Thanatopsis and other Literary Works of William Cullen Bryant

William Cullen Bryant was an exceptional writer that helped make New York a center for the rising tide of American literature. As a poet, editor, journalist, and critic, Bryant became a leading citizen of New York City and had a great influence in the literary world. His involvement with the Knickerbocker group, as well as the New York Evening Post, greatly contributed to his rise as a literary influence. His recognition enabled him to use his writings to address issues he was passionate about, including concern for nature and political viewpoints.

With themes of humanitarianism and reverence for nature, Bryant’s works were read and appreciated on a large scale.

Bryant was born in Cummington, Massachusetts. His family was extremely literary oriented, which influenced his decision to become a writer. His father taught him the entire alphabet when he was only an infant, and started his schooling when he was only four. He knew he wanted to be a poet by the age of nine.

However, “Bryant’s precocity was viewed by his family not as a forecast of a life to be spent as a poet but as an indication of his fitness for an intellectual profession” (James Boylan).

When he was fourteen, his father sent his first collection of poems, The Embargo, to a Boston publisher. They were so popular that they were followed by a second volume. He attended Williams College and began to study law under Samuel Howe in Worthington. Some of his finest poems were written during this time, one of them being “Thanatopsis”.

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The first draft of his most famous poem, “Thanatopsis” was written in 1811, and was published in The North American Review in 1817. “Thanatopsis” drew immediate attention to Bryant and his work. At this time, Bryant became dissatisfied with his job as a lawyer and decided to fully pursue a career as a writer.

Bryant moved to New York City in 1825 after he decided to leave his profession as a lawyer. He became part of a New York centered literary group called the Knickerbocker School, headed by Washington Irving, a friend of Bryant’s. The Knickerbockers’ main goal was to draw attention to the literary movement and help New York become a center of arts and literature. As a member of the Knickerbocker School, Bryant, alongside other New York City writers, helped make New York a center for the rising tide of American literature.

“Knickerbocker represented boosterism at its best, promoting the growing intellectual influence of New York, supporting its claim to a cultural status that rivaled its sister city of Boston” (Keeshen). Their ideas were spread with their own newspaper, Knickerbocker, which featured publications by Bryant, Irving, and Halleck, amongst others.

Shortly after his move to New York, Bryant also became editor of the New York Evening Post, which led to his position as editor-in-chief and co-owner of the newspaper from 1829 until his death. Influenced by British political economists, he became a liberal Democrat. However, as corruption spread through the Democratic party, he broke away from the Democrats and became a Republican. Bryant and used his literature to promote his Republican ideals and support of free trade, freedom of speech and religion, movements toward collective bargaining, and freedom of slaves.

This can be seen through the New York Evening Post’s headline in 1848: “Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Trade, and Free Speech.” As an editor and journalist, “Bryant clung to an older conception of journalism. As John Bigelow, who was a colleague and later a biographer, wrote: ‘Mr. Bryant was not a journalist in the modern sense of the word: he had… but an imperfect appreciation of the financial importance of news for a newspaper. He had always been a leader-writer”” (Boylan). His leading style as a journalist and editor greatly contributed to position as a literary influence.

Taking on the roles of poet, editor, and critic, Bryant wrote in varied literary styles during his lifetime. He was not only a journalistic leader-writer, but a Romantic writer as well. Many of his early poems were inspired by English poets that he admired when he was younger. These include neoclassical poets such as Alexander Pope, Edward Young, and Thomas Gray. However, inspired by Sir Walter Scott, Robert Burns, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and William Wordsworth, Bryant’s poems were predominantly romantic.

Romantic writers favor the imagination over reason, and intuition over facts. They also feature themes of an appreciation for nature. Bryant’s poems are prime examples of this characteristic of Romanticism. He had an affinity for nature, which was often exemplified in his poems. These themes of nature can be seen in the titles of his works such as “The Yellow Violet”, “A Forest Hymn”, “Green River”, and “Summer Wind”.

William Cullen Bryant was an exceptional writer that helped make New York a center for the rising tide of American literature. He became a leading citizen of New York City and had a great influence in the literary world as a Romantic poet, editor, journalist, and critic. The Knickerbocker group, as well as the New York Evening Post, allowed for his sharing of ideas and contributed to his rise as a literary influence.

The recognition he received from these groups enabled him to use his writings to address the Romantic theme of reverence for nature, as well as his political viewpoints. In closing, using leading journalism style and Romantic characteristics, Bryant was able to communicate themes of humanitarianism and reverence for nature to many others.