Chapter William Cullen Bryant of Index by Simonds History of American Literature

humor, and his poetry passion. And yet in spite of these and other limitations, a high estimate must be placed upon the value of Bryant's work, and on its significance in the development of our national literature. He was original, natural, and sincere; he drew his inspiration not from the poets he read, but direct from Nature as he saw her in the mountains and the valleys, the trees, the brooks, and the flowers, of his New England home. He proved that native themes were as poetical in America as in England, and that the true poet finds his material at his hand. In his poems -- as in his profession and his private life -- he celebrated the virtues typical of the Puritan, truth, purity, moral earnestness, reverence, and faith. He wrote a few poems which must remain a permanent possession in our literature, and what is, after all, more notable yet, he laid a safe and substantial foundation for American verse.

Suggestions for Reading.

The poem Thanatopsis calls for careful study, not only that the student may accurately grasp its central thought, its "message," but also that he may really appreciate the superb quality of its diction as shown in the choice of words and moulding of phrases. The Inscription for the Entrance to a Wood should be compared with it. To a Waterfowl, The Yellow Violet, and To the Fringed Gentian may be read in connection, and the poet's manner of pointing a moral lesson noted. Wordsworth's poem To the Small Celandine might be read for comparison; also Freneau's stanzas on The Wild Honeysuckle. Other of Bryant's descriptive poems, like Green River, The Prairies, and The Evening Wind, should be read with especial reference to the spirit and truthfulness of the description. The Song of Marion's Men, The Massacre at Scio, Not Yet, and Our Country's Call exhibit another phase of Bryant's verse; The Planting of the Apple Tree and Robert of Lincoln illustrate still another. A Lifetime is of interest as a summary of the poet's experience, and The Poet as an expression of his own ideal. A Forest Hymn, The Death of the Flowers, and The Flood of Years (1876) are too important to be omitted from the list; and it is hoped that the study of Bryant's life will have aroused a desire to read most if not all of the poems mentioned in the preceding pages.

The only complete edition of Bryant's Poems is that edited by Parke Godwin (his associate on the Evening Post, and his son-in-law), published by Appleton. Mr. Godwin is also the author of the authoritative biography of the poet (Appleton). A more compact biography is the interesting William Cullen Bryant, by John Bigelow, in the American Men of Letters Series (Houghton Mifflin Co.). The most recent life of Bryant is that by William A. Bradley, in the English Men of Letters Series (Macmillan). Critical comment will be found in E.P. Whipple's Literature and Life, Stedman's Poets of America, and Richardson's American Literature. There are poetical tributes to Bryant by Stedman, Stoddard, Whittier, Holmes, and Lowell; with the stirring lines of Lowell's birthday offering, On Board the '76, read also his humorous characterization of Bryant in A Fable for Critics (1848).

A CHRONOLOGICAL REVIEW OF AMERICAN LITERATURE: 1800-1835	GENERAL PROSE.	VERSE.	FICTION.	CONTEMPORARY LITERATURE IN GREAT BRITAIN.
Salmagundi (1st Series), 1807.	Barlow's Columbiad, 1807.	Brown's Edgar Huntley, 1801.	Edgeworth's Castle Rackrent, 1800.	Cowper died, 1800. Lay of Last Minstrel, 1805.
Knickerbocker History, 1809.	Paulding's Satires, 1813.	Clara Howard, Jane Talbot, 1801.	Porter's Thaddeus of Warsaw, 1803.	Moore's Irish Melodies, 1807. Marmion, 1808.
Sketch-Book, 1819-20.	The Star-Spangled Banner, 1814.	Cooper's Precaution, 1820.	Lamb's Tales from Shakespeare, 1807.	English Bards and Scotch Reviewers, 1809.
Salmagundi (2d Series), 1819.	Thanatopsis (N.A. Rev.), 1817.	The Spy, 1821.	Porter's Scottish Chiefs, 1810.	Lady of the Lake, 1810.
Bracebridge Hall, 1822.	Paulding's The Backwoodsman, 1818.	The Pioneers, 1823.	Austen's Sense and Sensibility, 1811.	Childe Harold, 1812.
Tales of a Traveller, 1824.	The Croaker Poems, 1819.	Paulding's Koningsmarke, 1823.	Pride and Prejudice, 1812.	Bride of Abydos, 1813.
Life of Columbus, 1828.	Payne's Brutus, 1818.	The Pilot, 1824.	Waverley, 1814.	Queen Mab, 1813.
Webster's Amer. Dictionary, 1828.	Halleck's Fanny, 1819.	Last of the Mohicans, 1826.	Guy Mannering, 1815.	Southey, Poet Laureate, 1813.
Conquest of Granada, 1829.	Percival's Prometheus, 1820.	Sedgwick's Hope Leslie, 1827.	Emma, 1816.	The Excursion, 1814.
Speeches of Daniel Webster, 1830.	Bryant's Poems (1st vol.), 1821.	The Prairie, 1827.	Old Mortality, 1816.	Christabel, Alastor, 1816.
Worcester's Dictionary, 1830.	Home, Sweet Home, 1823.	The Red Rover, 1828.	Persuasion, 1818.	Prisoner of Chillon, 1816.