The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1904-06-18
OUR LITERARY TABLE
THOUGHTS ON BRYANT

1HOUG1IS On BRYANT.
Well may country pride in having noursbs5
the poetical genius of William Cullen Bryant vst
must we own that the virgin soil of America was tho
only one suitable to a spirit so free and untram
meIed.
Other poetic spirits had sung Of the bright cloud
less skies of Italy the castlecrowned banks of the
Rhine and the Alpne-shrined wales of Switzerland
Indeed, all the glOres OF the Old World had been
laid under tribute by the poets of America but Rrv
ant thrilled with the grandeur Of his own native
forests launched into the and boundess sea o;
American poetry.
No forTnaiity mars the verse of Bryant To him
poetry and nature closely allied that poetry
seemed but the Outpouring of natures heart How
beautifully ne expressed this union:
Still ST ao came and fingered on my sight
And glories of the stars and sun:
Ana these and poetry are one.n
Though every word tingIes with feeling vst G.,
naturally does the sentiment to spring from the
thought that scarcely passage be selected which
can De called striking.
How charming his description of Green river:
Its shadows are bright
With coored pebbles and sparkIes of light
And clear the depths where It's eddies play
Ana dmples deepen and whirl away"
In many of Bryant's works there is tone Of deep
solemnity' as in reverence to the Power Unfathom-
able that rules over the ream of nature he beau
tifuIly describes.
Few in the deep solitude of thriving forest would
be led to such solemn reflections as Bryant e1-
presses:
IAN that have borne the touch of DEATH
All that shall live. lie mingled there
Beneath that veil of bloom and breath
To all scenes of nature the poets heart was OPEN
The quiet, rolling prairies. where. ere Rome had be-
gun her career of strife and crime, the painted
rior stood hot for battle: or the primevaI forest
where the young savage, arrowladen ranged in pur-
suit Of the game he hoped lay at feet of his
forest queen the dense wood which ages had
the haunt of the simple creatures of nature; the
tranquil lake. the rocky cliff; these were the scenes
through which his spirit communed with natures
tiful poems
We who live in the west appreciate his love for
the Rockies, and echo his thought:
Thou who would see the lovely and the wild
Mingled in harmony Natures face
Ascend our Rocky mountains.
Great as was his love of nature it was not in her
regions alone that he delighted for he found traces OF
the Author of the beautiful the citys throng
Not in the solitude
Alone may man commune with heaven or see,
Only in savage wood
And sunny vale, the present Deity
Voices and footballs of the numberless throng
Like the resounding sea.
Or like the rainy tempest speak of Thee"
1t is remarkable feature of Bryants career that
his best poetry was written while he yet
"Thanatopsis," the greatest monument of his fame.
and at rs his longest poem. The Ages
How solemnly beautiful his 'Thana topsis" Though
It's weird pensiveness may make the reader "shudder
and grow sick at heart" but be stirred by
his unfailing confidence, which would bid US the
OF DEATH, go forth:
Not like the quarry slave at night
Scourged to his dungeon, but sustained and soothed
BY an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave
Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch
About him and lies down to pleasant dreams.
On the twelfth day of his favorte month the soul
Of Bryant like the beautiful butterfly brushing from
he ehrysais broke its bonds, and thus was realized
he wish, he had long before expressed:
81 gazed upon the glorious sky
And the green mountains round
And thought that when 1 came lie
At rest within the ground
'Twere pleasant that in fowery June.
When brooks send up cheerful tune
And groves joyous sound,
The sections hand, my grave to make.
The rich green mountain turf should break"
AS in life he had lived to Natures heart, so
n death he would have his tomb haunt for the OBJ
ects of his love:
THE orole should build and tell
His loye-tale close beside my cell;
The idle butterfly
Should rest him there and there be heard
The housewife bee and the hummins bird
EVA LAMoREAUx, '4
Sacred Heart Academy, Ogden.
Charity is greater than faith, as the fruit IS
reater than tba blossoms or the Ind but without