"
[Footnote: Bryant: _The Yellow Violet_.]
His association with such scenes determined the subject matter of his
poetry, and his Puritan training prescribed the form of treatment.
He had few educational advantages,--a little district schooling, some
private tutoring by a clergyman, seven month's stay in Williams College,
which at the time of his entrance in 1810 had a teaching staff of one
professor and two tutors, besides the president. Bryant left Williams,
intending to enter Yale; but his father, a poor country physician who had
to ride vast distances for small fees, was unable to give him any further
college training.
Bryant, at about the age of eighteen, soon after leaving Williams, wrote
_Thanatopsis_,--with the exception of the opening and the closing parts. He
had already written at the age of thirteen a satiric poem, _The Embargo_,
which had secured wide circulation in New England. Keenly disappointed at
not being able to continue his college education, he regretfully began the
study of law in order to earn his living as soon as possible. He celebrated
his admission to the bar by writing one of his greatest short poems, _To a
Waterfowl_ (1815).
Pages:
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179