"A Forest Hymn" is an 1824 poem written by William Cullen Bryant, [1] which has been called one of Bryant's best poems, [2] and "one of the best nature poems of that age". [3] It was first published in Boston in the United States Literary Gazette along with several other poems written by Bryant. [4]
Said to have been only conceivable by someone familiar with the "thick foliage and tall trunks of [the] primeval forests" in Massachusetts, [5] "A Forest Hymn" is said to have been Bryant's way of saying farewell to country life before moving to New York City in 1825, [6] which came about during a period where he wrote a large number of works. [7] It is reflective of Bryant's love of nature and religious belief, [8] has been called a "picturesque poem", and Richard Henry Stoddard has said:
The gravity, the dignity, the solemnity of natural devotion, were never before stated so accurately and with such significance. We stand in thought in the heart of a great forest, under its broad roof of boughs, awed by the sacred influences of the place. A gloom which is not painful settles upon us; we are surrounded by mystery and unseen energy. The shadows are full of worshippers and beautiful things that live in their misty twilights. [1]
At the pace of the wind "playing upon the leaves and the branches of the ancient woods, [9] Eleanor O'Grady has suggested that the poem be read in a smooth and gliding manner, as done in Median Stress. [10]
The poem has been published many times, including an 1860 edition with illustrations by John A. Hows. [11]
John Muir's first article advocating forest protection, a February 5, 1876, editorial in the Sacramento Daily Record-Union, alludes to Bryant's first line in its title: "God's First Temples: How Shall We Preserve Our Forests". [12]
William Cullen Bryant was an American romantic poet, journalist, and long-time editor of the New York Evening Post. Born in Massachusetts, he started his career as a lawyer but showed an interest in poetry early in his life. He soon relocated to New York and took up work as an editor at various newspapers. He became one of the most significant poets in early literary America and has been grouped among the fireside poets for his accessible, popular poetry.
Frances Jane van Alstyne, more commonly known as Fanny J. Crosby, was an American mission worker, poet, lyricist, and composer. She was a prolific hymnist, writing more than 8,000 hymns and gospel songs, with more than 100 million copies printed. She is also known for her teaching and her rescue mission work. By the end of the 19th century, she was a household name.
"Thanatopsis" is an early poem by the American poet William Cullen Bryant. Meaning 'a consideration of death', the word is derived from the Greek 'thanatos' (death) and 'opsis'.
James Kirke Paulding was an American writer and, for a time, the United States Secretary of the Navy. Paulding's early writings were satirical and violently anti-British, as shown in The Diverting History of John Bull and Brother Jonathan (1812). He wrote numerous long poems and serious histories. Among his novels are Konigsmarke, the Long Finne (1823) and The Dutchman's Fireside (1831). He is best known for creating the inimitable Nimrod Wildfire, the “half horse, half alligator” in The Lion of the West (1831), and as collaborator with William Irving and Washington Irving in Salmagundi. (1807–08). Paulding was also, by the mid-1830s, an ardent and outspoken defender of slavery, and he later endorsed southern secession from the union.
Elizabeth Drew Stoddard was an American poet and novelist.
The Fellowship of Southern Writers is an American literary organization that celebrates the creative vitality of Southern writing as the mirror of a distinctive and cherished regional culture. Its fellowships and awards draw attention to outstanding literary achievement and help to nurture new talent.
The William Cullen Bryant Homestead is the boyhood home and later summer residence of William Cullen Bryant (1794–1878), one of America's foremost poets and newspaper editors. The 155-acre (63 ha) estate is located at 205 Bryant Road in Cummington, Massachusetts, overlooks the Westfield River Valley and is currently operated by the non-profit Trustees of Reservations. It is open to the public on weekends in summer and early fall for tours with an admission fee.
A periodic sentence is a sentence with a stylistic device featuring syntactical subordination to a single main idea, which usually is not complete until the very end of the sentence. The periodic sentence emphasizes its main idea by placing it at the end, following all the subordinate clauses and other modifiers that support the principal idea. According to Merriam-Webster, the linguistic sense of the periodic sentence term was coined circa 1928, but there is evidence of its usage in a separate sense dating from 1766.
Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature.
— words chiselled onto the tombstone of John Keats, at his request
Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature.
Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature.
Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature.
Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature.
Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature.
Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature.
Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature.
Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature.
Lucy Virginia French was a 19th-century American author from Virginia. Her blank verse was considered especially strong, and her themes were well chosen, mostly in their measure.
The Poets and Poetry of America was a popular anthology of American poetry collected by American literary critic and editor Rufus Wilmot Griswold. It was first published in 1842 and went into several editions throughout the 19th century.
. W. A. Townsend & co. p. 1 [scan] . ". Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography .
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