William Cullen Bryant

1
William Cullen Bryant
American Poet or Santa Clause in Disguise? For
wheresoe'er I looked, the while, Was Nature's
everlasting smile. -
2
Works Cited

• http//www.vcu.edu/engweb/webtexts/Bryant/brybio.h
  tml
• http//www.2020site.org/literature/william_bryant.
  html
• http//www.enotes.com/poetry-criticism/bryant-will
  iam-cullen
• http//www.britannica.com/eb/article-9017826/Willi
  am-Cullen-Bryant

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Beginnings

• Born November 3, 1794
• Bryant began writing early in his life and had
  his first poem published at the age of 10.
• Bryants 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.

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Beginnings Continued

• Bryants 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 Bryants 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

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Works and Death

• Bryants poetry falls into the Romantic branch of
  literary work.
• Romanticism deals (quite obviously after reading
  WCBs 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.

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Works Continued

• The Death of Slavery
• I Broke the Spell that Held Me Long
• June
• The Murdered Traveler
• The Two Graves
• Bryants work ranged from the melancholy and
  serene, to the dark and sometimes morbid. But
  his work all had one underlying theme, nature.

7
Criticism

• Bryants 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 Bryants 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