author
Samuel Low
b. 1765
An early American poet and dramatist from New York, remembered for verse, songs, and the satirical play The Politician Out-Witted. His work offers a glimpse of literary life in the early United States, especially in civic and Masonic settings.
1 Audiobook
The Politician Out-Witted
by Samuel Low
About the author
Born in New York City in December 1765, Samuel Low was an American poet and dramatist active in the early national period. Sources consulted during this session describe him as coming from a mercantile family and note that, like many writers of his time, he supported himself through other work while pursuing literature.
Low is associated with poems, odes, hymns, and occasional verse, and he is also known for The Politician Out-Witted. Bibliographic sources link him with Holland Lodge and with pieces written for public and ceremonial occasions, which suggests he wrote for both literary and community audiences.
Some details of his later life are less certain in the sources reviewed here, so it is best to be cautious about firm claims beyond his birth year, New York background, and published work. Even so, he stands out as one of the lesser-known voices of early American writing whose surviving poems and dramatic work still attract historical interest.