" No more
authentic inspiration ever visited a poet, and though Bryant
wrote verse for more than sixty years after that crimson sky had
paled into chill December twilight, his lines never again
vibrated with such communicative passion.
Bryant's ensuing career revealed the steady purpose, the
stoicism, the reticence of the Puritan. It was highly successful,
judged even by material standards. "Thanatopsis" had been
instantly regarded in 1817 as the finest poem yet produced in
America. The author was invited to contribute to the "North
American Review" an essay on American poetry, and this, like all
of Bryant's prose work, was admirably written. He delivered his
Harvard Phi Beta Kappa poem, "The Ages," in 1821, the year of
Emerson's graduation. After a brief practice of the law in Great
Barrington, he entered in 1826 into the unpromising field of
journalism in New York. While other young Knickerbockers wasted
their literary strength on trifles and dissipated their moral
energies, Bryant held steadily to his daily task. His life in
town was sternly ascetic, but he allowed himself long walks in
the country, and he continued to meditate a somewhat thankless
Muse.
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