CHAPTER IV

THE YOUNG POET

Bryant’s poetic career began when he was twelve years old. Besides some “Enigmas” and a translation from the Latin of Horace, he made a copy of verses to be recited at the close of the winter school, “in the presence of the master, the minister of the parish, and a number of private gentlemen.” The verses were printed in the _Hampshire Gazette_, March 18, 1806, the year before Longfellow was born. This same newspaper had other contributions also from the pen of “C. B.”

Dr. Peter Bryant was something of a politician. He was several times a representative in the Massachusetts legislature, and finally a senator. He belonged to the Federal party, which was then in opposition to the president. Jefferson was president, and in 1807, for the purpose of protecting American interests, he laid an embargo on shipping. This brought on severe hard times, and caused great indignation among the Federalists. Dr. Bryant thought his young son might write a satirical poem about it. So “The Embargo; or, Sketches of the Times,” was written and printed in a volume. There was a line on the title page saying the poem was written by “a youth of thirteen.” One of the great periodicals of that time, called the _Anthology_, reviewed the book, and while speaking well of it, said it seemed impossible that such a poem had been written by a “youth of thirteen.” So when the first edition was sold and a second was printed the following year, young Bryant’s friends prefixed an “Advertisement,” as they called it—a paragraph in which they assured the public that the author was only thirteen, and there were plenty of people who would vouch for it. In this edition the name William Cullen Bryant was boldly printed.

Of course this was not very good poetry. There is a story that years afterward some one asked Bryant if he had a copy of his first book, “The Embargo.” “No,” said he. Afterward the friend who had asked him said he had found a copy in Boston. “I don’t see how you can spend your time with such rubbish,” said the poet, and turned away.

During the next few years he wrote other boyish and patriotic poems, some of which were printed in the _Hampshire Gazette_. One, written when he was sixteen, was entitled “The Genius of Columbia”; another was, “An Ode for the Fourth of July, 1812.”

In 1812 he entered the Sophomore Class in Williams College, where he remained only a year. There were only the president, one professor, and two tutors at Williams College in those days, and so Bryant’s room-mate decided to go to Yale, where he could get a better education. Bryant thought he would go, too. He left Williams College and went home to prepare himself to pass the examinations for entrance to the Junior Class in Yale.

During this summer, while he was studying at home, he often wandered about in the woods; and here he wrote “Thanatopsis.” At this time Bryant was a very meditative young man, fond of reading poetry, a fair Greek and Latin scholar, and devotedly fond of the country and all its beauties.

Just how or when he wrote “Thanatopsis” nobody ever knew. In the autumn his father decided that he could not afford to send him to Yale, as he was poor and had a large family. So the young man went away to study law. After he was gone, Dr. Bryant was looking over some papers in his desk, and found in one of the pigeon-holes some poems which his son Cullen had written. One of them was “Thanatopsis.” He read it over, and thought it so good that he took it to a lady friend of his.

“Here are some poems,” said he, “which our Cullen has been writing.”

She took them and began to read. When she had finished “Thanatopsis” she burst into tears; and Dr. Bryant found his eyes rather watery, too.

At that time Dr. Bryant was a member of the senate in the Massachusetts legislature; and so, going up to Boston, he took this and some other poems along. The _North American Review_ was the great magazine in those days, and Dr. Bryant knew slightly one of the editors, whose name was Phillips. He went to call on him, but not finding him at home left the package of manuscript with his own name on it. When Mr Phillips came home he found it, and after reading the poems concluded that Dr. Bryant must have written “Thanatopsis,” while the other poems were by his son Cullen. But he regarded this poem as such a find that he hurried over to Cambridge to see his two fellow-editors and read them the wonderful lines. When he had finished, one of them, Richard H. Dana, himself a poet, said:

“Oh, Phillips, you have been imposed on. There is no one in America who can write such a poem as that.”

“Ah, but I know the man who wrote it,” said Phillips. “He is in the senate.”

“Well, I must have a look at the man who wrote that poem,” said Dana; and off he posted to Boston. He went to the state house, and to the senate chamber, and asked for Senator Bryant. A tall, gray-bearded old man was pointed out to him. Dana looked at him for a few minutes and said to himself: “He has a fine head; but that man never wrote ‘Thanatopsis.’” So without speaking to him he returned to Cambridge.

The poem was printed in the _North American Review_. It was the first great poem ever produced in America; it was the work of a young man not eighteen years of age, and it has since been said to be the greatest poem ever written by one so young.