Beginning with patriotic invocation of the Revolution and concluding with a charge to Keep bright mansions ever in our eyes, / Press towrds the mark and seize the glorious prize, it rapidly became a standard selection for school recitations in the region. Born in 1794 in Massachusetts, William Cullen Bryant served as editor for the New York Evening Post for much of his life and was one of the most popular of the romantic poets to come out of America in the 19th Century. Later that same year, Bryant left his desk at the Evening Post to travel, first to Washington, then, after swinging through the upper South, to Illinois. This reemerging poet, however, had little in common with the former prodigy schooled in the Ancients and in Popes crystalline verse. Initially intended to promote his good friends novel, the essay developed into a rallying cry for an indigenous American literaturea cause perfectly suited to New Yorks expansive mood. 1821, however, was its ideal moment. Proclaimed by James Fenimore Cooper to be "the author of America," William Cullen Bryant (1794-1878) was one of nineteenth-century America's foremost poets and public intellectuals. While reading William Cullen Bryant's poem I came to the conclusion that we have somewhat of the same views. "Thanatopsis" By: William Cullen Bryant Lines 1-8 Summary Line 1 To him who in the love of Nature holds The first line of this poem is confusing all by itself, so read through it to the middle of the third line - that's where the first idea ends (at the semicolon after "language"). Peter Bryants retreat from traditional Christianity exerted the greater influence, however: his devotion to the ancient writers reflected a humanistic view of life, which he transmitted to his son. Two years later, Bryant and Leupp were again off for Liverpool, then wended south through Paris, Genoa, and Naples before arriving in Egypt for a four-month exploration of the cities of the Ottoman Empire. But from that point on, it prospered, steadily increasing the value of his sixty per cent ownership, and its reputation grew as Bryant etched the faults of his political opponents with his acid editorials. A selection from, For the most part, the decades after he took a step back from the burdensome tasks of running the, Shortly after Bryant returned in the fall of 1849, his old friend Dana urged him to collect the 15 years of letters from his travels he had sent to the, Once back in New York, Bryant kept his title as editor, but the actual running of the paper steadily receded into other hands, and in the next decade his involvement increasingly became that of an investor protecting his stake. When the elder Bryants legislative duties took him to Boston, he became acquainted with the writings of William Ellery Channing and other early Unitarians and found them persuasive; although he continued to attend the Congregational church in Cummington, he refused to give public assent to Trinitarian liturgy, and a few years later he joined the Unitarian church. C Years later, Bryant underscored that he was not among those who look back upon childhood as a happy period. Writing poetry at a steady pace for the, A visit to Robert Sedgwick in New York almost a half year before the obnoxious court ruling had, in fact, already waked thoughts of departing from the Berkshires. America by William Cullen Bryant | Poemist William Cullen Bryant November 3, 1794 - June 12, 1878 / Boston America OH mother of a mighty race, Yet lovely in thy youthful grace! Worship stressed death and the power of the devil, and perhaps because of the boys vulnerability to illness and chronic severe headaches, he pondered mortality, even at his tender age, and saw Gods image as cast in a mold of fear and gloom. Peter Bryant, like his father before him, had chosen a career in medicine, and he became an early exponent of homeopathy; his passionate preference, however, was for the artsfor music and, particularly, poetry. The Evening Wind by William Cullen Bryant Bryants literary prospects also brightened. [1] Background [ edit] A painting of William Cullen Bryant from 1878 William Cullen Bryant was born in 1794 in Cummington, Massachusetts. Among his causes over the decades, he had been the prime advocate for a unified and uniformed police department, agitated for the paving of the city streets, led the way for creation of Central Park, fought for establishment of the Metropolitan Museum of Art as a cardinal attribute of a great world city, and supported the right of labor to unionize. Ever since meeting Cubans during his early months in New York, Bryant had nursed a romantic vision of that Caribbean island, but his observation of slavery as practiced there, made more terrible by the execution of a slave before his eyes, shattered those youthful illusions. Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for William Cullen Bryant American poet antique photo at the best online prices at eBay! While in Great Barrington, on advice from the Sedgwicks, Bryant had aborted a political farce, his one attempt at writing for the stage, yet his interest subsisted. The renewal of his French had nearly immediate application: for the July issue of The New-York Review, Bryant not only wrote a long essay reviewing a new edition of Jehan de Nostre Dames 1575 work on the troubadour poets but also translated Provenal poetry to accompany the critical evaluation. WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT (1794-1878), "Thanatopsis," North American Review and Miscellaneous Journal, September 1817, Volume V, Number XV | Forgotten Chapters of Boston's Literary History Free photo gallery. William Cullen Bryant: Poems Analysis These notes were contributed by members of the GradeSaver community. This shift in attention was not altogether unhappy. Too much of what he wrote to quota reflects an impulse to supply appropriate embellishment for the magazines upcoming number: e.g., March, November, Autumn Woods, Summer Wind. At times, the result