Philip Freneau

Philip Freneau (1752--1832) “Poet of the American Revolution” 美国革命诗人, “Father of American Poetry” 美国诗歌之父 He was the most significant poet of 18th century America.Some of his themes and images anticipated the works of such 19th century American Romantic writers as Cooper, Emerson, Poe and Melville. 18世纪美国意义最重大的诗人,他诗歌的一些主题和意象在19世纪美国浪漫作家爱默生、坡、朗费罗等人作品中流传。是爱默生、坡、朗费罗等人的文学传统的先驱。 1) Works a) The Rising Glory of America 1772 《美洲光辉的兴起》 b) The House of Night 1779, 1786 《夜之屋》 c) The British Prison Ship 1781 《英国囚船》 d) To the Memory of the Brave Americans 1781 《纪念美国勇士》 e) The Wild Honey Suckle 1786 f) The Indian Burying Ground 1788 g) The Dying Indian: Tomo Chequi 《奄奄一息的印第安人:托姆?柴吉》 2) Life ? He was born in New York. ? At 16, he entered Princeton University. ?While still an undergraduate, he wrote in collaboration with one of his friends (H.H.Brackenridge) a poem entitled “The Rising Glory of America”. ? Later he attended the War of Independence, and he was captured by British army in 1780. After being released, he published “The British Prison Ship” in 1871. In the same year, he published “To the Memory of the Brave Americans”. ? After war, he supported Jefferson, and contributed greatly to American government. ? But after 50 years old, he lived in poverty. And at last he died in a blizzard. 3)Assessment:Almost alone of his generation, he managed to peer through the pervasive atmosphere of imitativeness, to see life around directly, to appreciate the natural scenes on the new continent and the native Indian civilization. Some of his most famous works, with their lyric quality, sensuous images and their fresh perception of natur e and “noble savagery” are directly American. 4)Writing and Achievements Most poems, political satires, patriotic revolutionary verses with democratic ideas. American subject matter:American landscape, American images, his hatred toward the British colonists, his resentment toward slavery broke the bounds, forerunners wrote, contemporary life, displayed, fresh perception about nature 2.1)Comment on the poem:Before Freneau there had been some American poets who, however, wrote mostly on the religious theme and either in style or structurally they imitated English poets. Freneau, the first American –born poet, was one of the earliest who cast their eyes over the natural surroundings of the New Continent and American subject matter. As is displayed in this poem: Honey suckle, instead of rose or daffodil became the object of depiction; it is “wild”just to convey the fresh percetion of the natural scenes on the new continent. The flowers, similar to the early Puritan settlers, used to believe they were the selects of God to be arranged on the abundant land, but now have to wake up from that fantasy and be more respectful to natural law. Time is constant but the time of a life is short; any favor is relative but change is absolute; with or without the awareness,nature develops: flowers were born, bloomed and declined to repose, and human beings would exist in exactly the same way. A philosophical meditation is indicated by the description of the fate of a trivial wild plant. 2) figures of speech used in the poem personification parallelism repetition hyperbole metaphor