145

[Philip Freneau.]

A Poem, on the Rising Glory of America.

Philadelphia: Joseph Crukshank for R. Aitkin, 1772
27, [1] pages. 8vo, disbound; moderate foxing, final leaf detached.

  • Notes: A very early work by Phillip Morin Freneau (1752-1832), who soon gained fame as the "Poet of the American Revolution." It is billed as "an exercise delivered at the public commencement at Nassau Hall, Sept. 25, 1771," delivered at what became Princeton University. His classmate Hugh Henry Brackenridge is generally credited as co-author. 

    The poem predicts both America's rise and its long-distant collapse:

    "Hail happy land / The seat of empire, the abode of kings / The final stage where time shall introduce / Renowned characters, and glorious works / Of high invention and of wond'rous art / Which not the ravages of time shall waste / Till he himself has run his long career / Till all those glorious orbs of light on high / The rolling wonders that surround the ball / Drop from their spheres extinguish'd and consum'd / When final ruin with her fiery car / Rides o'er her creation, and all nature's works / Are lost in chaos and the womb of night." 

    None traced at auction since 1945. 

    BAL 1292, 6412; Evans, 12398; Sabin 25904; Stoddard & Whitesell 223; Wegelin, American Poetry 146. 
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