William Cullen Bryant 1794-1878 By: Lindsey Morgan Early Childhood: Born on November 3, 1794, to Dr. Peter Bryant and Sarah Snell, in Cummington, MA. The whole family lived in Sarahs dad's house, even after William left to practice law at 22. He had 5 siblings. He didn’t love his childhood, his grandfather was really religious (conservative calvinist), but through this Cullen learned about hymns and poetry. His father did switch to the Unitarian church, which Cullen did not approve of. He struggled with his beliefs, which is what probably led to “Thanatopsis”. Dr. Bryant also had a love for the arts, and found joy when his son expressed the same kind of passion. With their bonding, William and his father perfected his talent which had him published at the age of 13 in The Northampton Hampshire Gazette. In 1807, Cullen to wrote “Embargo”, a savage attack on President Jefferson for passing “The Embargo Act.” By spring 1809, there were 2 editions of Bryant’s. Middle Life: Cullen passed the bar in 1815. He opened his own practice, worked under another firm; which he ended up being given half of, because one of the partners saw potential. He even was elected to a 7 year term as Justice of the Peace for Berkshire County. Married Frances Fairchild in January 1821; they had 2 girls, Frances and Julia. Finally after quitting law in 1824 (which he hated), William became an editor for the New-York Review and Atheneum Magazine and was merged with the United States Review and the Literary Gazette, which all failed within a year each. In 1826 he ended up running the New-York Evening post, first as assistant editor, then editor-and-chief and co-owner for half a century. This newspaper was beyond a success. Later Life: Bryant was a philanthropist/ humanitarian, using his newspaper to became one of the most liberal voices of the century. He introduced Abraham Lincoln for presidency, led to the creation of Central park and Metropolitan Museum, also supporting the right for labor to unionize. Frances died in 1866. William died June 12, 1878, after falling and getting a concussion. A week later he had a stroke that paralyzed one side of his body and he became comatose. Wor k : William wrote mainly Romantic poetry, Fiction and news worthy articles. Some famous ones are “Thanatopsis”, “The Ages”, “To a Waterfowl”, and all editions of Poems. He was apart of the Romanticism era, but he also wrote about mortality; which is why he's apart of the Graveyard era. The main themes in Bryant's writing are: nature, freedom, emotional expression, simplicity and imagination. His inspirations rooted from Isaac Watts, but turned into more expressive authors like William Wordsworth, Robert Blair, Beilby Porteus, and Kirke Whites. QUI Z 1. When was Cullen born? 2. What were his wife and daughters names? 3. What was the name of his newspaper? 4. At what age did William leave to go to law school? ANSWERS: 1. November 3, 1794 2. Frances, Frances and Julia 3. The New-York Evening Post 4. 22 Works Cited http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/william -cullen-bryant#poet http://www.poemhunter.com/william -cullen-bryant/biography/ http://www.poetseers.org/early-american-poets / willia m -cullen-bryant/ http://study.com/academy/lesson/thanatopsis-by-willia m -cullen-brya nt-summary-a na lys is -quiz.html http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/webtexts/Bryant/brybio.html Brya nt, Willia m Cullen. “Tha na tops is .” The Norton Anthology of American Literature. 8th ed. Vol. B. New York: Norton, 1999. 123-124. Print..