The Lebanon express. (Lebanon, Linn County, Or.) 1887-1898, 1890-11-07
posr,s YOUTH.
William Calien fsryant's Early Iyrical
Aspirations and Perfornaners.


The poet Bryant was an exception
to the rule wificlI ordaus that preco.
cious children shall either die while
young or become ordinary men. says
the Ioufh's Companion. On his iirst
birthday ..he could walk alone. and
when but few days more than IS
months OLD knew all the letters nf tile
alphabet Ia his sixth year ne was,
as be himself tells rs. '.:lli excellent.
almost iufalliile apeller. aud ready in
geography Ia his sixteenth year hr
entered COLLEGE having mastered in
less than wear all the Greek aud
Latin required for admission TO the
sophomore class at Williams college.
The boy was as projections in rhynling
rs in studying. Before he was 10 years
old his grantlfaiher gaze him 9 pence
for n rylned Version OF the iirst chapter
OF Job. and Tie country paper pub
lishri u rhyDed description OF the
school he attended. which he wrote and
declaimed
John Bigelow. in his life OF Bryant
says that '.though these early verses
gave no particular poeiieal promise.
they were remarkable for two char
acteristics by which all his poetry was
destined to be distinguishe1-the cor
rectness both OF the measure and she
rhyme
So intense was the boys ambition
to be a poet that nc not only read what
poetry fell in his way. but in his priv
ate deyoiions often prayed with fervor
that lac might receive the gift Of poet
ic genius. and write verses that might
endure
'.Thanatopsis, the pos IN which gave
him national fame. was written in
1911. before he had attained his eight
eeuth year thaugh il was not published
until 1917. The story of its publication.
as told by Mr.. Bigelow. is unique
literary anecdofe.
One day DIR. Bryaut. the youths
father, while looking through the
drawers in his sons desk. came upon
some manuscript verses. Re read them.
and was so impressed that he hurried
TO the house of Il friend aud. thrusting
the verses into her hand. exclaimed,
while tears ran down his cheeks.
Read tllcui They are Gullen's''
In few dass the doctor went to
Boston. without communicating his in
tention TO his sou. to SLOW these verses
| to his friend William Phillips. who was
| one of the editors ofthe North american
Recieir. then two years old. He left the
| verses NJ tie oflice of the Rerietc with
/ out their authors name or any intima-
tion of their pafentage.
| Mr. Philips read them aud went 10
| Cambridge 10 snhmit them to Richard
II. Dana and Edward T. Claiming. his
| editorial colleagues. Thev listened
/ while Mr.. Phillips read the manuscript
and heard the little he had to tell about
| its history.
.'Ah, Phillips, said Dana. with a
i skeplical smile. ''yon have been inn
posed upon. No one on this side of
the Atlantic Is capable of writing such
/ verse"
Inquiries, however. showed that Mr..
/ Phillips. instead of being imposed upon,
had read 10 them the poems written By
an American boy who had not vet at
| tanned his eighteenth year One of the
/ poems was entitled .Thanatopsis, y
and appeared in the September num-
Der OF the Rerietc for 1917. The poem
| which accompanied it also appeared in
the same number under the title of
Fragment" 1t is now known as AN
Inscription for the Entrance tc a
| Wood"
A significant fact associated with the
| two poems IS that .'Thanatopsis'' was
six years old when it was printed and
the Fragment" two years Such
patient Waiting is rare with Young
authors.