Значение слова BRYANT в Литературной энциклопедии

1) JACOB (1715-1804).-Scholar, _ed._ at Eton and Camb., wrote learnedly, but paradoxically, on mythological and Homeric subjects. His chief works were _A New System or Analysis of Ancient Mythology_ (1774-76), _Observations on the Plain of Troy_ (1795), and _Dissertation concerning the Wars of Troy_ (1796). In the last two he endeavoured to show that the existence of Troy and the Greek expedition were fabulous. Though so sceptical on these points he was an implicit believer in the authenticity of the Rowley authorship of Chatterton's fabrications. He also wrote on theological subjects.2)BRYANT, WILLIAM CULLEN (1794-1878).-Poet, was _b._ at Cummington, Massachusetts, the _s._ of a doctor. His ancestors on both sides came over in the _Mayflower_. His first poem was _Thanatopsis_ (1817), which was greeted as the best poem produced in America up to that time. After being a lawyer for some time he was induced to exchange law for journalism, and acted as ed. of various periodicals. Among his best known poems are _Lines to a Water-fowl_, _The Rivulet_, _The West Wind_, _The Forest Hymn_, _The Fringed Gentian_, etc. His muse is tender and graceful, pervaded by a contemplative melancholy, and a love of solitude and the silence of the woods. Though he was brought up to admire Pope, and in his early youth imitated him, he was one of the first American poets to throw off his influence. He had a high sense of duty, was a prominent and patriotic citizen, and enjoyed the esteem and even the reverence of his fellow-countrymen. B. also produced a blank-verse translation of the _Iliad_ and the _Odyssey_.