The Sublime and the Beautiful in the Poems of William Cullen Bryant

Jan D. Kucharzewski

• Publisher: GRIN Verlag
• Year: 2003
• eBook ISBN: 9783638213967
• Edition: 0
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: North American Literary Collections
• Index: Literature

Seminar paper from the year 2002 in the subject American Studies - Literature, grade: 1.0 (A), University of Dusseldorf "Heinrich Heine" (American Studies Institute), course: Hauptseminar American Nature Poetry and Painting, language: English, abstract: At a first reading it might appear as if the poems of William Cullen Bryant (1794-1878)simply attempt to accurately represent nature, striving for a certain degree of poeticalrealism. A closer look at Bryant's work however will reveal that the nature which isdescribed in the poems is also always a space constructed by the poet. There is aconsciousness to the depiction of spaces and objects in Bryant's works which goesbeyond simple representation. We are therefore not confronted with a lyrical I that justtells us about what it sees, hears, and feels on a walk through the woods or a quietmoment in the mountains, but with a creative force that builds a landscape with thematerial of language.In Bryant's poetry a landscape has an encoded significance similar to a text which canbe read and understood. Often this allegorical meaning is a culture-political one, forBryant was concerned with establishing a distinctive American identity in his work, and he saw its manifestation in the landscapes of his country. Whereas the Europeanpoets of that time could look back on a long artistic tradition, the American nation ofthe early 19th century was not able to verify its existence through a distinguishedcultural past. What it could rely on though were the magnificent landscapes stillunspoiled by the assumed decadence and environmental corruption of the IndustrialRevolution, which was consuming both, nature and humans on the Old Continent.The rise of national self-consciousness which followed the American Revolutionpaved the way for new artistic approaches in literature and the fine arts. Painters andpoets alike began to glorify the grandeur of the national landscapes, not only bypainting or describing them, but by giving them a cultural significance through the useof certain compositional devices.Bryant's poems for example often promote his vision of a pastoral, Eden-like Americain which simple rural virtues are supposed to contrast with the decadence of the urbanEuropean society. In his poems nature becomes a space which is both sublime andfragile. The poet praises nature's permanence compared to the transience of man'sachievements and its ability to renew itself, yet he also articulates his fear of thecorruption of nature. [...]