Poems by William Cullen Bryant

by William Cullen Bryant

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Genres: Poetry, Classics, Fiction

314 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1895

About the author

William Cullen Bryant was an American romantic poet, journalist, and long-time editor of the New York Evening Post.

Reviews

[James Violand · Rating 5 out of 5]

Here is an American poet whose standing has unfortunately been forgotten by the vast majority of his countrymen. His insight is breathtaking. The beauty of America is his usual theme and shows a profound respect within his talent. He should be read over and over again. I have noted that the older he became, the more prevalent his observation that our lives should be appreciated and lived well because death beckons. He has become one of my favorite poets.

[Illiterate · Rating 2 out of 5]

Compare Bryant to Longfellow. His verse doesn’t flow as well, his scenes are less concrete, his sentiments less intimate.

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

And all the new-leaved woods, resounding wide,
Send out wild hymns upon the scented air.
and drink fresh spirit there.
Go forth, under the open sky, and listen
To Nature's teachings, while from all around—
Earth and her waters, and the depths of air,—
Comes a still voice.

I am immersing myself in some ebooks from the Gutenberg site to feel the sense and texture of New England, where I was raised and where I visited recently and was able to do some hiking and exploring the forests and lakes a little. My family was not outdoorsy, it took living in Manhattan and Philly for several years to help me discover I was, so it was a first for me, and I think Bryant speaks my language and the language of the forest and trees and waters, and translate it in a way that resonates. There is a lot of discussion of how we are not separate from Nature, that we are Nature, but there is something about being in it, the forest, the wilds, even my forested childhood backyard that is sublime and divine, it just is. It may feel like coming home, it may cause some chemical reactions to all the green and freshness, but it is my breath and song and seems to have been Bryant's also.
If you haven't checked out the site, here is the link: https://www.gutenberg.org/

A found poem of his many images that called to me:

Oh, let me, by the crystal valley-stream,
Wander amid the mild and mellow light;
And while the wood-thrush pipes his evening lay,
Give me one lonely hour to hymn the setting day
Enter this wild wood
And view the haunts of Nature. The calm shade
Shall bring a kindred calm, and the sweet breeze
That makes the green leaves dance, shall waft a balm
To thy sick heart. Thou wilt find nothing here
Of all that pained thee in the haunts of men;
To him who in the love of Nature holds
Communion with her visible forms, she speaks
A various language.

Has Nature, in her calm, majestic march
Faltered with age at last? does the bright sun
Grow dim in heaven? or, in their far blue arch,
Sparkle the crowd of stars, when day is done,
Less brightly? when the dew-lipped Spring comes on,
Breathes she with airs less soft, or scents the sky
With flowers less fair than when her reign begun?
Does prodigal Autumn, to our age, deny
The plenty that once swelled beneath his sober eye?

Look on this beautiful world, and read the truth
In her fair page; see, every season brings
New change, to her, of everlasting youth;
Still the green soil, with joyous living things,
Swarms, the wide air is full of joyous wings,
And myriads, still, are happy in the sleep
Of ocean's azure gulfs, and where he flings
The restless surge. Eternal Love doth keep
In his complacent arms, the earth, the air, the deep.

And all the new-leaved woods, resounding wide,
Send out wild hymns upon the scented air.
Lo! to the smiling Arno's classic side
The emulous nations of the west repair,
And kindle their quenched urns, and drink fresh spirit
there.

Thou who wouldst see the lovely and the wild
Mingled in harmony on Nature's face,
Ascend our rocky mountains. Let thy foot
Fail not with weariness, for on their tops
The beauty and the majesty of earth,
Spread wide beneath, shall make thee to forget
The steep and toilsome way. There, as thou stand'st,
The haunts of men below thee, and around
The mountain summits, thy expanding heart
Shall feel a kindred with that loftier world
To which thou art translated, and partake
The enlargement of thy vision. Thou shalt look
Upon the green and rolling forest tops,
And down into the secrets of the glens,
And streams, that with their bordering thickets strive

The mountain wind! most spiritual thing of all
The wide earth knows; when, in the sultry time,
He stoops him from his vast cerulean hall,
He seems the breath of a celestial clime!
As if from heaven's wide-open gates did flow
Health and refreshment on the world below.

[Drkshadow03 · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Thou who wouldst see the lovely and the wild
Mingled in harmony on Nature's face,
Ascend our rocky mountains. Let thy foot
Fail not with weariness, for on their tops
The beauty and the majesty of earth,
Spread wide beneath, shall make thee to forget
The steep and toilsome way. There, as thou stand'st,
The haunts of men below thee, and around
The mountain summits, thy expanding heart
Shall feel a kindred with that loftier world
To which thou art translated, and partake
The enlargement of thy vision.”

William Cullen Bryant was part of a celebrated group of American poets known as the fireside poets. In general, the reputation of the fireside poets has declined among readers and literary critics. Bryant’s poetry turns to nature as a moral guide and a sanctuary of solace in a sometimes disheartening world. To be sure there are some good poems found in this collection, but as I kept reading I felt like something was missing. The poems lack the stylistic creativity and innovation of William Wordsworth and the other major British Romantic poets. I enjoyed some of the poems and there are some beautiful lines, but nothing about the poet’s voice felt original or innovative. At the same time, many of the poems lacked the easy readability of his fellow fireside poet, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. However, his poems do contain some worthwhile insight.

In his poetry, William Cullen Bryant uses nature as a source of contemplation about the world, his own life, and the state of human affairs. Many of the poems address the intersection between nature and time. A common tope within the poetry is looking back on a joyful and innocent childhood we can never have back in our old age.

