whig. Sus
escaramuzas verbales con la conservadora Sociedad Cliosophic proporcionado
amplias oportunidades para aumentar las habilidades de Freneau en prosa
potica y la stira. Acusado de entusiasmo literario y poltico, Freneau y
Brackenridge colaboraron en una narrativa picaresca jovial, Romera del
Padre Bombo a La Meca en Arabia, el cual presenta atisbos cmicas de la vida
en la Amrica del siglo XVIII. Esta pieza, recientemente adquirida por
Princeton y publicado por la Biblioteca de la Universidad (1975), puede muy
bien ser la primera obra de ficcin en prosa escrita en Amrica.

Durante su ltimo ao Freneau y Brackenridge trabajaron mucho en otro

proyecto conjunto para que Freneau contribuy la mayor participacin. Su
composicin era un poema patritico de diseo pico, `` La gloria naciente de
Amrica '', una profeca de un momento en que una nacin unida debe
gobernar el vasto continente desde el Atlntico hasta el Pacfico. En la
ceremonia de graduacin del mes de septiembre de 1771, Brackenridge ley
este poema a un `` vasto concurso de la empresa ms corts, '' se reunieron en
Nassau Hall. El poema articula la visin y el fervor de una joven generacin
revolucionaria.

La vida de Freneau despus de Princeton fue uno de los cambios y conflictos.

Trat de enseanza y lo odiaba. Pas dos aos ms estudiando teologa, pero
se rindi. Sinti una profunda obligacin de prestar el servicio pblico, y sus
stiras contra los britnicos en 1775 fueron escritos de ferviente patriotismo.
Al mismo tiempo que desconfiaba poltica y tena un anhelo personal de
escapar de la agitacin social y la guerra. El poeta romntica privada dentro de
l luch contra su papel pblico. As, paradjicamente, en 1776 el `` poeta de
la revolucin '' zarp de las Antillas donde pas dos aos escribiendo de las

bellezas de la naturaleza y el aprendizaje de la navegacin. De pronto, en

1778, regres a Nueva Jersey y se uni a la milicia y naveg el Atlntico
como un capitn de barco. Despus de sufrir durante seis semanas en un barco
prisin britnica, verti su amargura en sus escritos polticos y en gran parte
de su poesa voluminosa de la dcada de 1780.

En 1790, a la edad de treinta y ocho aos, con dos colecciones de poesa en la

impresin y la reputacin de ser un propagandista ardiente y hbil capitn de
barco, Freneau decidi establecerse. Se cas con Eleanor Forman y trat de
retirar a un trabajo tranquilo como asistente de editor en Nueva York. Pero la
poltica llamaron de nuevo. Sus amigos de Madison y Jefferson lo
persuadieron para establecer su propio peridico en Filadelfia para
contrarrestar el poderoso papel de Hamilton de John Fenno. Boletn Oficial de
Freneau confirm Jefferson de `` republicano '' principios e incluso conden la
poltica exterior de Washington. Jefferson tarde elogi Freneau por tener ``
salv nuestra Constitucin, que galopaba rpidamente en monarqua '',
mientras que Washington se quej de `` ese bribn Freneau '' - un epteto que
se convirti en el ttulo de la biografa autorizada de Lewis Leary (1949).

Despus de una dcada de accin pblica febril, Freneau se retir otra vez en
1801, cuando Jefferson fue elegido presidente. Se retir a su granja y regres
ocasionalmente a la mar. Durante sus ltimos treinta aos, trabaj en sus
poemas, escribi ensayos que atacan a la codicia y el egosmo de los polticos
corruptos, y se vende piezas de sus tierras para producir un pequeo ingreso.
Descubri que haba dado sus mejores aos de produccin literaria de su pas,
por lo que haba sido en los pocos momentos robados de la dcada de 1780
agitado que encontr la inspiracin para sus mejores poemas, como `` El indio
entierra la tierra '' y `` El Wild Honey amamanta, '' una hermosa lrica que lo
estableci como un importante precursor Americana de los romnticos.

La mayora de los estudiantes de la vida y los escritos de Freneau de acuerdo

en que se podra haber producido mucho ms poesa de alto mrito literario no
haba gastado tanta energa y talento para objetivos polticos de su pas. De
alguna manera, sin embargo, que haba cumplido las esperanzas de su padre
para l, ya que l haba dedicado su vida al servicio pblico como un guardin
de la moral de su sociedad y como portavoz de las necesidades de su pueblo.