The hydraulic press., 1859-04-30
AMERICAS NOBLEsT BARD.

While all the world of English readers il
praising ngfellow-exhausting its vocabu-
larry of laudatory epithets in his honor, set
ting his longer poems to the music of orato-
rios or chanting his smaller ones as parlor
songs-but little is said of our country's no.
blest poet, WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT, who is
really unknown, except by name, to many
who go into ecstacies over more popular
bard. Yet of all American poets Bryant is
the one whose works will hereafter be read
with the most unqualified delight and great
est frequency. Appreciation of has muse is a
thing of gradual but sure growth. Every
perusal of his finest poems leaves upon the
mind a deeper impression of love and admi-
| ration. Like the charms of nature which he
best describes-the green fields, the honey
breathing flowers, the waving trees, the winds
that move them gently or in storm, "Old
Ocean, with its gray and melancholy waste"
the rock-ribbed mountains, and the sunny
air of day or starry vault of night-like all
these, the works of our bard never pail upon
the sense, and for the same reason, but meet
with steady accession ofregard. His mind
is so thoroughly transfused bya love of ma
ture, in all her infinite forms, and he so
faithfully, beautifully expresses this senti-
ment that his influence upon his readers is
like that of the common mother upon HIM
self. 80 oh ao
But his characteristics are not limited to
sweetness and the ability to truthfully reflect
the more placid charms which invest the
earth we live on. For the expression of its
grandest features and influences he has an
adequate capacity, and can give fit utterance
to the sublime, whether arising from the vo-
litions of his lofty mind or inspired by ex-
ternal objects. While Longfellow possesses
no great, imaginative originality, Bryant may
claim that quality as his peculiar excellence.
In proof of this may be specially mentioned
his ''Forest Hymn, "The Evening Wind"
"Thanatopsis," "The Prairie earth" and
''The Antiquity of Freedom" Who can be
insensible to the grand imagination which
sounds through the following lines like the
ocean they describe? aa #
ga midnight black with clouds is in the sky;
seem to feel. upon my limbs. the weight 4
OF its vast broodng shadow. All in vain
Turns the tired eye in search of form star
Pierces the pitchy veil ruldy blaze.
From dwelling lighted by the cheerful hearth,
Tinges the Towering submits of the grass.
No sonnd of life is heard. village hum. ,l}
Nor measured tramp of fDotstep in the path,
Nor rush of wing. while. on the breast Of Earth,
lie and listen to her mighty vuice:
A roice Of many to"es-Sent up from streams
That wander hroughthe gloom. fron, moods unseen,
S,0'yod By The s.ceeping e Me t'desg air,
From rocsy chas,as chere darA ness dacetis all day.
And hoAoaos cf Me great invisible hius.
And SAINTS that edge tie ocean. stretching far
Into the nigtt-a melancholy sound"
Where else can be found such picture of
the prairies as is given in the poem of that
name? There is nothing like it, except in
Cooper's novel, which creates in the mind
profound impression of monotonous vastness
alone, while the lines of Bryant combine the
idea of immense extent with the sentiment of
exquisite beauty. As we read about these
gardens of the Desert" these "unshorn
fields, boundless and beautiful" our heart
swells, like the poet's and 0
eis -'.the ,lila;cd sight
Takes in the encirciine vastness Lo! they stretch
In airy undulations far away.
rs If the Ocettn, inhis gentiest f,UeN
Stood stiu. tcih all has rounded 6ilo,cs fired,
And mottoness forerer. Motiohless?-
No-they all unclaimed again The clouds
Sweep over with their shadows, and. beneath,
The surface rolls and luctuates to the eye;
Da',k ho'o,cs seen, tog de along and chase
Te sunny ridges
While Bryant is thus gifted with the lofti-
est imagination, he yet speaks the familiar
English that we all love and understand
There are no foreign subtleties in his pro-
ductions no obscure phrases borrowed from
German mysticism, or Kantean metaphysics,
or Indian mythology but home ideas, clad
in "household words" pictures of the land
in which we live, and thoughts inspired by
our own free cline, yet cosmopolitan and
worthy to go with the worlds stock of i'm
mortal sayings-for these have a universal
intellgibility, though couched in various
tongues. Everywhere on earth, where rises
an aspiration for liberty, will his noble con-
ception of Freedom be appreciated How
/ original and statue-lke it stands before the
! mind-a palpable preSence!-
"Oh Freedom thou art hot. as poets dream.
| fair young girl. with light and delicate limbs,
| And wayy treSses gushing hunl the cap
/ With which the Roman master crowned his slave
When he took off the gives. bearded man,
| Armed the teeth. art thou; one m.iledl hand
Grasps the broad sIie. and one the sword thy brow
! Glorious in beauty though it be. is SCARED
| With tokens of old wars; thy masssye limbs
| Are strong with struggling -
But we must close Our space is not equal
to the requirements of the theme, and these
remarks have already extended beyond the
original motive which prompted them, which
was merely a desire to offer the humble tri-
butte Of one who feels grateful for much de-
I light In our opinion Bryant, among all
contemporary poets, is destined to leave the
most enduring impression upon the national
mind, and to do much towards developing
amongst our too sordid countrymen re-
deeming love of the beautiful. The melodi-
Gus sighings of Longfellows muse, which
give beautiful expression to thoughts and
feelings not otherwise remarkable, may lin
ger pleasantly in the memory and soothe the
vexed soul with their dreamy charm; but
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