William Cullen Bryant
William Cullen Bryant (born November 3, 1794 in Cummington , Massachusetts , † June 12, 1878 in New York City ) was an American writer , lawyer and journalist .
biography
Bryant was the second son of the famous doctor Peter Bryant. The house where he spent his childhood and youth is now known as the William Cullen Bryant Homestead . He completed his school years at Williams College in Williamstown , but left school prematurely and prepared privately for the due exams, which he then passed with flying colors. He then studied law in Worthington and switched to Bridgewater with the same subject . In 1815 he finished his studies and was admitted to the bar.
Bryant has been writing poetry since high school. In 1808 he made his debut with The embargo , a political satire with which he made fun of Thomas Jefferson and his ministers. His dramatic attempt Spanish revolution came from this time . As a lawyer, Bryant settled in Great Barrington , where he held the office of town clerk and that of justice of the peace.
A large part of his lyrical work was written there, including Thanatopsis in 1817 . In it death is presented not as a terrible phenomenon, but rather as a general fact of nature. The poem caused a sensation and was considered by many poets, u. a. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow as pointing the way. He was able to publish several of his poems in the North American Review , including The waterfowl and The inscription for the entrance to the wood . His greatest poetic work was also printed there: The Ages , a didactic poem on the evolution of the human race, which he recited in 1821 at the graduation ceremony at Harvard University with Phi Beta Kappa . He achieved his literary breakthrough with the poem Thanatopsis , which he wrote as early as 1810 but only published anonymously in 1817.
In 1824 he married Frances Fairchild in Great Barrington, resigned from all offices there and settled with his wife in New York. Bryant got a job with the New York Review and later moved to the New York Evening Post . He started as a freelancer and within a few years advanced to the position of editor-in-chief. In the years 1827 to 1830 Bryant edited together with the lawyer and journalist Gulian Crommelin Verplanck (1786-1870) the magazine The Talisman .
In all of his articles and pamphlets, Bryant fought against slavery and was just as vehement in advocating his country's free trade policy . He was politically active throughout his life; as a member of the Free Soil Party , he was also involved in founding the Republican Party . He later gave all his support to Abraham Lincoln's policies .
In Bryant's other lyric work, William Cowper and William Wordsworth are important role models; but here a positive, happy attitude to life triumphs over the mystical immersion in nature. When an anthology of his poems appeared in London in 1832 , Bryant was invited by his publisher. Bryant took advantage of this and embarked on a multi-year trip through Europe in 1834; In 1845 he made a second trip with his friend Charles Leupp and visited Syria and Egypt , among others . Further trips followed in 1849/50, 1857/58 and 1866/67. The literary output of these trips was reflected in the feature section of the New York Evening Post as Letters of a Traveler in Europe and America and Letters from the East . In 1855 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences .
As a political speaker, Bryant has also appeared publicly with great success. According to his political principles, he was one of the Republicans and one of the most consistent fighters of the Democratic Party . Of his later work, according to Bryant himself, his translation of the Iliad and the Odyssey of Homer was most important to him. In addition, translations by other Greek and Roman authors were made. He also wrote the Popular history of the United States with his colleague Sydney Howard Gay (1814–1888) .
William Cullen Bryant died at his home at 24 West Sixteenth Street in Manhattan on June 12, 1878, aged 83 . After his death, the mayor of New York City ordered mourning flags to be displayed on the city's public buildings. The funeral took place two days later. After the funeral service, the coffin with the body was taken by special train to Bryant's final resting place in Roslyn on Long Island .
Bryant has made a name for himself not only as a political journalist. Especially as a poet, with his z. The almost reverent description of nature gave impetus to many subsequent poets.
The Bryant Park , a park in Manhattan , was named after William Cullen Bryant.
Works
- Among the trees (1874)
- The fountain and other poems (1842)
- Letters of a traveler in Europe and America (1845)
- Library of poetry and song (1870/72)
- Orations at addresses (1873)
- Popular history of the United States (1878/82)
- Thanatopsis (1817)
- Thirty Poems (1864)
- The whitefooted deer and other poems (1844)
supporting documents
- ↑ Park Godwin : A Biography of William Cullen Bryant: With Extracts from His Private Correspondence , Volume 2. D. Appleton & Company, New York 1883, pp. 404-409.
literature
- Parke Godwin: A biography of William Cullen Bryant . - New York, Appleton, 1883
- Albert F. MacLean: William Cullen Bryant . - Boston, Mass., Twayne, 1989
- Harry H. Peckham: Gotham Yankee . - New York, Russell & Russell, 1950
Web links
- Literature by and about William Cullen Bryant in the catalog of the German National Library
- William Cullen Bryant in the database of Find a Grave (English)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Bryant, William Cullen |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American poet and journalist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | November 3, 1794 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Cummington , Massachusetts |
| DATE OF DEATH | June 12, 1878 |
| Place of death | New York City |