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

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