literary field, was witness to many new developments in poetic
writing, in both his own and other countries. But while he perceived the
splendor and color and rich novelty of these, he held in his own work to
the plain theory and practice which had guided him from the start. "The
best poetry," he still believed--"that which takes the strongest hold of
the general mind, not in one age only but in all ages--is that which is
always simple and always luminous." He did not embody in impassioned
forms the sufferings, emotions, or problems of the human kind, but was
disposed to generalize them, as in 'The Journey of Life,' the 'Hymn of
the City,' and 'The Song of the Sower,' it is characteristic that two of
the longer poems, 'Sella' and 'The Little People of the Snow,' which are
narratives, deal with legends of an individual human life merging itself
with the inner life of nature, under the form of imaginary beings who
dwell in the snow or in water. On the other hand, one of his eulogists
observes that although some of his contemporaries went much beyond him
in fullness of insight and nearness to the great conflicts of the age,
"he has certainly not been surpassed, perhaps not been approached, by
any writer since Wordsworth, in that majestic repose and that
self-reliant simplicity which characterized the morning stars of song."
In 'Our Country's Call,' however, one hears the ring of true martial
enthusiasm; and there is a deep patriotic fervor in 'O Mother of a
Mighty Race.' The noble and sympathetic homage paid to the typical
womanhood of a genuine woman of every day, in 'The Conqueror's Grave,'
reveals also great underlying warmth and sensitiveness of feeling.
'Robert of Lincoln,' and 'The Planting of the Apple-Tree' are both
touched with a lighter mood of joy in nature, which supplies a contrast
to his usual pensiveness.

Bryant's venerable aspect in old age--with erect form, white hair, and
flowing snowy beard--gave him a resemblance to Homer; and there was
something Homeric about his influence upon the literature of his
country, in the dignity with which he invested the poetic art and the
poet's relation to the people.

[Illustration: Signature: George Parsons Lathrop]

[All Bryant's poems were originally published by D. Appleton and
Company.]

THANATOPSIS

To him who in the love of Nature holds
Communion with her visible forms, she speaks
A various language; for his gayer hours
She has