William Cullen Bryant

This volume is a critical examination of the poet's work, which attempts to search out the sources of his creativity and to define the dynamics of his creative process. By studying in detail many of the lesser known poems, as well as those frequently reprinted, the reader is brought to a full appreciation of Bryant's achievement as an artist and as a thinker. Bryant, who was also editor of the New York Evening Post, a leading anti-slavery paper noted for its literary accuracy, has been known as a nature poet because of such works as "Thanatopis," "To a Waterfowl," "Inscription for the Entrance to a Wood," and "The Yellow Violet," all written before he was twenty-one. --- from book's back cover