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A Biography of William Cullen Bryant: With Extracts from His Private Correspondence

by Parke Godwin. 423 pgs.

Contributors:

   Parke Godwin

Publisher:

   D. Appleton and Company

Place of Publication:

  New York  

Publication Year:

  1883

Subjects:

Bryant, William Cullen,--1794-1878

	CONTENTS.
	CHAPTER FIRST. PAGE AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MR. BRYANT 'S EARLY LIFE I Reason for writing it ; birth ; parentage ; childhood ; early tastes and studies ; school ; severe discipline. Amusements : House-raisings ; cider‐ making ; maple-sugar camps. An eclipse of the sun. Religious influences. Respect for the clergy. A child's prayer. Preparing for college. Love of Greek. Short term at college. Chemistry, botany, and poetry.
	CHAPTER SECOND. THE PLACE AND TIME OF THE POET'S BIRTH 38 Birthplace of the : Cummington ; its late settlement. Character of the settlers ; their revolutionary patriotism. The homestead. Natural beauty of the hill-region. Severe winters. Time of the poet's birth. A glance at contemporary politics and literature.
	CHAPTER THIRD. THE BRYANT FAMILY AND ANCESTORS 47 The Bryant ancestry: A table of genealogies; descent from the Mayflower pilgrims ; physical strength of the stock ; consumption and poetry in the family. Bryant , the father: his love of letters. Unitarianism. Sarah Snell , the mother: her energy. A domestic diary. The family library. The children's readings and rambles. Friends and acquaintances. Lyman and Howe . Solitude of the home.
	CHAPTER FOURTH. THE BOY POET AND POLITICIAN 67 The little preacher. Watts 's hymns. Writes verses in childhood. Fiery politics. Hatred of a satire ; notice of it in the "Monthly Anthology"; a second edition, with other poems;
	CHAPTER FIFTH. THE COLLEGE STUDENT 85 ; why chosen; reminiscences of a classmate ; John Avery ; Anacreon's ode to Spring ; fragment from Simonides ; lines on the college ; the Gerrymander ; takes a dismission. Return home. Reminiscences of brothers. Influence of Greek literature. written and hidden away.
	CHAPTER SIXTH. POEMS ON LOVE AND DEATH. A. D. 1811 -1814 102 Begins to study law at . Reads Wordsworth . Yearnings for college. A patriotic ode. Poems on love. Experience or fancy? Doubts and misgivings. A disappointment. Revulsion of feeling. A chorus of ghosts. Colloquies with death. A ghastly visitation. Speedy recovery.
	CHAPTER SEVENTH. THE LAW STUDENT. A. D. 1814 , 1815 119 Removal to Bridgewater. Likes the place. William Baylies . An anti-war ode. Diligence in business. Youthful frolics. Interest in public affairs. Wants to enlist in the army. Political transformations. Bitter federalism. . An early rebel. State rights. The return of peace. Escape of Napoleon . Admitted to the bar.
	CHAPTER EIGHTH. THE YOUNG LAWYER. A. D. 1816 -1819 140 Studies in poetry. Where to go. Settles in . Writes " ." Removes to Great Barrington. A complaint of the lungs. Dislikes law. Discovery of : It is published in the ; supposed to be Bryant 's; success of the poem. An address on the Bible. An essay on American poetry : The old versifiers judged and dismissed. Town clerk, tything-man and justice of the peace.
	CHAPTER NINTH. THE FIRST COLLECTION OF POEMS. A. D. 1820 , 1821 161 Death of Bryant . Acquaintance with the Sedgwicks . Hymns written. A Fourth of July oration. The poet in love : Miss Fanny Fairchild . Marriage: Announcement of it to the mother. read before
	CHAPTER TENTH. THE LAW ABANDONED. A. D. 1822 -1824 182 Changes of political opinion. Studies in political economy. Theodore Sedgwick . Interest in the Greek struggle: A speech in favor of the Greeks. Visit to . Increasing dissatisfaction with the law. A rejected article ; writes for the " ." Twenty or more new poems. Pay for poetry. " ." Interest in American literature. The law abandoned. Village remembrances of the poet.
	CHAPTER ELEVENTH. "A LITERARY ADVENTURER." A. D. 1825 , 1826 206 in 1825 ; its extent and society. Mr. Bryant 's removal to the city: Early friends; the Sedgwick brothers; Cooper , Verplanck , Halleck , Ware , Anderson , Sands. Cooper 's lunch ; a bread and cheese club. Fondness for the artists. Edits the " ." Hard work. Dana's first poetry. A good Catholic. The Academy of Design ; Lectures on mythology. The Athenæum ; lectures on poetry. Da Ponte. Madame Malibran. The merged in the " ." Dark prospects. Assists on a daily paper.
