Forest Hymn, A

The Oxford Companion to American Literature | 1995 | 678 words | Copyright

Forest Hymn, A, blank‐verse poem by Bryant, published in 1825, and reprinted as the title piece of a volume (1860).

Expressing a concept of nature akin to that of Wordsworth, Bryant proclaims, “The groves were God's first temples,” where He raised shrines for beauty before the advent of human religion, and the flower still seems “an emanation of the indwelling Life” which pervades all things. The poet communes in the forest with “the perpetual work of thy creation, finished, yet renewed forever,” and prays that men, in meditation there, may…to the beautiful order of thy works
Learn to conform the order of our lives.

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James D. Hart and and Phillip W. Leininger. "Forest Hymn, A." The Oxford Companion to American Literature. 1995. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

James D. Hart and and Phillip W. Leininger. "Forest Hymn, A." The Oxford Companion to American Literature. 1995. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O123-ForestHymnA.html

James D. Hart and and Phillip W. Leininger. "Forest Hymn, A." The Oxford Companion to American Literature. 1995. Retrieved May 27, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O123-ForestHymnA.html

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