New-York tribune., 1878-12-31


and OF the fatally uxariant meadow where the mower
Essex lay bleeding.
INFLUENCES OF THE POETS EARLY LIFE.
BRYANT has described the sports Of his boybood ana
the customs country side They are not al gone
The columns Of smoke rising over the woods from the
maple sugar camp in the chill air of March ana early
April eighty years age still hang above them ana wneh
under The reddenng the last October went to
the h the farmer was pag 9pon Ine oatn nyor @ saS
long rpstng heaps ior aSss g %ere snfopd
and Merton" and Miss Barbauld," the " m
Berquins Stories and Watts Hymns But the father
ss trained his sSn G the and SSGfs t@a be n%s m
soon began TO echo tbeIr music Inc 10y y & |ro.e
shire Gasefte at Northampton, paper which had beea
established with true AM rlcan instinct in the midst
loyalty to law. 1t htng Journal M which TO PRINT
10 oefend law tne palladium Of liberty.
To this secluded mountain village, ana tO the boy ana
at tnat age the news Of the great world calue by
weekly post. There were then printed during the week
and among them there was bus one daily paper Bur
the whole country glowed WIN pOlilcai ardoT rhe
Rivei Gods the heads OF leading families 10 The Val
ley Of the Connecticut were called, were uneompr0ms-
ing PedcralIsgs and the social powers OF the
hills The Federal Decor BRYANT trained his son IN bs
political views; and doubtless ne Thought TO good
the son had written "The Emoarco"
POEM which reflected. in POpe's decasylabe'
civa also. who but ten months younger than Bry-
ant dtgsyed at the same age OF Thirteen t1e iervor Oh
OF 2eG ilnrs which probably nobody read through,
young Bryant, but somewhat less smooth IN NersincI-
nen ,,,,.ou.. ,.or, o,,, oouu,,,s ,r,,. 70 ,,,rd
% % s ksSP c our s4e from rom d 1 s sG,efs be ha
whose thoughts are wicked and whose mind is evil"
such Ihy boys bat the knocking bird
cal feeling amid wnch Bryant framed. at y time
which we sometimes fondy ca! the golden age Q tLe
oai Jefferson the devil, and which 1t was said of
Washing that he was the source OF all the M sioT
of tine country, time frantic POLITICAL
vituperatiOn paes the unrfcctual hre OF our own
aud In whose mad extravagance may wei study the
Sryant learned Latin ard Greek readily. and he was
sixSen years ola WHEEL in October 1910, he joined the
Sophomore Glass at Williams College. One If hs class
mates General Charles f. Sedgwick, sh living i'll an
hOnOreu age. The wiry and welkmt figure of
yOuug poet the beauty Of hs lace, ana ms full how
REPUTATION OF ns early verses and the runcr of his
genius like an aurcOe about the bead OF he modest
verses, aid his companions al ude TO them on"
day however to the dclignt OF tue class and Of the
tutor he recited an original poem. and TO a
few friends ne read trsnsan99n OF ,, an t sar
ant mild and gentlcmanly aud unobru~iye
an hIs conduct grave conversation, diligent sudy
deSs t he Was not conten, Inc boy had come
fram the pure breezes of the hills INTO what seemed
TO him the closer and iess neaithim an OF he le w
age, not then now one of the 1Oveest OF tue bcau
fu villages OF New tugiand ana at the end oil hi second
term, the 1st of May 1911, having been al college
only seven months he took an honorable dismission
his degIee, aud restored his nhme to the catalogue
Bsr9 BRYANT 6615 5 S f'@9 arca~e po up6
his alma mater, a boyiSh esk at which he
enIS in Ino rrcolect on Of the Rev Dr. HSIock son Il
the Paincd pastor tiIed Bryant tor college. But
Dr. HalOCk. WITT Iebcae bdeHy TO the fame OF his col
Iege ficnd has locked fast in h pemory and
jealousy guards tue Key Upon leaving Williams, Bryant
mad hoped 20 with hs cAun 10 Yale College out his
father found that the would be too gTc 50 the
youth UoS faith Rs house and devoted himself
Tor a y,ur ciasslcs aud mat tDemttiCs.
