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PWB Peeps Open Thread: Poetry of Freneau [1]

['Thom Hartmann', 'Mother Mags', 'Bill In Portland Maine', 'Wafflehacker Aka Joshhacks']

Date: 2026-08-07  

The Bay Islet

Philip Freneau (1752-1832)

In shallow streams, a league from town,



(Its baby Light-House tumbled down)



Extends a country, full in view,



Beheld by all, but known to few.

Uploaded to DailyKos by annieli

Surrounded by the briny waste



No haven here has Nature placed;



But those who wish to pace it o’er



Must land upon the open shore.

Uploaded to DailyKos by Talmas

There as I sailed, to view the ground;



No blooming goddesses I found—



But yellow hags, ordained to prove



The death, and antidote of love.

Uploaded to DailyKos by Mark Rose The Intolerant Lefty

Ten stately trees adorn the isle,



The house, a crazy, tottering pile,



Where once the doctor plied his trade



On feverish tars and rakes decayed.

George Barret the Elder (ca. 1730-84)

Six hogs about the pastures feed



(Sweet mud-larks of the Georgia breed)



Who, while the hostess deals out drams,



Can oysters catch, and open clams.

American Guinea Hogs (sow and piglets) roam easily in large fenced grazing areas and freely around the home, driveway and grounds of the Hock-Newberry Farm operation owned by Erica Govednik, a U.S. Coast Guard veteran, who successfully runs an organically-managed, multi-species, rotational-grazing farm on rented land in Marshall, VA, on Saturday, May 21, 2016. USDA/Lance Cheung via flickr (Public Domain)

Upon its surface, smooth and clean,



A world, in miniature, is seen;



Though scarce a journey for a snail



We meet with mountain, hill, and vale.

Uploaded to DailyKos by Chillier

To those that guard this stormy place,



Two cities stare them in the face:



There, York its spiry summits rears,



And here Cummunipaw appears.

Mukala Yemen estuary at night. This coastal city is not designed for a storm surge and very high surf because there is no record of a tropical cyclone ever striking these shores. Wikimedia Commons

The tenant, now but ill at ease,



Derives no fuel from his trees:



And Jersey boats, though begged to land,



All leave him on the larboard hand.

Uploaded to DailyKos by Chillier

Some monied man, grown sick of care,



To this neglected spot repair:



What Nature sketched, let art complete,



And own the loveliest Country Seat.

Alice Kent Stoddard (American. 1885-1976), Polly's Folly, Bogdanove Cottage, Monhegan, n d . Oil on Canvas, 25⅛ × 30 in Private Collection Alice Kent Stoddard (1883–1976) was an American painter of portraits, landscapes, and seascapes. Many of her works, particularly portraits, are in public collections, including University of Pennsylvania's portrait collection, Woodmere Art Museum, and other museums. She lived and painted on Monhegan Island in Maine, an enclave of artists. During World War II, she worked as a combat artist and drafted designs for airplanes. She married late in life to Joseph Pearson, who had been a friend and taught at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2026/8/7/800078932/community/pwb-peeps-open-thread-poetry-of-freneau/

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