Philip Freneau - Wikipedia Philip Freneau From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to navigation Jump to search For the unincorporated community named after the poet, see Freneau, New Jersey. This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Philip Freneau" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (February 2018) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) Philip Morin Freneau Born (1752-01-02)January 2, 1752 New York City Died December 18, 1832(1832-12-18) (aged 80) Matawan, New Jersey Occupation Poet, writer, polemicist Language English Nationality American Alma mater Princeton (1771) Signature Philip Morin Freneau[1] (January 2, 1752 – December 18, 1832) was an American poet, nationalist, polemicist, sea captain and newspaper editor sometimes called the "Poet of the American Revolution". Through his newspaper, the National Gazette, he was a strong critic of George Washington and a proponent of Jeffersonian policies. Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Early life and education 1.2 Writing career 1.3 Later years and death 2 Legacy 3 See also 4 Notes 5 References 6 External links Biography[edit] Early life and education[edit] Freneau was born in New York City, the oldest of the five children of Huguenot wine merchant Pierre Freneau and his Scottish wife. Freneau was raised Calvinist by parents who were part of a Presbyterian congregation led by a New Light evangelical, Rev. William Tennent, Jr.[2] Freneau later attended a grammar school directed by Tennent.[3] Philip was raised in Matawan, New Jersey. He attended the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University), where he studied under William Tennent, Jr. Freneau's close 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.[4] Freneau graduated from Princeton in 1771,[5] having already written the poetical History of the Prophet Jonah, and, with Hugh Henry Brackenridge, the prose satire Father Bombo's Pilgrimage to Mecca. Writing career[edit] 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.[6] 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 Democratic-Republican 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 by Alexander 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. Later years and death[edit] Freneau later retired to a more rural life and wrote a mix of political and nature works. He died at 80 years of age, frozen to death while returning to his home, and was buried in what became the Philip Morin Freneau Cemetery on Poet's Drive in Matawan, New Jersey. His wife and mother were also buried there. Legacy[edit] The non-political works of Freneau combined neoclassicism and romanticism. Although he is not as generally well known as Ralph Waldo Emerson or James Fenimore Cooper, Freneau introduced many themes and images for which later authors became famous. For example, Freneau's poem "The House of Night", one of the first romantic poems written and published in America, included the Gothic elements and dark imagery that were later seen in the poetry by Edgar Allan Poe. Freneau's nature poem, "The Wild Honey Suckle" (1786), was considered an early seed to the later Transcendentalist movement taken up by William Cullen Bryant, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Henry David Thoreau. Romantic primitivism was also anticipated by Freneau's poems "The Indian Burying Ground" and "Noble Savage." Memorials to him in Matawan include: The Matawan Post Office on Main Street has a sculpture of Freneau on its wall, depicting 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. A site Freneau frequented in Matawan is now in use as a restaurant. From 1961 until 2008, it operated as "The Poet's Inn", to honor Freneau's memory. The business has since changed hands several times and building has been renovated and added on to over the years, and is now a popular bar and grill.[7] Freneau, New Jersey, an unincorporated community within Matawan, was named in his honor.[8] See also[edit] Poetry portal History of American newspapers Notes[edit] ^ Spelled Phillip Frenau in Oxford's Poetry of Slavery Anthology (2003). ^ Elliott, E. (2014). Freneau, Philip Morin (1752-1832). In M. Spencer (Ed.), The Bloomsbury encyclopedia of the American Enlightenment. Bloomsbury. ^ Elliott, E. (2014). Freneau, Philip Morin (1752-1832). In M. Spencer (Ed.), The Bloomsbury encyclopedia of the American Enlightenment. Bloomsbury. ^ Ketcham, Ralph (1971). James Madison: A Biography. Charlottesville and London: The University Press of Virginia. p. 108. ^ Elliott, Jr., Emory B. (1978). "Freneau, Philip [Morin]". A Princeton Companion. Princeton University Press. Retrieved 31 October 2013. ^ Harmon, William, p 357. ^ Caggiano, Greg. "Matawan’s Brass Rail Bar and Grill, and Memories of The Poet’s Inn", Eating New Jersey, December 12, 2016. Accessed