	CHAPTER TWELFTH. THE SUBORDINATE EDITOR. A. D. 1827 , 1828 230 The : Mr. Bryant engaged as a subordinate editor; character of his services. Continues to act as editor of the " ." Contributors to it: Longfellow , Willis , Bancroft , Cushing . Halleck 's first poems. Bryant 's poems of this period. Reviews Dana in the " ." begun. Genial editorship. The Sketch Club. Literary pranks of Sands and Bryant . Mr. Bryant 's contributions to the " ." An eighth of January ode. Becomes popular with the supporters of General Jackson. Correspondence with Verplanck.
	CHAPTER THIRTEENTH. THE EDITOR IN CHIEF. A. D. 1829 -1832 251 A proprietor of the : Mr. Bryant 's notions of the editorial function. His political philosophy : Not a mere doctrinaire ; his
	CHAPTER FOURTEENTH. SUCCESS OF THE POEMS. A. D. 1832 267 A visit to : The capital fifty years ago; glimpses of Old Hickory , Clay , Calhoun , Webster , etc. The poems in England : Irving 's kindness ; notices of them in the reviews ; John Wilson ; notices of them at home ; letters to Dana on the subject. Versification : Advice to John H. Bryant on writing poetry. Edits " ." in 1832 . Abraham Lincoln . The Bryant family pioneers of the State. The prairies. Cholera in New York . Residence in Hoboken. Mr. Bryant stays at his desk. Nullification condemned. Death of his friend Robert C. Sands .
	CHAPTER FIFTEENTH. THE BATTLE WITH THE BANK. A. D. 1833 , 1834 291Jackson 's battle with the : Earnest support of the ; it alienates its mercantile clients ; violent politics. A visit to Canada . Prologue to a play. Correspondence with Dana : Criticisms of one another's verses ; " ," a suppressed poem. A edition of the poems published. Preparing to go abroad. Abolition mobs in .
	CHAPTER SIXTEENTH. THE FIRST VISIT TO EUROPE . A. D. 1834 -1836 307 Sails for . Residence in France , Italy , and Germany ; Longfellow; sudden recall home by Leggett 's illness. Offered a dinner, which he declines. Affairs in . Miss Martineau . International copyright. Van Buren . Unpopularity of the journal, which rebukes the mob and defends the Abolitionists. Mr. Bryant meditates a removal to the West: Letters to his brother John on the subject.
	CHAPTER SEVENTEENTH. THE RISE OF ABOLITIONISM. A. D. 1836 324Jackson 's "experiments on the currency." The question of corporations. Conspiracies and usury laws. Factitious prosperity. The "Even­
	CHAPTER EIGHTEENTH. POLITICAL WARFARE. A. D. 1837 , 1838 345 Negro suffrage defended. Martin Van Buren . The commercial crisis. The independent Treasury : Warmly espoused by the " ." The merchants fall away. The right of petition. Slavery in the District of Columbia and the Territories. The murder of Lovejoy. The case of the Amistad negroes. Mr. Bryant 's moderate but determined antislavery views. His journal at its lowest ebb. His nationality and love of the Union. Patriotic poems. Familiar letters.
	CHAPTER NINETEENTH. RECREATIONS, VISITORS, ETC. A. D. 1839 365 Intense labor. Compensations. Pedestrian tours. Study of German. von Mandlesloe . Life in the office: Visitors ; Cooper , Davezac , Audubon , Stephens , Bancroft . Mr. Bryant 's earnest devotion to American literature. Emerson , Prescott , Hawthorne , Ware. : Difficulty of finding a publisher ; its success when published. Death of Leggett . A dinner of poets: Bryant , Dana , Longfellow, and Halleck . Notice of Charles Follen .
	CHAPTER TWENTIETH. THE HARD-CIDER CAMPAIGN, ETC. A. D. 1840 , 1841 379 Defeat of Van Buren 's administration. The Hard Cider campaign. Political tomfoolery : Mr. Bryant 's ridicule of it. Death of FIarrison : Mr. Bryant gives offence by refusing to put his paper in mourning ; bitter denunciations; his indifference. Character of John Tyler . The Black Tariff. Country rambles. Van Buren in retirement. Visit to Dana . A " ."
	CHAPTER TWENTY-FIRST. NEW POEMS. A. D. 1842 392 Letter to the Orville Dewey . Affairs in . Morpeth. Animal magnetism. Arrival of Dickens : His reception ; Mr. Bryant par­
	CHAPTER TWENTY-SECOND. A POLITICAL EMBARRASSMENT. A. D. 1843 , 1844 405 Growth of the antislavery sentiment. A visit to the South. A country home acquired. Letters to friends. Rambles in New England . Married old maids. The plot for the acquisition of : Mr. Bryant opposes it; his party adopts it by the nomination of Polk for the Presidency. Mr. Bryant 's embarrassment: A secret circular issued ; excitement produced by it; explanation of it by the " ." A vigorous protest against the policy : Not successful, nor yet fruitless.

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