Philip Freneau Philip Morin Freneau ( 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 " . Biography . Freneau was born in New York City , the oldest of the five children of Huguenot wine merchant " Pierre Fresneau " and his Scottish wife . Philip was raised in Monmouth County , New Jersey , where he studied under William Tennent , Jr . , whose 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 . Freneau graduated Princeton in 1771 , having written the poetical " History of the Prophet Jonah " , and , with Hugh Henry Brackenridge , the prose satire " Father Bombo ' s Pilgrimage to Mecca " . 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 . 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 . Freneau later retired to a more rural life and wrote a mix of political and nature works . Freneau is buried in the Philip Morin Freneau Cemetery on Poet ' s Drive in Matawan , New Jersey . His wife and mother are also buried here . He died at 80 years of age , frozen to death when trying to get back home . Legacy . The non - political works of Freneau are a combination of neoclassicism and romanticism . His poem " The House of Night " makes its mark as one of the first romantic poems written and published in America . The gothic elements and dark imagery are later seen in poetry by Edgar Allan Poe , who is well known for his gothic works of literature . Freneau ' s nature poem , " The Wild Honey Suckle " ( 1786 ) , is considered an early seed to the later Transcendentalist movement taken up by William Cullen Bryant , Ralph Waldo Emerson , and Henry David Thoreau . Romantic primitivism is also anticipated by his poems " The Indian Burying Ground , " and " Noble Savage . " Although he is not as well known as Ralph Waldo Emerson or James Fenimore Cooper , Freneau introduced many of the themes and images in his literature that later authors are famous for . The Matawan Post Office on Main Street has a sculpture on the wall of Freneau . It features 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 . Until a name change in mid - 2000 ' s , there was a restaurant called the Poet ' s Inn , where Freneau was supposed to have had many a rum .