as editor of the N. Y. Evening Post. For over fifty years he voiced the higher ideals of politics and citizenship, and labored effectively in support of public movements for the common good. He was a strong advocate of free-trade. No unclean thing came from his mouth or pen. Second volume of poems, a collective edition including his earlier pieces, published in 1832. This was reprinted in England through the instrumentality of Washington Irving. It numbered, all told, eighty-nine selections-just one-half the poetic product, translations excepted, of his entire life. Devoted many of his spare hours to the study of modern languages. Two years, 1834-1836, spent in European travel. Five other visits made to the old world in the course of his life-touring England, France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, Egypt, and the Holy Land. Letters of a Traveler, Letters from the East, and Letters from Spain and Other Countries give his experiences and impressions abroad. Traveled extensively also in his own country south and west. As man of business he was successful and made a fortune. Held in much esteem as an orator. His published addresses include eulogies on James Fenimore Cooper, Washington Irving, Fitz-Greene Halleck, Samuel F. Morse, Robert Burns, and Mazzini. In 1870-'71 his translations of the Iliad and Odyssey appeared. The Flood of Years published, 1876. He died at New York, June 12, 1878. WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT STUDY LISTS One of the most important requisites for a great poet is a luminous style. The elements of poetry lie in natural objects, in the vicissitudes of human life, in the emotions of the human heart, and the relations of man to man. He who can present them in combinations and lights which at once affect the mind with a deep sense of their truth and beauty is the poet for his own age and the ages that succeed it. It is no disparagement either to his skill or his power that he finds them near at hand; the nearer they lie to the common track of the human intelligence, the more certain is he of the sympathy of his own generation, and of those which shall come after him. -William Cullen Bryant, Introduction to his Library of Poetry and Song. NATURE POEMS Inscription for the Entrance to a Wood (1815)* A Winter Piece (1820) Summer Wind (1824) The Prairies (1832) A Hymn of the Sea (1842) A Rain-Dream (1850) Among the Trees (1865) The Yellow Violet (1814) To the Fringed Gentian (1829) Green River (1819) The Death of the Flowers (1825) Autumn Woods (1824) To a Waterfowl (1815) June (1825) The Evening Wind (1829) The date has reference to the year of composition. MEDITATIVE POEMS Thanatopsis (1811) Hymn of the City (1830) A Forest Hymn (1825) The Battle-Field (1837) An Evening Revery (1840) The Conqueror's Grave (1849) AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL POEMS "Oh Fairest of the Rural Maids" (1820) "The May Sun Sheds an Amber Light (1849) The Poet (Bryant's theory of his art) (1863) POEMS RELATING TO COUNTRY LIFE The Planting of the Apple Tree (1849) Robert of Lincoln (1855) POEMS RELATING TO AMERICAN HISTORY Song of Marion's Men (1831) The Green Mountain Boys (1837) Seventy-six (1837) Oh Mother of a Mighty Race (1846) * Included for its biographical features. As verse it is not far removed from doggerel. |