biography
| name: |
Bryant, William Cullen
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| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1794–1878)
|
| biography:
| Poet and editor, born in Cummington, Massachusetts, USA. He attended Williams College (1810–11), studied law (1811–15), and practised in Great Barrington, MA (1816–25), before settling in New York City and Long Island (1843). An editor of the Evening Post (1829–78), he was an opponent of slavery and helped to establish the new Republican Party. During his long years as both a lawyer and editor he continued to write poetry such as ‘Thanatopsis’ (written in 1811, revised in 1821) and ‘To a Waterfowl’ (1821) that gained him the reputation as America's first major poet. He also translated new editions of the Illiad (1870) and the Odyssey (1871–2). |
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