William Cullen Bryan and Romantic Poetry

William Cullen Bryant was the first American poet to received European acclaim as well as in the United States. His poems of the beauty of America’s natural settings captivated both people who lived amongst it and people who had never seen it before. His biography in the Anthology says that " His best poetry had been written not of European nightingales and Roman or Greek landscapes, but of American sparrows, and of American prairies, and of the trees and flowers and grass of New England."

Like Romantic writers on both sides of the Atlantic, Bryant was fascinated with the supernatural, the spiritual and the mystic. His poem "Thanatopsis", or "meditation on death", is a perfect example of this element of romanticism. In this poem, the author focuses on nature and its involvement with death. Death is a part of life to this thinkers, artists and authors. They believe that death is only a beginning, and in their pantheistic thought, they believe that you return from where you came: back into the earth and to Mother Nature. To them, death is not a terrible thing, but a beautiful and eventual one.

Nature and death are inextricably linked according to the reasoning of the aforementioned poem. The poet recommends that if you feel ill at heart and on the brink of death, you should go to nature to calm your soul:

When thoughts
Of the last bitter hour come like a blight
Over thy spirit, and sad images
Of the stern agony, and shroud, and pall,
And breathless darkness, and the narrow house,
Make thee shudder, and grow sick at heart; -
Go forth, under the open sky and list
To Nature’s teachings, while from all around -
Earth and her waters, and the depths of air
Comes a still voice. - "

This concept, that nature can calm the sick soul, is common among primitive cultures such as the Native Americans of the New England region. It is typical of northern Romantics to use examples of Native custom such as this. These writers emphasized with the American Indians struggle to stay within their own culture, in nature. The concept is also common among later Transcendentalists, such as Emerson and Thoreau. They held that the town-dominated and fast paced world was not for them and that the natural way of life would better suit their personalities.

Also typical of romantic poets, Bryant feminizes nature, saying:

"To him who in the love of Nature holds
Communion with her visible forms, she speaks
A various language;"

The poet continues his praise of all things natural in his poems "Yellow Violet" and "To a Waterfowl" as well as in "The Prairies." Bryant continues to idealize the landscapes of the American countryside in the latter poem, praising the beauty and wonderment of nature in great detail. His description of rolling wheat fields and colorful wildflowers is absolutely breathtaking in its mental imagery. Here is an example of what I specifically mean:

"I behold [the Prairies] for the first time
And my heart swells, while the dilated sight
Takes in the encircling vastness. Lo! they stretch.
In airy undulation, far away,
As if the ocean, in his gentlest swell,
Stood still, with all his rounded billows fixed,
And motionless forever. - Motionless?
No - they are all unchained again. The clouds
Sweep over with their shadows, and beneath,
The surface rolls and fluctuates to the eyes ..."

In his famous poem, "A Forest Hymn", Bryant portrays prairies and forests almost as sanctuaries meant for worship. His short biography in the Anthology makes the point that, "That amiable nature is evident in the soothing wildernees described in his ... ‘Forest Hymn,’ which portrayed nature’s groves as more noble than man’s cathedrals"

While on the topic of worship and cathedrals, I wish to take a tangent to a slightly off-topic matter. Bryant refers to God in his poetry, as a creator and protector, but also as a god who is present in all living things. He still seems to reject the structure and binding nature of the Church’s rules. He believes in a greater being who is a deity of nature and the wilderness. This is best expressed in the first two stanzas of "A Forest Hymn." The poet speaks of God’s creation surrounding him: the trees, sunlight crows, and many other related natural wonders.
Also in this piece, akin to Irving, Bryant speaks with optimism about changes and the cycle of like; the perpetual work of nature:

"My heart is awed within me when I think
Of the great miracle that still goes on,
In silence round me - perpetual work
Of thy creation, finished yet renewed
Forever."

While simple compared with later romantic and transcendental writer’s work, Bryant’s verses are compelling and even relaxing to read. They give an atmosphere of calm, easing the mind with poem of the forest and the plains. This is probably the main reason why they have survived the test of time.