William Cullen Bryant

American Poet or Santa Clause in Disguise?For wheresoe'er I looked, the while,

Was Nature's everlasting smile. -

Works Cited

• http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/webtexts/Bryant/brybio.html• http://www.2020site.org/literature/william_bryant.html• http://www.enotes.com/poetry-criticism/bryant-william-cullen• http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9017826/William-Cullen-Bryant

Beginnings

• Born November 3, 1794• Bryant began writing early in his life and had his first poem

published at the age of 10.• Bryant’s first book was published at the age of 13, a satire of an

embargo put in place by Thomas Jefferson.• At 16, Bryant entered Williams College with hopes of moving onto

Yale.• Two years later, Bryant left college and began studying for the Bar.

After three years of studying, he was finally accepted.

Beginnings Continued

• Bryant’s poetry became somewhat “uninspired” (McDowell) during is stint as a lawyer.

• At the age of 17, Bryant wrote Thanatopsis (From the Greek ‘a view of death’), which quickly brought William Cullen Bryant into the public spotlight. It was published in the North American Review, and showed Bryant’s rejection of Puritan Dogma.

• “Yet not to thy eternal resting place/ Shalt thou retire alone-nor couldst thou wish/Couch more magnificent. Thou shalt lie down/ With patriarchs of the infant world-with kings,/ The powerful of earth-the wise, the good,/ Fair forms, and hoary seers of ages past,/ All in one mighty sepulchre. –Thanatopsis

Works and Death

• Bryant’s poetry falls into the Romantic branch of literary work.• Romanticism deals (quite obviously after reading WCB’s work) with

the divinity of nature itself. Bryant become notorious with his relationship with nature.

• In 1825, Bryant became assistant editor for the New York Review.• Later in his life, Bryant translated both The Odyssey and The Iliad.

They were both considered the best English translations of these works.

• Bryant led a long and successful literary life, dying at the age of 84 years old.

Works Continued

• The Death of Slavery• I Broke the Spell that Held Me Long• June• The Murdered Traveler • The Two Graves

• Bryant’s work ranged from the melancholy and serene, to the dark and sometimes morbid. But his work all had one underlying theme, nature.

Criticism

• Bryant’s early work is considered his best literary achievements. He was seen as one of the first great American poets.

• By the time negative criticism became a part of William Cullen Bryant’s poetry, he was already a well established poet.

• His work, as some critics pointed out, was lacking diversity, flexibility and depth.

• "if we ultimately find [Bryant] to be a 'minor' poet, we must realize that it is indeed no mean accomplishment to be a minor poet.“

-Norbert Krapf