When he was a lawyer practicing in Great Barrington,
Massachusetts, he met Miss Fanny Fairchild, to whom he addressed the
poem,--
"O fairest of the rural maids!"
[Illustration: FACSIMILE OF RECORD OF BRYANT'S MARRIAGE]
Religious in all things, he prepared this betrothal prayer, which they
repeated together before they were married in the following year--
"May Almighty God mercifully take care of our happiness here and
hereafter. May we ever continue constant to each other, and mindful of
our mutual promises of attachment and truth. In due time, if it be the
will of Providence, may we become more nearly connected with each other,
and together may we lead a long, happy, and innocent life, without any
diminution of affection till we die."
In 1821, the year in which Cooper published _The Spy_ and Shelley wrote his
_Adonais_ lamenting the death of Keats, Bryant issued the first volume of
his verse, which contained eight poems, _Thanatopsis_, _The Inscription for
Entrance to a Wood_, _To a Waterfowl_, _The Ages_, _The Fragment from
Simonides_, _The Yellow Violet_, _The Song_, and _Green River_. This was an
epoch-making volume for American poetry.
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