Page:Seven Great American Poets - Hart - 1901.djvu/19



is justly called "the father of our song." His greatest poem, Thanatopsis, which established his reputation, was written twenty-eight years before the appearance of Longfellow's first volume of poetry. Bryant was a poet of nature, interpreting her in simple and most musical verse. Though he was a patriot in the best sense of the word, a notable journalist for half a century, and a part of the national life of the American republic, it is as poet that he will be best remembered and best loved.

William Cullen Bryant was born November 3, 1794, at Cummington, Hampshire county, Massachusetts.