AUTOGRAPH MANUSCRIPT SIGNED (AMS) of Concluding Lines of THANATOPSIS
- SIGNED Manuscript
- n.p. , December 1872
n.p., December 1872. Manuscript. Minor ink smudge to date; light wrinkling and toning. Very Good. Handwritten sixteen-line conclusion of Bryant's most famous poem and one of the best-known poems of the 19th century--"Thanatopsis"--on a 6-1/4" x 9" lined sheet of paper SIGNED "William Cullen Bryant" and dated "December 1872" at the conclusion. There are several word and a few punctuation changes from the published version. Any MANUSCRIPT excerpt of this poem, especially such a substantial one as this, is quite rare.
As the long train
Of ages glides away, the sons of men,
The youth in life's fresh spring, and he who goes
In the full strength of years, matron and maid,
The speechless babe, and the gray-headed man,
Shall one by one be gathered to thy side,
By those who in their turn shall follow them.
So live that when thy summons comes to join
The innumerable caravan which moves
To that mysterious realm where each shall take
His chamber in the silent halls of Death,
Thou go not, like the quarry-slave at night,
Scourged to his dungeon, but, sustained and soothed
By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave
Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch
About him and lies down to pleasant dreams.
"Thanatopsis," written when Bryant was 15 years old and first published in THE NORTH AMERICAN REVIEW in September 1817, became Bryant's most celebrated poem and is often acknowledged as "the first great American poem." Although the poem remained popular throughout Bryant's life, autograph fair copies are surprisingly rare with only two examples offered at auction in the past 50 years, the last being at Christie's in 1993.
As the long train
Of ages glides away, the sons of men,
The youth in life's fresh spring, and he who goes
In the full strength of years, matron and maid,
The speechless babe, and the gray-headed man,
Shall one by one be gathered to thy side,
By those who in their turn shall follow them.
So live that when thy summons comes to join
The innumerable caravan which moves
To that mysterious realm where each shall take
His chamber in the silent halls of Death,
Thou go not, like the quarry-slave at night,
Scourged to his dungeon, but, sustained and soothed
By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave
Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch
About him and lies down to pleasant dreams.
"Thanatopsis," written when Bryant was 15 years old and first published in THE NORTH AMERICAN REVIEW in September 1817, became Bryant's most celebrated poem and is often acknowledged as "the first great American poem." Although the poem remained popular throughout Bryant's life, autograph fair copies are surprisingly rare with only two examples offered at auction in the past 50 years, the last being at Christie's in 1993.