America’s first men of letters whose writings proved that the new republic could produce a literature worthy to be compared with that of the mother country were James Fenimore Cooper, writer of Indian tales; Washington Irving, writer of legends about America and the sketches about our old English home; and William Cullen Bryant. Cooper showed the strangeness and romance of frontier life. Irving tried to give to America the romantic background that the new country lacked. Bryant opened men’s eyes to the beauty of nature.

Though Bryant was eleven years younger than Irving, his “Thanatopsis” was written only two years after Irving’s “Knickerbocker.”

Note. The bobolink is an American song bird. In the spring the male is mostly black and white, while the female is streaked with yellowish brown. In midsummer the male bobolink molts, taking on “plain brown” plumage like that of his “Quaker wife.” In the spring he regains his black and buff colors without molting any feathers. He sings only in the spring. The bobolink makes long migrations extending from Canada to Paraguay, and in the late autumn collects in large flocks which feed in the rice fields of the South, where he is known as the ricebird, or reedbird.

Discussion. 1. Read the lines that imitate the song of the bobolink. 2. Describe the dress of Robert of Lincoln and that of his “Quaker wife.” 3. How does her song differ from his? 4. What are the work and the care that make him silent? 5. How does the poet account for the change in his appearance as the season advances? 6. Where does he go for winter? When will he come again?

Phrases

THE MARYLAND YELLOW-THROAT

HENRY VAN DYKE