Analysis: William Cullen Bryan Essay, Research Paper
William Cullen Bryant’s
“To a Waterfowl”
Analysis:
By the title of this poem one can only come to the conclusion that the poem is about
nature. Bryant loved nature as a young boy. The beginning of this particular poem starts
out by describing the scene of what he is looking at. It almost seems as though Bryant is
describing a sunset or the end of the day. Bryant them proceeds to describe the “fowler”.
The fowler can be described as a hunter that is seeing the fowl and is contemplation
shooting the bird as it crosses the crimson sky. Bryant then begins to wonder what the
destination of the waterfowl may be. He wonders if he is looking for a marshy pool or a
lake with tall grass or anything that would allow the fowl to take refuge.
Bryant then speaks of a “power”. This ” power” that he speaks of teaches all animals and
us the correct path to take. The “power’ in questions can only be described as God.
Bryant shows that God created animals with instincts that allow them to know where they
are going and when to end their journey. He shows this by indicating that soon the fowl’s
journey will end and it will find a warm place to rest.