author
Joseph Rodman Drake
1795–1820
An early American poet remembered for a vivid imagination and a brief, brilliant career, he helped give New York literary life some of its sparkle. His best-known work includes the fantasy poem The Culprit Fay and the patriotic lyric The American Flag.
1 Audiobook
The Culprit Fay, and Other Poems
by Joseph Rodman Drake
About the author
Born in New York City in 1795, he became known as one of the promising young voices of early American poetry. He studied medicine as well as literature, and his writing was admired for its energy, charm, and romantic feeling.
He is especially associated with The Culprit Fay, a popular narrative poem set in the Hudson River landscape, and with The American Flag. He also collaborated with his friend Fitz-Greene Halleck on the satirical Croaker Papers, which appeared in the New York Evening Post and captured scenes of city life with wit and style.
His life was very short: he died in 1820 at just twenty-five. Even so, his poems kept his name alive, and he is still remembered as part of the early New York literary circle often linked with the Knickerbocker writers.