Classical Poetry PDF EPUB

The Columbiad

by Joel Barlow

Downloads: Under 100
First published: 1807
Pages: 279

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About this book

Joel Barlow spent decades reworking an early poem about Columbus into this sprawling epic, finally published in 1807. Cast as a vision shown to the imprisoned explorer, it moves past the discovery of the New World to trace what Barlow saw as humanity's long climb toward reason, liberty, and self-government, ending in a dream of nations gathered in peace. He wrote with Homer and Milton openly in mind, and the poem's confident, secular optimism drew both praise and sharp attack in its day. Read now, it is a revealing record of how the young American republic imagined its own future and its place in world history. Free to read as a PDF and EPUB edition.

About the author

Joel Barlow

Joel Barlow (1754-1812) was an American poet, diplomat, and political writer, one of the group known as the Hartford Wits. A friend of Jefferson and Paine, he served the young United States abroad and died on a mission in Eastern Europe.

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