Short biography of philip freneau to siri

He became a coastal privateer operator of a privately owned ship commissioned to fight or harass the enemya lucrative career choice. In MayFreneau was the third mate for the ship Aurora when it was captured by a British ship. Freneau and his fellow crewmen were confined on the prison ship Scorpion, which was anchored in New York Harbor.

The men were treated cruelly, and Freneau became very ill with fever. He was transferred to the Hunter, a hospital ship where the conditions were not much better. When he was released six weeks later, Freneau was bitter about the brutal treatment he had received. He wrote about his experiences in captivity in a poem titled "The British Prison Ship," published in Freneau's life as a soldier was over, and he returned home to New Jersey to regain his health.

In AprilFreneau moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he worked as a writer and occasional coeditor of the Freeman's Journal. Between andover one hundred of his poems and essays appeared in the journal. Freneau often wrote his poems in immediate response to events in history, but his writing also promoted the concern of the common people. He advanced the view that the American Revolution took place in order to make the nation a classless society, free from the abuse of the wealthy privileged.

However, with the end of the war, his inspiration once again faded, and his contributions became scarce. Economic uncertainty once again left Freneau searching for work. He took a job as a postal clerk; the job allowed him time to write but did not stir his imagination. InFreneau returned to the sea, this time as the captain of his own ship in the Caribbean.

His romantic adventures provided him with plenty of material, and he wrote extensively, including the poem "The Wild Honeysuckle. At the age of thirty-eight, he decided it was time to settle down. Philip and Eleanor had four children. Freneau accepted a job as editor of the Daily Advertiser in New York City and enjoyed a modest amount of fame with two collections of his poetry in print.

Freneau was offered a position as translator for the U. State Department by his longtime friend Thomas Jefferson —; see entry in volume 1who was then serving as secretary of state. Freneau hesitated about accepting a government job, because the income was insufficient, and he made no reply. In the meantime, Jefferson met with U. Jefferson and Madison decided that Freneau would be the perfect editor for the new paper.

Madison traveled to New Jersey to visit his former roommate and convince him to join the fight. The call of politics was powerful, and Freneau agreed to take on the job. In the summer ofhe moved his family to Philadelphia, the nation's capital city at that time, to found the National Gazette. The first edition of the National Gazette was released on October 31, It came out on Mondays and Thursdays.

Freneau's newspaper attacked the domestic and foreign policies of Hamilton and President George Washington —; served —97; see entry in volume 2 and defended those of Jefferson. This caused the president to refer to him as "that rascal Freneau," in a Cabinet meeting. The National Gazette was a success and soon had subscribers short biography of philip freneau to siri the country.

However, a yellow fever plague struck Philadelphia in the fall ofand more than half of the city's population fled to the countryside. Without income from local subscribers, Freneau was forced to close down the newspaper after only two short years of publication. At the age of forty-one, Philip Freneau returned to Mount Pleasant and established his own press.

Inhe edited and published a new collection of his poetry, Poems Written Between the Years and In his newspapers, he commented on major national events and issues. After Congress passed the Alien and Sedition Acts inFreneau warned of the dangers of losing liberties. The Alien Act gave the president the power to imprison aliens citizens of foreign countries who were living in the United States or send them back to their country of residence if they were suspected of activities posing a threat to the U.

The Sedition Act had a broader range, prohibiting all spoken or written criticism of the government, the Congress, or the president. Editors faced fines and jail time if their publications violated the Alien and Sedition Acts. Freneau protested the arrest of newspaper editor Benjamin Franklin Bache —who published anti-Federalist opinions in his Daily Advertiser.

Concerning the death of Bache's grandfather, Benjamin Franklin —; see entry in volume 1 inFreneau wrote the following verse titled On the Death of Dr. Benjamin Franklin:. Over the years, none of Freneau's publishing attempts proved successful. His marriage suffered under the endless debt, and the couple separated. InFreneau returned to the sea aboard the John, a schooner that carried salt and cider to Southern ports.

He occasionally returned to his farm but was forced to sell off pieces of his land for income. Freneau worked on his poems and wrote essays attacking the greed and selfishness of corrupt politicians during the early years of the nineteenth century. One collection of his poems was published in and another in ; both were two-volume sets. So vocal during the American Revolution, Freneau had surprisingly less to say about the War of —15 against the same enemy.

Freneau produced no publications of any sort between and Inat the age of seventy, Freneau made plans to publish a final selection of his writings, but this collection did not come out during his lifetime. The money was due to him as a veteran of the American Revolution. He compares these flowers to the one in Eden, saying that he's sure these ones are just as beautiful, and it's a shame that this flower has to die while those lived forever.

Expanding the metaphor, he compares the flower to every living organism that will eventually die. He says that all living things return to their original state in death, and human life is as short as a flower's. Themes include beauty, death, and the transient status of life. The British Prison Ship is a long poem, comprised of three or four, as the poem was revised six times cantos, that details Freneau's firsthand account of being captured and kept as a prisoner on a British prison ship during the American Revolutionary War.

The poem starts when the Aurora, Freneau's ship, and the Iris, a British ship, sighted one another.

Short biography of philip freneau to siri

A chase ensued as the Aurora attempted to flee. When the crew of the Aurora realized that they wouldn't be able to escape, they briefly fought back, but the Aurora was struck with a cannon and began to fill with water. The captain of Marines was shot and the ship captured. Freneau was imprisoned on the Scorpionone of the most notorious British prison ships of the war.

The prisoners were treated horridly and Freneau wrote that death would have been a better fate than imprisonment. The air was foul and the prisoners were forced to lay in shackles. The poem recounts an unsuccessful prison break followed by a sickness that spread throughout the ship. Freneau fell ill and was transferred to a hospital boat, but he was not treated any better.

Two to three of his fellow prisoners died every day and other prisoners had to bury them on land. The poem ends rather abruptly with the speaker imploring the Americans to remember the prisoners of war and defeat the British for them. Biography [ edit ]. Early life and education [ edit ]. Writing career [ edit ]. Later years and death [ edit ].

Legacy [ edit ]. See also [ edit ]. Notes [ edit ]. Freneau, Philip Morin Spencer Ed. James Madison: A Biography. A Princeton Companion. Princeton University Press. Retrieved 31 October Rutgers UP. ISBN Why Antislavery Poetry Matters Now. Studies in American literature and culture. Submit your comment. Abraham Cowley William Ernest Henley.

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