The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1901-03-03

PHILIP ERENEAr.

1 Il llTA liug1SIDl- I l''N
ton is almost forgotten. He celebrated III
! spirited verse the achievements of his coai-
trymen, the Americans, in the struggle io1
liberty. Speaking of Freneau, EDWARD =
De Lancey. at Il meeting of the Husehot
Society Of New York. said:
AT intervals somewhat rare the coasts
OF the Middle States of America have. from
the earliest settlement Of the country. been
visited by winter storms of terrific violence
Beginning with 4 warm mist or Sentie ram
gradually turning to sieet under Il shafp
northeast wind, which in a few hours De-
comes an intensely cold boreal hurricane
accompanied by falling masses OF whlfllnS
snow. b%euumbin. all living creatures. cover
ing deep the face of nature and blocking up
all avenues of travel, these storms Temporal
rily paralyze man and all his occupations
and duties.
Just before Observation-Disclosures IS. lS52-
one of these tempests, now known as biz
Yards struck the seaboard of New 1oFk
and New Jersey. raging with greater vio-
ience in the latter. On this evening an elder
ly gentleman of medium stature, but marked
mien. not dreaming Of the approaching Sc
verify OF the storm. left the house of friends
in the town OF Freehold to walk to his own
homo in the outskirts of that historic vii
lage.
But that home. where he had dwelt in
quiet retirement for many years. he never
reached. Blinded and benumbed by the saw
age storm which overlook him, he lost his
strength and his way. Sinking senseless into
the snow. the cfrcling swirls of which
formed his winding sheet. and the tempest's
deep roar his requiem, the spirit of Philip
Freneau passed from earth.
Such was the tragic end of one of the
most original and gifted poets that Amer
lea up to his day. and 1 may say. to ours.
has ever produced. Born in Frankfort
street. in New York. in 1752. and in that city
receiving his school education, he graduated
from Nassau Hall. now Princeton College,
New Jersey. in Ill. at the age of 10. two
of his classmates being the celebrated Hugh
Henry Breckenridge and James Madison.
afterwards the fourth President of the
United States"
Collagian, law student, newspaper writer,
sailor. politician, sea captain, Government
translator of modern languages in the
| State Department, newspaper owner. editor
and publisher, in New York, Pennsylvania
and New Jersey, afterwards, and for many
years a sea captain again, and merchant,
and later a retired gentleman and farmer.
Philip Freneau was always q poet through
every phase of his singularly varied career.
| He was of Huguenot blood on both sides
| OF the house. He was active, brilliant.
| courageous, clear-headed. quick-witted, full
of Imagination and fancy; very polite IN
manner and as ready to return a blow with
the pen as with the sword, the former as
sharp as the latter. He was a typical
Frenchman, and as brave as he was
l sparkling.
! Freneau's first poems appeared in the
newspapers of his day. In no he wrote
The Pyramids of Egypt" a dramatic dia-
logue In blank verse. The scene is Egypt,
the persons-a Traveller, a Genius and Time.
1t contains 1S5 lines. and is one of the most
striking poems ever written by SO young a
man. The Traveller. who has visited Italy.
rrsy1 ~, Lr1y--t mn th~ aAsr a~I
asks to be shown the Pyramids. saying that
he thought the remnants of Rome he had
lately seen were unrivaled. The Genius
thus nswers:
Talk not of Rome! before they lopt a bush
From the seven hills, where Rome. Ear,h's En-
press, stood.
These pyramids were old, their birthday Is
Beyond traditions reach or history.
The poem closes with Times address to
the Traveller in these lines:
These piles are not immortal.
This earth, with ali its balls OF hills and noun
tains.
Shall perish by my hand. Then how can these,
These hoary-headed pyramids OF Egypt,
That are but dwindied warts upon her body.
That on a little. little spot Of ground
Extinguish the dull radiance OF the sun.
Be proof to death and me? Traveller. return.
There's nausht bu. God immortal-he alone
Exists secure. when Man. and Death. and Time.
(Time not immortal. but 4 fancied point in the
vast circle of eternity
Are swallowed up. and like the pyramids
Leave not an atom for their monument.
This is unusual verse for a youth of Is
years. But one other American poet ever
wrote anything to compare with It so early
in life. Bryant wrote at 10 his 'Thanatop-
sis" and never later did he surpass that
great poem, although 1t contains but eighty
one lines.
In vigor, sentiment, playfulness and hu-
NOR, Freneau's verses have rot been sur
passed. He possessed deep poetic gifts. We
have all wondered at and admired tine
poems of that strange son of genius, Edgar
Allan Poe. Yet the strange power of that
extraordinary man existed also in the ear
lier poet. FreHeau's blouse of NiSht-A
Vision prefigured the conceptions OF the
author of THE Raven" Freneau has de-
scribed in this poem the death of Death:
And now the phantom Death
Gave his last groans in horror and despair;
"AlI hell demands me hence" he said. and
threw
The red lamp kissing through the midnight air.
Freneau possessed the gift of invective.
Here are some lines upon an opponent who
had attacked him in abusive rhyme. and
Whom, under an odd name. he has immor- ,
taliZed:
Hail. great acSwigge foe to honest fame.
Patron of ounces and thyself the same;
You dream of conquest-teil NE how or whence:
Act like a man, and combat me with sense.
In THE Power of Fancy" beginning
Wakeful. vagrant. restless thing.
Ever wandering on the wing.
He describes in flowing verse how Fancy
leads him through various famed places in
Europe and Asia to an isle of the Indian
seas, and then exclaims: |
Bear me from that distant strand.
over ocean. over land,
To California's golden shore |
Fancy. stop, and rove no more. |
This was written in ITO. seventy-eight |
years before the discovery of gold in the
race-wny of the famous mill OF Colonel SUIT |
ter in the valley of the Sacramento.
Perhaps the finest of Freneau's war lyrics
Is his ode ITO the memory of the b--ve
Americans who fell at Eutaw Springs" 1t |
consists of but eight stanzas of four lines
each. Fer melody, spirit. fire and feeling.
it has rarely been surpassed. This is the
poem of which Mr.. Henry Brevoort says
that Sir Walter Scott asked him the au-
thor's name, saying he had met it in q
magazine. had it by heart. and knew it
was American. IN being told it was FIRE.
neau's. Scott said: "It is as fine a thing
of the kind as there is in the language.
He used a line from it in his famous
to the Duke of Brunswick, in
the introduction to the third canto OF
"Marmion."
Freneau's fifth verse is this:
They saw their injur'd country's woe: |
The flaming town. the wasted field:
They rushed to meet the insulting fee: !
rL-. a-zf- ,to .,oor hut I.ft tho SbipId 4