William Cullen Bryant
William Cullen Bryant
William Cullen Bryantwas an American romantic poet, journalist, and long-time editor of the New York Evening Post...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPoet
Date of Birth3 November 1794
CountryUnited States of America
aims athletic capacity certain compass convinces expansion greatness harsh human indefinite intellect itself mighty mind nurse power rocks roughly scarce stages strength wrestling
Difficulty, my brethren, is the nurse of greatness -- a harsh nurse, who roughly rocks her foster-children into strength and athletic proportion. The mind grappling with great aims and wrestling with mighty ingredients, grows, by certain necessity, to their stature. Scarce anything so convinces me of the capacity of the human intellect for indefinite expansion in the different stages of its being, as this power of enlarging itself to the compass of surrounding emergencies.
elements emotions great human lie luminous natural poet poetry relations seems style
To me it seems that one of the most important requisites for a great poet is a luminous style. The elements of poetry lie in natural objects, in the vicissitudes of human life, in the emotions of the human heart, and the relations of man to man.
desert sadly sea thoughtful wild
Wild was the day; the wintry sea Moaned sadly on New England's strand, When first the thoughtful and the free, Our fathers, trod the desert land.
earth heal hope life meet memory mind pleasant praise sleep tortured
The praise of those who sleep in earth,The pleasant memory of their worth,The hope to meet when life is past,Shall heal the tortured mind at last.
earth heal hope life meet memory mind pleasant praise shall sleep tortured
The praise of those who sleep in earth, The pleasant memory of their worth, The hope to meet when life is past, Shall heal the tortured mind at last.
crimson distant eye figure flight floats mark might painted thee thy
Vainly the fowler's eye Might mark thy distant flight to do thee wrong, As, darkly painted on the crimson sky, Thy figure floats along.
curb forward free last limit mankind shall spirit
Here the free spirit of mankind, at length,Throws its last fetters off; and who shall placeA limit to the giant's unchained strength,Or curb his swiftness in the forward race?
blooms early gorgeous humble midst passed smile smiles stayed thee thy
Thy early smile has stayed my walk;But midst the gorgeous blooms of May,I passed thee on thy humble stalk.
earth lovely pass
Loveliest of lovely things are they, On earth, that soonest pass away
gentle perish
So gentle and so beautiful, should perish with the flowers.
built firmament glorious hand hath man smoothed sown
Man hath no part in all this glorious work:The hand that built the firmament hath heavedAnd smoothed these verdant swells, and sown their slopesWith herbage. . . .
built firmament glorious hand hath man smoothed sown
Man hath no part in all this glorious work: The hand that built the firmament hath heaved And smoothed these verdant swells, and sown their slopes With herbage. . . .
language love nature various visible
To him who in the love of Nature holdsCommunion with her visible forms, she speaksA various language.
breath change forms glorious living thus
Thus change the forms of being. Thus ariseRaces of living things, glorious in strength,And perish, as the quickening breath of GodFills them, or is withdrawn.