Background
Freneau, Philip Morin was born on January 2, 1752 in New York City. Son of Pierre and Agnes (Watson) Freneau.
Freneau, Philip Morin was born on January 2, 1752 in New York City. Son of Pierre and Agnes (Watson) Freneau.
Graduated from College of New Jersey (now Princeton), 1771.
Served as privateer during Revolutionary War, captured and held in prison-brig Aurora (experience later described in poem The British Prison Ship, 1781). An editor, contributor poetry to Freeman’s Journal, Philadelphia, 1781-1784. Master of brig bound for Jamaica, 1784, lived for several years in West Indies.
Editor New York Daily Advertiser, 1790.
Translating clerk unites states department of State, 1791. Editor National Gazette (partisan Jefferson paper), 1791-1793.
Later became editor New York Timepiece. Called Poet of America Revolution.
Earned reputation as 1st important American lyrical poet with such poems as The Indian Burying Ground, The Wild Honeysuckle and Eutaw Springs.
Other poems include A Poem on the Rising Glory of America, 1771, Voyage to Boston, 1774, General Gage’s Confession, General Gage’s Soliloquy, 1775, A Journey from Philadelphia to New York by Robert Slender, 1787, The Village Merchant, 1794.
Served as privateer during Revolutionary War, captured and held in prison-brig Aurora (experience later described in poem The British Prison Ship, 1781).
Married Eleanor Forman, 1789.