author
Joel Barlow
1754–1812
A Revolutionary-era poet with a gift for wit and ambition, he moved from New England pulpits and army camps into the thick of early American politics and diplomacy. Best known for "The Hasty Pudding," he also helped shape the young republic’s place in the wider world.
1 Audiobook
The Columbiad: A Poem
by Joel Barlow
About the author
Born in Redding, Connecticut, in 1754, Joel Barlow studied at Yale and served as a chaplain in the Continental Army during the American Revolution. He became one of the so-called Connecticut Wits, a group of early American writers who used satire and patriotic verse to comment on the new nation.
Barlow wrote poetry that mixed humor, politics, and big national hopes. His best-known poem, The Hasty Pudding, affectionately celebrates New England life, while his longer works aimed at something grander: giving the United States a literature equal to its ambitions. He spent many years in Europe as well, where his interests widened beyond poetry into public affairs.
He also had a notable diplomatic career. Barlow worked on American negotiations with the Barbary states and later served as U.S. minister to France under President James Madison. He died in 1812 in Żarnowiec, in what is now Poland, while traveling on a diplomatic mission during the Napoleonic era.