BRYANT, William Cullen - Autograph Manuscript Signed (Ams) of Concluding Lines of Thanatopsis

n.p. December 1872. Manuscript. 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. Minor ink smudge to date; light wrinkling and toning. Very Good 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.

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