is inspired, but in general the quality is mixed, and often an arresting image or a felicitous line leads into a clich or a merely convenient rhyme. The Prairies. Once back in New York, Bryant kept his title as editor, but the actual running of the paper steadily receded into other hands, and in the next decade his involvement increasingly became that of an investor protecting his stake. America by Walt Whitman. A second essay, On the Use of Trisyllabic Feet in Iambic Verse, published in September 1819, reworked material possibly first drafted when he was 16 or 17 and trying to shake free of Popes Neoclassical cadence; even so, it did much to bolster his credentials as a scholar of metrics. Bryant was acceding to his evident fate, but with obvious distaste. His most conspicuous achievement as a student, Descriptio Gulielmopolis, satirically expressed discontent with Williamstown and living conditions at the college; still more disappointing was the absence of intellectual zest among pale-faced, moping students [who] crawl / Like spectral monuments of woe. The academic program offered little stimulation: only two tutors were responsible for instruction of all sophomores, and the courses were far afield of his interests. Dr. Bryant also wrote verse, and if his derivative efforts fell short of distinction, they were nonetheless well-turned. Moreover, the contemporary response to his stories was encouraging: all three volumes of the annual were critically praised, largely because of their prose, and the complete run of Tales of the Glauber-Spa sold so quickly that it was reprinted. Some of his very best poems emerged from this time. A letter to a friend records his distress: it speaks of farming or a trade, possibly even blacksmithingan implausible option given spells of pulmonary weakness and his recurrent headachesas preferable to the law should he not realize his wish to resume under-graduate studies in New Haven the next term. She has a voice of gladness, and a smile. Another Scotsman, Robert Blair, had an even stronger influence; his enormously popular 1743 poem, The Grave, had marked a shift in taste and practice from the crisp wit and erudition of the Neoclassic age to the brooding emotional indulgence that would fuse with subsequent elements of romanticism. Instead, he turned once again to writing poetry, both to work through his discomfiture and to compensate for it. The law is a hag, Charles wrote to his friend; besides, there are tricks in practice which would perpetually provoke disgust. Two Sedgwick brothers lived in New York City and sought to convince Bryant to relocate where any description of talent may find not only occupation but diversity of application. Meanwhile, Dana was growing concerned that Bryant, enmeshed in his practice and local political life, would let his talent sleep.. Again they traveled to major cities, this time including Madrid, but the focus of the trip was Italy. An injury to Coleman in mid June of 1826, following a previous stroke that had cost him the use of his legs, forced him to rely on a substitute to help run the paper. Poet and editor William Cullen Bryant stood among the most celebrated figures in the frieze of 19th-century America. That Bryant offered no new composition, despite exceptional encouragement from the North American, strongly suggests that the magazines readers scarcely noticed the poems. Had his intended profession inspired ambition, he might have welcomed its challenges as a means of escape from dejection, but law offered him nothing more than the prospect of a living, burdened by wearying triviality. No one could challenge his place as First Citizen of New York. His first two tales, inspired by Washington Irving, may have been conceived by an editor pressed for material to fill his magazine, but they nonetheless express in prose the vision for American literature he outlined in his poetry lectures. With words of shame And taunts of scorn they join thy name. Four years later, he was a principal supporter of Abraham Lincoln, and after the Civil War began, he became a forceful advocate of abolition. Although no document records the moment Bryant took control of the papers editorial page, it is almost certainly marked by a sudden change to carefully reasoned briefs against high tariffs. at the best online prices at eBay! Friendship with the Sedgwick family of nearby Stockbridge increased that disaffection. Taking some drafts Cullen had left behind in his desk and rewriting two others in his own hand, he submitted them to Willard Phillips, a friend of long standing from Cummington and an editor of the North American. Upon his return to New York, however, he again had to deal with a problem at the Evening Post. Bryant had also been veering toward Democratic positions in other areas, and he admired Andrew Jackson and felt personally drawn to his good friend Pauldings good friend Martin Van Burenall of which made for comfortable relations between the notoriously fiery Coleman and his assistant editor. A curious happenstance in Boston, however, would work to weaken Themiss hold. A third conjecture would advance it to some unknown month as late as 1815, when he appears to have been in a creative flurry. Bryants trip bears comparison to Walt Whitmans pivotal journey to Louisiana and the Midwest in 1848: for both men, the experience of an America spreading boundlessly beyond their lives in the East affected their sense of voice as American poets. Once he had counted on his facility as the key to winning fame; now he wrote seeking clarity for himself. The arrangement made possible some separation of the two households, but friction between the generations and their fundamentally different attitudes toward the world endured. The Boston coterie that had contrived for Bryants appearance seized the moment. Two decades later, his final collection of new poems would prove a still duller echo of what was once genius. 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