Bryant was also greatly influenced by English Romantic poets, especially William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. In this era Bryant also became a sought-after speaker, and delivered eulogies at the funerals of novelist James Fenimore Cooper and Samuel F.B. With the help of a distinguished and well-connected literary family, the Sedgwicks, he gained a foothold in New York City, where, in 1825, he was hired as editor, first of the New-York Review, then of the United States Review and Literary Gazette. When he was 13, one of his first poems was published under somewhat sensational circumstances. At a Glance… From 1816 to 1825, he practiced law in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, and supplemented his income with such work as service as the town's hog reeve. 2nd ed. The themes of nature central to his poetry were part of an early literary movement that would later bring other U.S. notables such as Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau to fame. The Evening Post: A Century of Journalism. American poet, editor, and journalist who is most famous for his 1817 poem, "Thanatopsis." William Cullen Bryant Family, Childhood, Life Achievements, Facts, Wiki and Bio of 2017. For additional information about the Homestead, visit The Trustees of Reservations William Cullen Bryant Homestead website. (He expressed a similar view in the 1864 poem "The Poet.") ." "Bryant, William Cullen You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the CC-BY-SA. In 1811 he wrote the first draft of his best-known poem, "Thanatopsis" (literally, view of death), reflecting the influence of English "graveyard" poets such as Thomas Gray. It is his most famous and enduring poem, often cited for its skillful depiction and contemplation of death. His popularity was akin to Longfellow and Emerson with his work achieving the top ranked status. In his last decade, Bryant shifted from writing his own poetry to translating Homer. Nevins, Allan. William Cullen Bryant was born on November 3, 1794, in Cummington, Massachusetts to Peter Bryant and Sarah Snell. He and his partner could not make the magazine thrive, however, and it folded after just a year. That poem was "Thanatopsis," taken from the Greek term for "view of death." The United States one-dollar bill is the most common denomination of US currency, totaling 45% of all bills ($1, $2, $5, $10, $20, $50 and $100) produced. https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/economics-magazines/bryant-william-cullen, "Bryant, William Cullen Distaste for pettifoggery and the sometimes absurd judgments pronounced by the courts gradually drove him to break with the legal profession. Shortly after Bryant wrote the first draft of "Thanotopsis," he came under the influence of the romantic British poets William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Horace Greeley was America's leading journalist of the Civil Wa…, Delmore Schwartz New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1928-1936. World Encyclopedia. "William Cullen Bryant He did, however, begin studying law with an established attorney not far from Cummington, as was the custom in the day for a legal education. Bryant developed an interest in poetry early in life. Nineteenth Century Literary Criticism, Detroit: Gale Research, Inc., 1984. Most of his poetry drew inspiration from the Cummington countryside surrounding the Homestead. All information has been reproduced here for educational and informational purposes to benefit site visitors, and is provided at no charge... Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Bryant had met Lincoln the year before when the Illinois senator arrived to speak in New York City; Bryant escorted him to the rally and introduced him before a crowd of 1,500. The best one-volume edition of the poems is Henry C. Sturges and Richard Henry Stoddard, eds., The Poetical Works of William Cullen Bryant (1903).