From 1729 to 1749 Franklin became the sole proprietor of
The Pennsylvania Gazette. This newspaper had been launched by Samuel Keimer and it achieved moderate success until it was taken over by Franklin who made of
Gazetteone of the top newspapers of the colonies in the following decades.
Franklin devoted to the newspaper all the skills he had learned in Boston and London, plus what he had assimilated from his readings of Swift, Cotton Mather, Addison, Defoe, Trenchard, Shaftesbury and Bunyan, among others. In spite of these literary influences, Franklin developed a personal style characterised by vitriolic humour, a sense of the right phrase and boundless imagination. This was very much displayed in pieces such a “Letter of the Drum” (1739) and “A Witch Trial at Mount Holly”
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Citation: Lena, Alberto. "The Pennyslvania Gazette". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 30 January 2003 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=7362, accessed 25 November 2024.]