““O Earth! dost thou too sorrow for the past
Like man thy offspring? Do I hear thee mourn
Thy childhood's unreturning hours, thy springs
Gone with their genial airs and melodies,
The gentle generations of thy flowers,
And thy majestic groves of olden time,
Perished with all their dwellers?” - from “Earth”

In poems like “Rivulet” the older poet revisits a river from his youth and contemplates the changes in his life. It reminds us that life must change, but the joyous impressions of our youth can comfort us in the future.

“Thou changest not—but I am changed,
Since first thy pleasant banks I ranged;
And the grave stranger, come to see
The play-place of his infancy,
Has scarce a single trace of him
Who sported once upon thy brim.
The visions of my youth are past—
Too bright, too beautiful to last.
I've tried the world—it wears no more
The colouring of romance it wore.
Yet well has Nature kept the truth
She promised to my earliest youth.
The radiant beauty shed abroad
On all the glorious works of God,
Shows freshly, to my sobered eye,
Each charm it wore in days gone by.”


Nature can comfort us in our times of trouble and its beauty can help us forget our sorrows. A close attention to nature can teach us lessons to confront the trials and tribulations that life brings.

“Stranger, if thou hast learned a truth which needs
No school of long experience, that the world
Is full of guilt and misery, and hast seen
Enough of all its sorrows, crimes, and cares,
To tire thee of it, enter this wild wood
And view the haunts of Nature. The calm shade
Shall bring a kindred calm, and the sweet breeze
That makes the green leaves dance, shall waft a balm
To thy sick heart. Thou wilt find nothing here
Of all that pained thee in the haunts of men
And made thee loathe thy life.” - “Inscription for the Entrance to a Wood”

In “The Yellow Violet” the speaker tells how he often overlooks the violet when it is spring and more beautiful flowers are present, but has been comforted by the appearance of the flower on gloomy days when other flowers are absent. He compares this observation to the human experience of the rich and successful who relied emotionally on friends during times of trial and tribulation only to ignore them after once they returned to prosperity; he promises to pay closer attention to the yellow violet and not overlook it anymore.

While “After a Tempest” describes a natural scene of beauty, peace, and calm after a storm comes to an end and hopes that one day the human world will achieve this tranquility among men.

“I looked, and thought the quiet of the scene
An emblem of the peace that yet shall be,
When o'er earth's continents, and isles between,
The noise of war shall cease from sea to sea,
And married nations dwell in harmony;
When millions, crouching in the dust to one,
No more shall beg their lives on bended knee,
Nor the black stake be dressed, nor in the sun
The o'erlaboured captive toil, and wish his life were done.”

One of the more original poems in the collection was Bryant’s “Hymn to Death,” which argues that humanity is wrong for condemning death. Instead he praises death for its ability to release those who are suffering from pain and can defeat even the mightiest of kings who have enslaved the human race. Death is the great equalizer among humanity.

“Raise then the hymn to Death. Deliverer!
God hath anointed thee to free the oppressed
And crush the oppressor. When the armed chief,
The conqueror of nations, walks the world,
And it is changed beneath his feet, and all
Its kingdoms melt into one mighty realm—
Thou, while his head is loftiest and his heart
Blasphemes, imagining his own right hand
Almighty, thou dost set thy sudden grasp
Upon him, and the links of that strong chain
That bound mankind are crumbled; thou dost break
Sceptre and crown, and beat his throne to dust.
Then the earth shouts with gladness, and her tribes
Gather within their ancient bounds again.”

He reiterates similar themes in the sonnet “Mutation.” Nature in the form of the sun’s ray stands in for the promise of brighter days in the future and the pains of life are only temporary.

“They talk of short-lived pleasure—be it so—
   Pain dies as quickly: stern, hard-featured pain
Expires, and lets her weary prisoner go.
    The fiercest agonies have shortest reign;
    And after dreams of horror, comes again
The welcome morning with its rays of peace;”

This poem and other poems remind us that pain and pleasure are short. We should enjoy those fleeting moments of happiness and not worry too much when we must suffer because our pain and problems will generally end quickly too. Other poems take on politic topics such as the Greek fight for independence from the Turks and he also writes about Native American warriors who have lost their land and way of life to the invading white Europeans, although he tends to romanticize these topics.

[Skip Unger · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read an old 1889 copy of Bryant's poems I inherited from my mother. His poems are rich and full of sentimental musings about life, love, death, and other topics dear to the hearts of 19th century poets. I was surprised to learn of the support American poets and romantics gave to the Greek war of independence against the Turks and Bryant wrote several poems glorifying their struggle. While pleasant and unoffensive, I find Bryant's style to be a bit generic and he is probably rated as a middle of the road, butnot great, American romantic poet of the 19th century. Even so he is undeservedly all but forgotten today and that is a shame. Recommended for poetry lovers especially those fond of 19th century romantic American poetry.

[Gary Redman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully written poetry of life and death through nature imagery. Essential early American poetry.

[Ivan Benedict · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't know where I got this book of poems by
William Cullen Bryant. Perhaps it was a gift. It
is small, bound in leather. On the front and on
the spine are slim branches with flowers embossed
in gold, red and white. On the front there are gold
butterflies in the four corners. The book is a seconde
edition, copyright 1899.
The poems are as wonderful as the decoration. Most
have rhyme and meter. There are story poems, sonnets,
and many involving various aspects of nature. Page 254:
"When the firmament quivers with daylight's young beam,
And the woodlands awaking burst into hymn,
And the glow of the sky blazes back from the stream,
How the bright ones of heaven in the brightness grow dim."
I would read one or two poems each night at bedtime.
Such beauty!