Poetry Corner

November

by William Cullen Bryant

Yet one smile more, departing, distant sun!

One mellow smile through the soft vapory air,

Ere, o'er the frozen earth, the loud winds run,

Or snows are sifted o'er the meadows bare.

One smile on the brown hills and naked trees,

And the dark rocks whose summer wreaths are cast,

And the blue gentian flower, that, in the breeze,

Nods lonely, of her beauteous race the last.

Yet a few sunny days, in which the bee

Shall murmur by the hedge that skirts the way,

The cricket chirp upon the russet lea,

And man delight to linger in thy ray.

Yet one rich smile, and we will try to bear

The piercing winter frost, and winds, and darkened air.

This poem is in the public domain.

About the poem: William Cullen Bryant was born near Cummington, Massachusetts, on November 3, 1794. At age 13, he wrote “The Embargo”, a satirical poem calling for the resignation of President Thomas Jefferson. He attended Williams College (during which time he wrote “Thanatopsis”), and later studied law under private tuition. He was admitted to the bar at age 21, and spent nearly 10 years practicing in Massachusetts. He later moved to New York City, where he was an editor of the New York Review, and then became editor-in-chief of the New York Evening Post, a position he held until his death. He used his position as editor to call for the abolition of slavery.

Bryant is considered a nature poet and journalist, with ties to the Hudson River School of Art. He wrote poems, essays, and articles that championed the rights of workers and immigrants. He died on June 12, 1878, in New York City.