Seattle daily post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, W.T. [Wash.]) 1881-1888, 1883-11-25

SCcutry Oh TpCkS, liIl5, forests anu rivers
and blest with father who appreciate,
and fostered the promising genius of hi
son-these were the aids that gave AZ
upward tendency to the early aspiration
of Bryant. But. with all these incen
tives, his ambition takes a sort of sid.
view, and he seeks to be heard in tn,
courts of law. To give his own words
from most pleasing narrative OF hi
life given in verse:
And next in hall of justice.
| Scarce grown to manly years,
Mid the hoary- headed wranglers
The slender youth appears.
with beating heart he rises,
And with burning cheek,
And the judges kindly listen
To hear the young. man speak"
For few wears, he is seen in the halls
of justice. In thg meantime kis arden,
love for nature is with him, and he be-
times leaves the drudgery of the lawyers
life to listen to the song Of running
waters and breathe the fresh air Of
meadows:
"Where breezes are soft and skies are
fair,
I steal an hour from study and care,
And HE me away to the woodland scene.
Where wanders the stream with waters
of green"
Still diligently following the track of
legal lore, he seems not yet 10 have
thought seriously of adopting literature
as life calling. But every year--yes,
every month--the muse is firing his ge-
MUS, and he is urged 10 spend his days
in penning his thoughts to the world.
His love of song cannot be stifisd. His
own account of trying to keep down
this gradually rising fo1ntaia is very
pleasant:
/" / broke the spell that held me long,
The dear, dear witchery of song;
l said the poets idle lore
Shall waste my prime of years no more;
For Poetry, though heavenly born,
Consorts with Poverty and Scorn.'
y
"Still came and fingered on my sight
OF flowers and streams the bloom and
light,
And glory Of the stars and sun
And these and poetry are one.
They, ere the world had held me long,
Recalled me to the love of song."
The spell could not be broken. His
own inollnations aHd the urgent advice
of friends induce him to quit drudging
for the "dregs of men," and to enter
the arena of literature. This was in
about 1895. In that year he began his
career in joutnalism. to last over fifty
years. Through this long period his
love of song was repeatedly manifested,
and strain after strain of the purest in
SEPARATIONS of the muse were sent afloat
to the werld. His last poem Of any
note, g The Flood of Years." appeared
sixty four years after Thanatopsis."
This long interval of time witnessed the
rise and development of al! tho great
lights of American literature: Irving.
Co )per, Loagfs.iow, Whittier, Holmes,
Prescott, Hawthorne aud their numer-
ous fellow votaries of song, fi,tion and
history. Among this !fS1s.rious galaxy
William Cullen Bryant stands bright,
effulgent star.
A few remarks upon the Character of
his poetry will now be in order.
His verse is 70 narkable fr three quail.
tiles: smoo:hness, profundity, and love
of external nature. In the first of these
characteristics the verse of Bryant bears
a close resemblance to that OF Mrs. He
mans. To our mind there is n close
similarity between the meioliaus song
Of that chsrming Enelish poetrss and
the verse OF our American Bryant.
Edith; or A Tale of the Woods" -" The
Groves of u Household" and "The
Hour of DEATH" of the former are very
much like Monument Mountain" "
" The Crowded Street." and the - Hymn
to Death Of the latter. Both have q
fondness for domestic themes and q
keen sympathy for suffering humanity.
But, Whatever the subject, finished me-
ter and sweetness Of expression abund-
"Greeu River" is perhaps the finest
example of smoothness in Bryant's po-
etry. This was written in his early
years, and nothing he ever afteyward
composed surpasses IL in that feature.
But If he did not improve in that re-
spect, he gained in the second quality
already mentioned: profundity Of
thought. He gradually assumes a
Wordsworthian style. The mstaphysi-
cal wspect Of the poetry Of the Lake
| School" apostle becomes moro and more
visible with the advance Of years. Still
Bryant mover indalges In those long fits
of moral specu alton SO c0mn0n to
| Wordsworth. The former has an ex-
quisite method Of moralizing, but he
| does in one stanza what the latter does
| in whole cantOs and chapters. We
mean to find no fault with the English
laureate. He did q grand work in his
lifetime, and the healthful influence OF
| his writings il still felt. He, like Bry-
ant, expressed in all his poetry q fer
vent love for mankind, sympathy fol
| the oppressed, and strong belief in the
| immortality of the soul. But, in teach
| inc these principles, we feel constrained
| to assert that Bryant did out Wordsworth
| Wordsworth himself. The philosophy
of both ia pure. Each treats human life
a. practical problem and teaches rs to
view it in its highest aims.
What other poet (unlees it be Words
| WORTH has taken themes like Bryaut'i
"Hymn to Death" !" and drawn q picture
more consoling 70 the human heart?
Note again hov all his points, in any.
wise speaking Of adversisy. tend TO ele
vate rather shau depress. In this ht
| stands in singular contrast 20 Byron
| Who never sings Of human sorrow bat
| in mournfui air. He would keep man
kind forever mourning over past fotlies,
without ray Of light for future happi
ness. Tits bright coloring of Bryant'i
poetry is 70 "a one OF its most aRreeabls
features. Its central aim il 70 MAKE
mortals more happy; and whenever .
cloud flosts in its way, il wears . colder
fringe.
So, too, Bryant Is very much liks
Wordsworth in his love of nature. Thii
il the most prominent characteristics d
Bryant's poetry. His muse ever sinN
Of the grandeur Of mountains, the mn
sio Of voods and rivers, and the odor o.
flowers in their mess primitive forms
We cannot call TO mind any post W
leo universally seeks the Wild hannte q
the physical creation f0 his tneplrn'
don. Whsthse doneing q frisudahip
love os patriotism, A easestial pfs!od
u the pesfcsmance y = oOuquG3 Q
hovesa 3 Quist musju1 by the tive
4 hnulla, q 3 Inmh1e xmjd faeeob deDth
l0 0o1n1nQs vaGfneo1ss. IAeee -