Chapter William Cullen Bryant of Index by Simonds History of American Literature

Translation of Homer.

At seventy-three, the poet began to translate the Iliad in blank verse; four years later, at the end of 1871, both the Iliad and the Odyssey were finished and Bryant's excellent translation of Homer was published.

In Old Age.

The poet's old age was vigorous and hale. From youth he had been compelled to take unusual care of his health. He adopted strict rules regarding diet and exercise. He rose early and regularly spent between one and two hours in exercising with dumbbells and bar. It was his invariable practice without regard to weather to walk to and from his office in the city, and he discarded the use of the elevator. Bryant was not tall, but erect and well proportioned. In old age his appearance was distinguished and everywhere commanded reverence. His leonine head, long silvery hair and beard made him a venerable figure. He was always courtly, always dignified; to those who did not know through intimacy his great kindness of spirit and his genial nature, Bryant seemed cold and austere. Readers of his poems do not need to be told that the religious feeling typical of the Puritan was strong and vital.

The Poet's Homes.

Besides his residence in the city, Mr. Bryant owned two fine country homes: one was the Snell homestead in Cummington, to which he returned for a short period every year; the other was an estate at Roslyn, Long Island, acquired in 1843, where in a spacious old-fashioned mansion dating almost from Revolutionary times, he made his principal residence. He took especial delight in farm and garden, personally superintending the care of both and experimenting with fruits and flowers. Here he delighted to receive his friends, and here he unostentatiously entertained many a distinguished visitor from abroad.

Death.

Mrs. Bryant died in 1866. The poet's death occurred twelve years later. The circumstances were peculiar. A statue to the Italian patriot, Mazzini, was unveiled in Central Park, on the twenty-ninth of May. Bryant delivered the address. He spoke bare-headed, the sun shining directly upon him; it was unusually warm for the season, and when he had finished he appeared exhausted. After the exercises the poet walked across the park with an old friend and ascended the steps of the latter's house; but as he entered the vestibule he fell suddenly backward through the open door, striking his head on the stone platform. The results were fatal; a fortnight later, he died at his own home, in his eighty-fourth year.¹ The funeral services were held in New York; then with simple exercises the poet was buried by the side of his wife at Roslyn.

Bryant as a Poet.

The love of nature is preëminently the theme of Bryant's verse, and his characteristic treatment of this theme is in connection with the elemental experiences -- life and death. He is our recognized poet of the forest; no other American singer has interpreted so impressively as he the mystery and sanctity of the woods. To him the woodland solitude was eloquent of majesty and monition, of benevolence and sympathy:

"The groves were God's first temples.
. . . . .
Fit shrine for humble worshipper to hold
Communion with his Maker."¹

Descriptive Poems.

Bryant is both descriptive and reflective in his verse. He is often called the American Wordsworth, because he resembled the great English poet in these traits; but Bryant was never an imitator of Wordsworth or of any other poet. He was distinctly original in choice of themes and true to his own native personality in his expression. He was faithful to the scenes with which he was familiar and to the spirit of what he himself had observed. In A Winter Piece, for example, a poem which in its beginning contains many