course was short, for the money gave out. Thanatop 1811; pub lished, 1817. The boy was much disappointed, but he went home quietly and began to study law. He did not forget poetry, however, and then it was that Thanatopsis, the poem in the sis written, portfolio, was written. Six years later, Dr. Bryant came upon it by accident and recognized its greatness at a glance. Without a word to his son, the proud father set out for Boston and left the manuscript at the rooms of the North American Review, which had recently been established. Tradition says that the editor who read it dropped the work in hand and hurried away to Cambridge to show his colleagues what a “find” he had made; and that one of them, Richard Henry Dana, declared there was some fraud in the matter, for no one in America could write such verse. The least appreciative reader of the poem could hardly help feeling the solemn majesty, the organtone rhythm, the wide sweep of noble thought. Thanatopsis is a masterpiece. It went the country over; and wherever it went, even in its earlier and less perfect form, it was welcomed as America's first great poem. Meanwhile, its author was practising as a lawyer in a little Massachusetts village. He was working conscientiously at his profession; but fortunately he was not so fully employed as to have no spare hours for poetry, and it was about this time that he wrote his beautiful lines, To a Water- To a Waterfowl. This poem came straight fowl, 1818 from his own heart, for he was troubled about his future, and, as he said, felt "very forlorn and desolate." The last stanza, He who, from zone to zone, Guides through the boundless sky thy certain flight, Will lead my steps aright,— gave to him the comfort that it has given to many others, and he went on bravely. Dana soon brought it about that Bryant should be invited to read the annual poem before the Phi Beta Kappa Society at Harvard. The poem which he pre- The Ages, sented was The Ages. This, together with 1821. Thanatopsis, To a Waterfowl, and four other poems, was published in a slender little volume, in 1821. Bryant was recognized as the first poet in the land, but even poets must buy bread and butter. Thus far, his poems had brought him a vast amount of praise and about two dollars apiece, and his law business had never given him a sufficient income. In 1825 he decided to accept a literary position that was offered him in New York. He soon became editor of The Evening Post, and this position he held for nearly fifty years. As an editor, he was absolutely independent, but always dignified and calm; and he held his paper to a high literary standard. It was during those years that he wrote The Fringed Gentian, The Antiquity of Freedom, The Flood of Years, and other poems that our literature could ill afford to lose. He said that he had little choice among his poems. Irving liked The Rivulet; Halleck, The Apple Tree; Dana, The Past. Bryant also translated the Iliad and the Odyssey. His life extended long after the lives of Irving and of Cooper had closed. Other poets had arisen in the land. They wrote on many themes; he wrote on few save death and nature. Their verses were often more warm-hearted, more passionate than Bryant's, and often they were easier reading; but Bryant never lost the place of honor and dignity that he had so fairly earned. He is the Father of American Poetry; and it is well for American poetry that it can look back to the calmness and strength and poise of such a founder. Lowell says: He is almost the one of your poets that knows Fitz-Greene 1790-1867. 1795-1820. ers, 1819. How much grace, strength, and dignity lie in Repose, 22. The minor Knickerbocker poets. Among the crowd of minor poets of the Knickerbocker School were Halleck, Drake, and Willis. Fitz-Greene HalHalleck, leck was a Connecticut boy who went to New York when he was twenty-one years old. He found work in the counting-room of John Jacob Astor. He also found a poet friend in a young man named Joseph Rod- Joseph Rodman Drake. Together they wrote man Drake, The Croakers, satirical poems on the New York The Croak of the day. These are rather bright and witty, but it is hard to realize that they won intense admiration. The story has been handed down that when the editor of the paper in which they appeared first met his unknown contributors, he exclaimed with enthusiasm, "I had no idea that we had such talent in America." It was from the friendship between Halleck and Drake that Drake's best known poem arose, The The Culprit Culprit Fay. If we may trust the tradition, Fay, 1816. the two poets, together with Cooper, were one day talking of America. Halleck and Cooper declared that it was impossible to find the poetry in American rivers that had been found in Scottish streams, but Drake took the contrary side. "I will prove it," he said to himself; and within the next three days he produced his Culprit Fay, as dainty a bit of slight, graceful, imaginative verse as can be found. The scene is laid in Fairyland, and Fairyland is somewhere among the Highlands of the Hudson. The fairy hero loves a beautiful mortal, and, as a punishment, is doomed to penances that give room for many poetic fancies and delicate pictures. Drake died only four years later. He left behind him at least one other poem, first published The American Flag, 1819. in The Croakers, that will hardly be forgotten, The American Flag, with its noble beginning: When Freedom from her mountain height Unfurled her standard to the air. Halleck sorrowed deeply for the death of his friend. He himself lived for nearly half a century longer and wrote many poems, but nothing else as good as his loving tribute to Drake, which begins: Green be the turf above thee, Friend of my better days! One other poem of Halleck's, Marco Bozzaris, has always been a favorite because of its vigor and spirit. Marco BozBryant said, "The reading of Marco Bozzaris zaris, 1825. . . stirs up my blood like the sound of martial music or the blast of a trumpet." Parts of it bring to mind the demand of King Olaf for a poem "with a sword in every line." Worn as these verses are by much declaiming, there is still a good old martial ring in such lines as: At the end of this rousing war-cry are two lines that are as familiar as anything in the language: One of the few, the immortal names That were not born to die. Parker Another member of the Knickerbocker School was Nathaniel Parker Willis, a Maine boy who found Nathaniel his way to New York. He had hardly unpacked his trunk before it was decided that 1806-1867. if he would go to Europe and send home a weekly Pencillings London, 1835; America, 1836. letter for publication, it would be greatly to the advantage of the journal with which he was connected. Europe was still so distant as to make letters by the Way, of travel interesting. These sketches, afterwards published as Pencillings by the Way, were light and graceful, and they were copied by scores of papers. When Willis came home, five years later, he edited the Home Fournal, wrote pretty, imaginative sketches and many poems. There was nothing deep or thoughtful in them, rarely anything strong; but they were easily and gracefully written and people liked to read them. A few of the poems, such as The Belfry Pigeon, Unseen Spirits, Saturday Afternoon, and Parrhasius, are still favorites. Sacred poems. While in college, Willis wrote a number of sacred poems. Lowell wickedly said of them, "Nobody likes inspiration and water." But Lowell was wrong, for they found a large audience, and their author tasted all the sweets of popularity. He was not spoiled, however, and he was, as Halleck said, "one of the kindest of men." His own path to literary success had been smooth, but he was always ready to sympathize with the struggles of others and to aid them by every means in his power. He died in 1867; but many years before his death it was evident that the literary leadership had again fallen into the hands of New England. A. THE KNICKERBOCKER SCHOOL Washington Irving William Cullen Bryant Fitz-Greene Halleck SUMMARY The progress of the country during the early years of the century inspired progress in literature. The literary centre |