Joseph Rodman Drake
Joseph Rodman Drake (
1795-
1820) was an early
American poet. Born in
New York City, he was educated at
Columbia College. Together with his friend and fellow poet Fitz-Greene Halleck, he wrote a series of satirical verses for the
Evening Post, which were published under the penname "The Croakers." Drake died a year later, at the age of twenty-five. His best-known poems are "The Culprit Fay" and the patriotic "The American Flag."