Biography
In what year and place was William Cullen Bryant born?
(1794, Cummington, Massachusetts)
Which newspaper did Bryant edit for nearly 50 years?
New York Evening Post
What does the title Thanatopsis mean?
View of Death
What is blank verse?
Unrhymed iambic pentameter
Which New York City park is named in Bryant’s honor?
Bryant Park
What profession did Bryant train for before becoming a full-time writer?
Lawyer
Bryant helped form which political party
Republican Party
Finish this line from Thanatopsis: “Go forth under the open sky, and list / To Nature’s _____.”
teachings
what is the term for focus on nature & emotion
Romanticism
What major national monument’s pedestal dedication did Bryant help introduce?
Statue of Liberty
Name the two colleges Bryant attended but did not graduate from.
(Williams College and Yale)
Name one major social cause Bryant supported.
abolition of slavery, labor rights, prison reform
In To a Waterfowl, what does the lone bird’s flight symbolize?
Divine guidance or trust in life’s journey
Give one example of a technique Bryant uses to make nature seem alive.
Name one outdoor hobby Bryant especially loved.
Hiking or botany
On what date and in which city did Bryant die?
June 12, 1878, New York City)
Which political movement did Bryant back before the Republican Party?
Free-Soil movement
Which poem celebrates the vast grasslands of the American Midwest?
The Prairies
What is the term for vivid word pictures like Bryant’s landscapes and skies?
Imagery
Complete Bryant’s famous quote: “Truth crushed to earth shall ______ again.”
Rise
What honor did New York City give Bryant when he died?
Lowered flags to half-staff
Besides poetry, what classic works did he translate into blank verse?
(Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey)
Quote the famous line from To a Waterfowl that mentions a “Power.”
“There is a Power whose care / Teaches thy way…”
How would you describe the typical tone of Bryant’s poems?
Reflective, reverent, sometimes mournful
What was Bryant called, as America’s first great poet of ___?
nature