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
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.
breath delicate forest great issues soul upholding visible
That delicate forest flower,With scented breath and look so like a smile,Seems, as it issues from the shapeless mould,An emanation of the indwelling Life,A visible token of the upholding Love,That are the soul of this great universe.
breath delicate forest great issues smiles soul universe upholding visible
That delicate forest flower, With scented breath and look so like a smile, Seems, as it issues from the shapeless mould, An emanation of the indwelling Life, A visible token of the upholding Love, That are the soul of this great universe.
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.
ancient gray great meadows melancholy poured quietness rivers round solemn tomb woods
The hills,Rock-ribbed, and ancient as the sun, -- the valesStretching in pensive quietness between;The venerable woods -- rivers that moveIn majesty, and the complaining brooksThat make the meadows green; and, poured round all,Old Ocean's gray and melancholy waste, --Are but the solemn decorations allOf the great tomb of man.
ancient brooks gray great meadows melancholy move poured quietness rivers round solemn stretching tomb woods
The hills, Rock-ribbed, and ancient as the sun, -- the vales Stretching in pensive quietness between; The venerable woods -- rivers that move In majesty, and the complaining brooks That make the meadows green; and, poured round all, Old Ocean's gray and melancholy waste, -- Are but the solemn decorations all Of the great tomb of man.
among crushed dies earth eternal god rise shall
Truth, crushed to earth, shall rise again;Th' eternal years of God are hers;But Error, wounded, writhes in pain,And dies among his worshippers.
among crushed dies eternal god rise shall
Truth, crushed to earth, shall rise again; Th' eternal years of God are hers; But Error, wounded, writhes in pain, And dies among his worshippers.
courage dreary fear hope image less remembered sea smile thy
Yet will that beauteous image makeThe dreary sea less drearAnd thy remembered smile will wakeThe hope that tramples fear
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.
dost faults judgment quick thou
Thou dost knowThe faults to which the young are ever prone;The will is quick to act, the judgment weak.
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. . . .