That Philip Freneau, “the poet of the American Revolution,” outspokenly devoted to the cause of freedom and the democratic ideal, and plunging into the midst of the political activities of his time with an ardor that forswore all compromise, bears a strong spiritual kinship to the blind poet of the Commonwealth certainly no one familiar with the stormy public careers of the two would for a moment deny. That this extended in Freneau's earlier poetry to an actual literary discipleship has been more than once stated, but illustrated only in the most general terms. The temptation to cite concrete examples of the youthful poet's indebtedness to Paradise Lost, extending from borrowed phrase to actual paraphrase, is difficult to resist; “The Rising Glory of America,” “The History of the Prophet Jonah,” and “The Monument of Phaon” in particular prove rich ground and practically unturned. However, in the interest of exactness, as well as correction of what seems a mistaken attitude, it will be well to restrict the present discussion to one poem. Upon the publication of “The Power of Fancy” (1786) Freneau appended to line 33, “See's this earth a distant star,” the note “Milton's Paradise Lost B. ii, v, 1052.” This allusion to Satan's viewing “this pendant world, in bigness as a star” has been several times cited as evidence of the American's debt, but, strangely enough, with little effort to find substantiation in the matter and manner of the poem itself.
The urge to begin anew: Visions of America in some American long poems
