William Cullen Bryant is a poet of historic importance, chiefly because he was the first American writer of verse to win wide international acclaim. His talent asserted itself quite early. He wrote and was published while still a child; but under his father's tutelage, he had learned to write carefully and to revise well. Shortly after reaching adulthood he gained a reputation as the best poet in America when his authorship of "Thanatopsis" became known. The judgment was subsequently affirmed when, in 1821, he issued the first of many collected editions of his slim body of verse. Washington Irving secured publication of his work in England, and the critics there as well as those at home recognized his considerable talent. Bryant devoted most of his life to making a living, first as a lawyer and then as an editor. Consequently, he did not fully develop his poetic talents. He...