December 14, 2016. ^ Capuzzo, Jill P. "2 Lakes, the Shore and a Train to the City", The New York Times, February 19, 2010. Accessed July 30, 2012. "The expanded Cape that Ms. Bragg and Mr. Colón bought last October for $370,000 is in the Freneau section — a hilly, wooded area named after the Revolutionary War poet Philip Freneau, who lived here and is buried in the neighborhood." References[edit] Mary Weatherspoon Bowden. Philip Freneau (Twayne's United States authors series; TUSAS 260) (1976) Jane Donahue Eberwein, ed. Early American Poetry: Selections from Bradstreet, Taylor, Dwight, Freneau and Bryant (1978) Elliott, Emory. Revolutionary Writers: Literature and Authority in the New Republic, 1725-1810. Oxford University Press, 1982. 324 pp. Harmon, William. Top 500 Poems, Columbia University Press, New York, 1992, p 357. "Freneau came along just in time to take part in literary activities related to the American Revolution." Lewis Gaston Leary. That Rascal Freneau: A study in literary failure (1971) Nickson, Richard. Philip Freneau: Poet of the Revolution. Trenton: New Jersey Hist. Comm., 1981. 36 pp. Pasley, Jeffrey L. "The Two National Gazettes: Newspapers and the Embodiment of American Political Parties." Early American Literature 2000 35(1): 51-86. ISSN 0012-8163 Vitzthum, Richard C. Land and Sea: The Lyric Poetry of Philip Freneau, University of Minnesota Press, 1978. 197 pp. Princeton Biography Virtual American Biographies Harper's Encyclopædia of United States History, Harper & Brothers, 1905 Freneau's Poems Last Poems Anthology of American Literature Ninth Edition Vol. 1, Pearson Prentice Hall, 2007. "THE HOUSE OF NIGHT" (1779, revised 1786), A Vision, by Philip Freneau External links[edit] Wikimedia Commons has media related to Philip Freneau. Philip Freneau on Poets.org Works written by or about Philip Freneau at Wikisource Quotations related to Philip Freneau at Wikiquote Works by Philip Freneau at Project Gutenberg Works by or about Philip Freneau at Internet Archive Works by Philip Freneau at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks) Densky, Lois R, Collection 21: Philip Freneau (1752-1832):Collection, 1661-1939, Monmouth County Historical Association, archived from the original on 2011-10-03 Authority control BIBSYS: 15035922 BNF: cb13327786p (data) GND: 118703048 ISNI: 0000 0000 8079 4234 LCCN: n79112362 MBA: 64c0d160-460f-4f21-9f26-795069a9369f NLA: 36358815 NLI: 000423362 NTA: 070483205 PLWABN: 9810628198205606 SNAC: w66w9sn3 SUDOC: 035661313 Trove: 1014930 VIAF: 156130 WorldCat Identities: lccn-n79112362 Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Philip_Freneau&oldid=997679050" Categories: 1752 births 1832 deaths American male poets American newspaper editors American Revolutionary War prisoners of war held by Great Britain Writers from New York City Princeton University alumni American people of Scottish descent American abolitionists Deaths from hypothermia People from Matawan, New Jersey 18th-century American poets 18th-century American male writers People of colonial New York Burials in New Jersey Colonial American poets American male non-fiction writers Hidden categories: Articles needing additional references from February 2018 All articles needing additional references Commons category link from Wikidata Articles with Project Gutenberg links Articles with Internet Archive links Articles with LibriVox links Wikipedia articles with BIBSYS identifiers Wikipedia articles with BNF identifiers Wikipedia articles with GND identifiers Wikipedia articles with ISNI identifiers Wikipedia articles with LCCN identifiers Wikipedia articles with MusicBrainz identifiers Wikipedia articles with NLA identifiers Wikipedia articles with NLI identifiers Wikipedia articles with NTA identifiers Wikipedia articles with PLWABN identifiers Wikipedia articles with SNAC-ID identifiers Wikipedia articles with SUDOC identifiers Wikipedia articles with Trove identifiers Wikipedia articles with VIAF identifiers Wikipedia articles with WORLDCATID identifiers Navigation menu Personal tools Not logged in Talk Contributions Create account Log in Namespaces Article Talk Variants Views Read Edit View history More Search Navigation Main page Contents Current events Random article About Wikipedia Contact us Donate Contribute Help Learn to edit Community portal Recent changes Upload file Tools What links here Related changes Upload file Special pages Permanent link Page information Cite this page Wikidata item Print/export Download as PDF Printable version In other projects Wikimedia Commons Wikiquote Wikisource Languages Deutsch Euskara Français Hrvatski Italiano Latina مصرى Nederlands Norsk bokmål Polski Română Русский Тоҷикӣ Türkçe Edit links This page was last edited on 1 January 2021, at 18:33 (UTC). 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