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Columbiad Barlow Vision Columbus Dialogue Angel Epic Poem

Front the Columbiad
Back an epic poem in heroic couplets by Joel Barlow
1807
20 years after the vision of Columbus
present a dialogue between an angel and Christopher Columbus
the angel argues that all historical events particularly Columbus's discovery lead to the future glory of America
after converting his political attitude, Barlow replaced the simple dialogue with a colloquy of different voices
Columbiad treated more as a treatise

The Columbiad (1807) is a philosophical epic poem by the American diplomat and man of letters Joel Barlow. It grew out of Barlow's earlier poem The Vision of Columbus (1787). Intended as a national epic for the United States it was popular with the reading public for a few years, and was compared with Homer, Virgil and Milton, but it has since been for the most part dismissed as an overblown and tedious failure.

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