This was the END OF BryaLt's schooling, aud this was
S, n0 VI c thai - ,eTst,rr Gaie. ie ;oe
hsif uYll -
the resfer herause atn 4 a a snguIaIIy Inairrc aud
pIecociOus boy. there - 10 sign IN Byan Is earlier
verses. flowing ana correct they are of orCiaal
pORer In RapHaeis ealy pictures there Is eva .enty
the OyermastcFmg influence Of PeruginO but there T.
also fRer ana unancr tOuch. In Bee hovens frat
music taere is often The Tythical emnsctnee OF sO-
zar but there are also signs OF tue power and naer
know by the masters name But IN tie earlier
verses OF Bryant, as III B5rObs honis OF lalchesS
there OF MS gcDius, pre- ud of his fame
after leaving college. He was sure whether il
ms eighteenth nineteenth year, but It before
he did not send ii to The Hampshire GG=ette, nor
esS o IN % Any ioP% d n Snse SR % ha
of other vcrsrs III drawer IN has athers office IL must
have lain there months Mr.. Bryant, then
member of the Legislature, finding the poems IN hR
drawer them, anonymously, and wlthout his sons
knUYedgr, to The North Amei1eGn ReFe,o, when had
then been published Tor Two yeais ana was al once
review nnd mag'lne pf Dana VINO was on a. Oh the
editors immediately IeeoSzcu the worth oI Ine poe'
and SAID truly, what no man was more quall-
have been written tins country, for he knew no Amer
lean could wIIte It, lie was told that the auhor was
ate Chamber where Dr. Bryant was pointed out 70 HIM
"'Ils good bead he said, " but do MOI see lhan-
temScr nnlber of The Rese,, N isI7 ana it s preceded
by separate poem stanZas winch attached
20 II Dy mistake. Their tone OF meun
ehoy fascination with death, hut they are III wholly
printed contained bnt orynine ot me eighty-Une ZINES
that know, ana I. was accompanied ~ three OF Ine
MSS winch tue Doctor tad found ns cfct dr. wer-
the Inscription r The Entrance 70 Wood" and TWO
TRANSLATION trOb Horace.
CHARACTLRIsIICs or "THANAToPsIs.'
This is All We know Of the production Oi tails poem ]
Inger upon 1t it without hrbnger in
literature and without trace of the English masters OF
the hour II was the adequate poetic Of the
solemn New-England spirit and IN the grandeur Of the
hils IN PuftGn tradition Of sacrifice and
durance, in the daily HE, saddeed ny numerous ana
awful hc0logc%Ogma, in the hard circumstance OF The
pioneer household the CONT VITA me NldeIisS the
grim legend, OF Indians ana the War nave We uOt snne
outward cew to the strain Of " "JhahatOI'sis,' the
depthles' and entracng sadness, as ol mtXOIable
tate, that murmurs llEc tle autumn Wlhu through
the forest in the melancholy cadeheeS OF this hYPn
Europe aud America at Le beginning OF the century,
seeIaed many sensitive American as hopeless as II
vas conspicuous The great German epoch of GOelhe
and schiller was az It's highest glory ana IN IGiand
Wordsworth COleridge, SoHtbey, Campbell, sheiley,
fopss" was published Tho contrast was indeed, hard
In vain patriotic President Dwight hat SAID that
Trumutlis MacFingal" vas as soOu as - Hudlbrds,"
for who would speak Tor President Dwight and what
courage was equal 10 saying That his Conquest Of
Canaan" as good as MiItOns Pdadlse L1Ht"f
Yet Trumbull and dwight, Barlow Freneuu
our chief names IN poetry. and Barlo"'s buresque,
American poem when ThanatopsIs" appeared.
''shall we match Joel Barlow" exclaimed Fisher
HesIodi Can Thomas Paine contend agapft
Plato. could Findlys history Of his own (wlskeylm-
are apt to say the conditions OF colonial settlement
are favorable to literary and artistic development
stance and 1t s always the genus NOT tho circumstance
that controls CanOya used 20 say that Pitt and Fox
must not therefore conclude that Eli Whitney Dante
nnder new conditions and that u David CroGket had