Melnikov Alexey Anatolyevich – student, Department of History of Foreign Literature, Faculty of Philology, M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University
he article analyzes American self-identification and national consciousness in the pre-revolutionary years, using F. Freneau and H.G. Brackenridge’s poem The Rising Glory of America as an example. The study explores how Freneau’s views on American national identity and his attitude to the British metropolis changed, comparing one of his first significant works with the poet’s later ones. Particular attention is given to the dualistic portrayal of America’s future as an agrarian idyll and as an urban center, as well as the author’s particular perception of the City on a Hill mythologeme and the messianic notion of the historical role of the New World. Later, Freneau’s views change drastically: from perceiving America through its historical and cultural continuity with Britain to recognizing it as an independent community united by common civic values. Freneau’s poetry becomes an instrument of the nation’s political self-identification, reflecting the transition from colonial consciousness to the formation of an American national myth.
American Revolution; Revolutionary War; Freneau; Brackenridge; nation; colonialism; civic identity