New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1874-08-09
The Poet Bryant.

lFrom the August International Review
He became conscious of his OWL powers
| while yet boy. At ten years of age he de-
| claimed in school an original poem. When
| he was Only thirteen he wrote the famous
| political satire on Mr.. Jetferson's En-
hargo,' which became 80 popular in the old
Federal county of Hampshire and along
the banks Of the Connecticut river, that it
passed through two editions within a.
twelvemonth. He was prepared Tor the
con position of ''Thanatopsis" by the study
OF Kirk White, who at that time enjoyed q
prestige among the rural population OF New
England, which it is not easy to conceive of
at the present day, and of the stately and
solemn measures of Blairs Grave"
That remarkable poem was written
before he was nineteen, and pub
lished few years after in the North
american Reciev, at once producing a pro-
found impression in the literary circles of
Cambridge and Boston. and stamping the
anthor as man OF too rare a genius to re-
main long in Obscurity. The "Warerfowl,"
also published in the North american. was
written in 1915, when Bryant was in his
twen,y-frst year. His reputation now
spread rapidly, and in 1921 he was induced
by the persuasions of his friends, Mr. f. H.
Dana, Professor E. T. Charming and Judge
Willard Phillips, to publish small volume
containing 1.-The Ages" a poem delivered
before the Harvard Phi Beta Kappa Socie-
ty, and other choice pieces, which had not
before been given to the world. This col
lection was the presage OF his subsequent
renown. which from that day to the present
has shone with serene and unfading splen-
dor, amid all the perturbatlons of an active
and responsible public life.
During this period, Mr. Bryant has lived
in the living world. Instead of withdraw
ing from the practical affairs of life and de-
Ginning IT'S stern contests he has manfully
borne his part IN them, and vet has kept
the sacred fire burning serenelv on the altar
of Apollo. His intellectual activity has been
constant, and his reputation has steadily
advanced with years. He has repeatedly
visited Europe, and even extended his
travels to Syria and Egypt, remaining for
considerable periods at the more important
points, and studying men, manners, and
the languages and literature of the princi-
pal countries, as well as art and objects of
historic interest. In his own country, too,
he has travelled widely and observed with
careful eye His published letters describ-
ing his observations both at home and
abroad, have been such as might have been
expected from such man, and have
been widely read. volume of ora
lions and addresses furnishes perhaps the
best specimens of his sty le as prose writer.
1t contains commemorative discourses, de-
liyered by special request, on his distin-
guished friends, Thomas Cole, the artist;
James Fenimore Cooper, Washington Irvt
ing, Fitz Greene Halleck and Julian Crom-
melin Verplank, with other interesting ad-
dresses. The commemorative discourses
are models in their kind, equally creditable
to his intellect and his heart. The style is
simple, chaste, pellucid, elegant In the
lelineation of character and genius there is
nothing vague and general, hut in the case
Of each subject OF discourse the incest
analysis and the most judicious discrim-
nation. 1t is SO common thing, untortu-
nately, to see men who are eminent IN the
same line of effort misunderstand. or for
1ther reasons, such as prejudice or jealousy,
1epreciate each other that there is true
moral beauty in the honest heartiness, the
generous pleasure, with which Mr. BRYANT
Ices full justice to the names and works of
lis illustrious cOmpeers. This rare mag
lanlml1y IN his appreciation ard treatment
VI other men has been habit of his life.
De has had his reward. Now in his eighth
nh year. he receives such irequent proofs
If the generation of his fellow citizens. and
s so often called on fitting occasions to
public services, that it is quite manifest,
lot only that his personal character ia
owed and hOnored, but also that his liter
Lry reputation rests on an enduring basis,
t has seldom happened that great poe1
las discharged 50 steadily and so well the
PRACTICAL duties of ordinary life Admired
md hopored as a writer, he has been egually
admired and hOnOred as man.