William Cullen Bryant
(1794 - 1878)
A
Quick Overview
| He was an American Romantic poet of nature, best remembered for “Thanatopsis,” and a journalist serving as the editor for 50 years of the New York Evening Post. |
His
Life
Links
Some
of His Works
"William Cullen Bryant was our " first American writer of verse to win international acclaim" an essay by Wynn Yarborough <http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/webtexts/Bryant/brybio.html>
The religious conservatism imposed on
Bryant in childhood found expression in
pious doggerel; the political conservatism of his father stimulated “The
Embargo” (1808), in which the 13-year-old poet demanded the resignation of
President Jefferson. But in
“Thanatopsis” (from the Greek “a view of death”), which he wrote when he was
17 and which made him famous when it was published in The North Bryant will be
remembered longest as the poet of his native Berkshire hills and streams in such
poems as “Thanatopsis” and “To a Waterfowl.” "Bryant,
William
Cullen." Encyclopędia Britannica.
2007.
Encyclopędia Britannica Online.
24 Jan. 2007
<http://search.eb.com/eb/article-9017826>His
Life
A
descendant of early Puritan immigrants, Bryant
at 16 entered the sophomore class of Williams
College. Because of finances and in hopes of attending Yale, he withdrew without
graduating. Unable to enter Yale, he studied law under private guidance at
Worthington and at Bridgewater and at 21 was admitted to the bar. He spent
nearly 10 years in Plainfield and at Great Barrington as an attorney, a calling
for which he held a lifelong aversion. At 26
Bryant married Frances Fairchild, with whom he was happy until her death
nearly half a century later. In 1825 he moved to New York City to become
coeditor of the New York Review. He became an editor of the Evening
Post in 1827; in 1829 he became editor in chief and part owner and continued
in this position until his death. His careful investment of his income made
Bryant wealthy. He was an active patron
of the arts and letters. 
American
Review in 1817, he rejected Puritan dogma for Deism; thereafter he was a
Unitarian. Turning also from Federalism, he joined the Democratic party and made
the Post an organ of free trade, workingmen's rights, free speech, and
abolition. Bryant was for a time a Free-Soiler
and later one of the founders of the Republican party. As a man of letters,
Bryant securely established himself at
the age of 27 with Poems (1821). In his later years he devoted
considerable time to translations.