The commonwealth. (Scotland Neck, N.C.) 1882-1884, 1883-05-24
ORIGIN OF "THANATJPSIS."

Rhymes of bows are but soags Of
the mocking Bird" says Mr.. George
w. Curtis, referring to the fact that
poetry written by the young is usua
ly initiative. Yet the initiative intel.
lect of a hoy Of seventeen produced
= poem whose genuine originality
made an epoch in American litera-
ture. We refer to Bryant's ''Thana
tOpsis," which the poet Stoadard
calls "the greatest poem ever written
by so young a man." The story of
the origin Of the poem, as told by Mr..
Goodwin in his biography of the poet.
shows the boy, already the author OF
many verses. walking in the woods
one autumn day. He had been read
ing Blair's poem Of The Grave"
and kirke Whites s.Melodies of
Death
The gray sky, the brown earth
heaped with sere and withered leaves
the hollow-sounding ground, the lone
liness ofthe forest, and the prostrate,
mouldering trees suggested the
thought that the vast so!itudes were
filed with the sad tokens of decay.
What. indeed. he asked himself, as
the thought expanded in his mind, is
the whole earth but gr, at sepulchre
Of once living things and its skies
and stars but the witnesses and dec
orations of q tomb ?
lie hurried home and endeavored
to paint his thought to the eye, anu
render it. in music to the ear. When
he finished his task. he coined for it
name from the Greek, II h ,natop-
SIS or a view Of death.
Usually he took his poems to his
father for criticism. or read them
aloud to his brothers. But lie hid
''Thanatopsis" away in Il pigeon -llole
Iraf his fathers desk, on which it had
heen written.
Some months later, the father,
while his son was absent from home,
discovered ''Thanatnpsis" and few
other poems. He was so much dc
lighted with them that he carried
them to Boston TO subject them to
the examination Of his friend Phillips
then engaged in editing The NORTH
Am erictn Reuieau.
AS '.'rhanatopsis," in the first
DRAFT, was full of erasures AMI inter
lineations, DIR. Bryant, the poets
father, hail transcribed it, but left
the other pieces in their original
state. Mr.. Phillips vas not at home
when he called, and so lie left tue
package with his name.
Mr.. Phillips was SO much pleased
with the poems that he hastenea t
Cambridge to read them to Richard
II. Dana, vino. as a critic was an ac-
knowlcdged authority in literature.
"Ah, Phillips" said Dana, with !
quiet smile, at the close OF the read
ing, "you have been imposed upon
no one on this side of the Atlantic il
capable OF writing such Verses
IL know" answered Pnillips, will
some spirit, 1.-The gentleman wh'
wrote the best OF them, at least, yer.
, we'll; he is an old acquaintance o
mine-Dr. Bryant-at this momen
sitting at the State House in Boston
as Senator from Hampshire County.
..rhen,. responded Dana, IL mus
: have look at him. and. putting o.
+. his clog. aud his cloak. he trudge
| over to Bo s..an. ARRIVED at the Ser
: atc,' said Mr.. Dana. in cohversa
e ton afterwards, II caused the dOcto
9 to be pointed out to me. ! looked 8
;. him with profound attention and il
: terest; and while ! saw man .
J, striking the stamp of yeniu
t seemed to me to be wanting. IL is
J. good head / said to m, self. but
e do not see "rhanatopsis" IN ii, ;in
4 went back little disappointed"
t The poem was published in til
3 Revieu. and Immediately excited I'll
z praise of cultured readers. But
), required DR.. Bryant's strongest alb
Il nation to convince them thar his sc
r Cullen had written ii. when b'
r seventeen years OF age. the pest poe
d that had then been pnbiisiied IN II
}, United States Youth'S tohtponso
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