Opening the text

The Poems of Philip Freneau, Poet of the American Revolution. Volume 1 (of 3)Freneau, Philip Morin

General

The Poems of Philip Freneau, Poet of the American Revolution. Volume 1 (of 3)

Name: The Poems of Philip Freneau, Poet of the American Revolution. Volume 1 (of 3)
Author: Freneau, Philip Morin

Freneau, Philip Morin

American poetry

And here fair freedom shall forever reign.
  I see a train, a glorious train appear,
  Of Patriots plac'd in equal fame with those
  Who nobly fell for Athens or for Rome.
  The sons of Boston, resolute and brave,
  The firm supporters of our injur'd rights,
  Shall lose their splendours in the brighter beams
  Of patriots fam'd and heroes yet unborn.

ACASTO

      'Tis but the morning of the world with us
  And Science yet but sheds her orient rays.
  I see the age, the happy age, roll on
  Bright with the splendours of her mid-day beams,
  I see a Homer and a Milton rise
  In all the pomp and majesty of song,
  Which gives immortal vigour to the deeds
  Atchiev'd by Heroes in the fields of fame.
  A second Pope, like that Arabian bird
  Of which no age can boast but one, may yet
  Awake the muse by Schuylkill's silent stream,
  And bid new forests bloom along her tide.
  And Susquehanna's rocky stream unsung,
  In bright meanders winding round the hills,
  Where first the mountain nymph, sweet echo, heard
  The uncouth musick of my rural lay,
  Shall yet remurmur to the magic sound
  Of song heroic, when in future days
  Some noble Hambden rises into fame.

LEANDER

      Or Roanoke's and James's limpid waves
  The sound of musick murmurs in the gale:
  Another Denham celebrates their flow,
  In gliding numbers and harmonious lays.

EUGENIO

      Now in the bow'rs of Tuscororah hills,
  As once on Pindus all the muses stray,
  New Theban bards high soaring reach the skies
  And swim along thro' azure deeps of air.

LEANDER

      From Alleghany in thick groves imbrown'd,
  Sweet music breathing thro' the shades of night
  Steals on my ear, they sing the origin
  Of those fair lights which gild the firmament;
  From whence the gale that murmurs in the pines;
  Why flows the stream down from the mountains brow
  And rolls the ocean lower than the land.
  They sing the final destiny of things,
  The great result of all our labours here,
  The last day's glory, and the world renew'd.
  Such are their themes, for in these happier days
  The bard enraptur'd scorns ignoble strains,
  Fair science smiling and full truth revealed,
  The world at peace, and all her tumults o'er,
  The blissful prelude to Emanuel's reign.

EUGENIO

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Opening the text

The Poems of Philip Freneau, Poet of the American Revolution. Volume 1 (of 3)Freneau, Philip Morin

General

The Poems of Philip Freneau, Poet of the American Revolution. Volume 1 (of 3)

Freneau, Philip Morin

American poetry

And here fair freedom shall forever reign.
  I see a train, a glorious train appear,
  Of Patriots plac'd in equal fame with those
  Who nobly fell for Athens or for Rome.
  The sons of Boston, resolute and brave,
  The firm supporters of our injur'd rights,
  Shall lose their splendours in the brighter beams
  Of patriots fam'd and heroes yet unborn.

ACASTO

      'Tis but the morning of the world with us
  And Science yet but sheds her orient rays.
  I see the age, the happy age, roll on
  Bright with the splendours of her mid-day beams,
  I see a Homer and a Milton rise
  In all the pomp and majesty of song,
  Which gives immortal vigour to the deeds
  Atchiev'd by Heroes in the fields of fame.
  A second Pope, like that Arabian bird
  Of which no age can boast but one, may yet
  Awake the muse by Schuylkill's silent stream,
  And bid new forests bloom along her tide.
  And Susquehanna's rocky stream unsung,
  In bright meanders winding round the hills,
  Where first the mountain nymph, sweet echo, heard
  The uncouth musick of my rural lay,
  Shall yet remurmur to the magic sound
  Of song heroic, when in future days
  Some noble Hambden rises into fame.

LEANDER

      Or Roanoke's and James's limpid waves
  The sound of musick murmurs in the gale:
  Another Denham celebrates their flow,
  In gliding numbers and harmonious lays.

EUGENIO

      Now in the bow'rs of Tuscororah hills,
  As once on Pindus all the muses stray,
  New Theban bards high soaring reach the skies
  And swim along thro' azure deeps of air.

LEANDER

      From Alleghany in thick groves imbrown'd,
  Sweet music breathing thro' the shades of night
  Steals on my ear, they sing the origin
  Of those fair lights which gild the firmament;
  From whence the gale that murmurs in the pines;
  Why flows the stream down from the mountains brow
  And rolls the ocean lower than the land.
  They sing the final destiny of things,
  The great result of all our labours here,
  The last day's glory, and the world renew'd.
  Such are their themes, for in these happier days
  The bard enraptur'd scorns ignoble strains,
  Fair science smiling and full truth revealed,
  The world at peace, and all her tumults o'er,
  The blissful prelude to Emanuel's reign.

EUGENIO

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

The Poems of Philip Freneau, Poet of the American Revolution. Volume 1 (of 3)

The Poems of Philip Freneau, Poet of the American Revolution. Volume 1 (of 3)

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