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The William Cullen Bryant Homestead is the boyhood home and later summer residence of William Cullen Bryant (1794–1878), one of America's foremost poets and newspaper editors. The estate is located at 205 Bryant Road in Cummington, Massachusetts, currently operated by the non-profit Trustees of Reservations, and open to the public on weekends in summer and early fall. An admission fee is charged. ==History== The Homestead was originally built in 1783 by Bryant's grandfather, Ebenezer Snell. It is set on a hillside above the Westfield River valley with views of the Hampshire Hills. The early form of the house appears to have been a Dutch Colonial gambrel of 1.5 stories, with a single story ell attached to the rear. Bryant's father, Peter Bryant, purchased the property in 1799, and it is in this place that Bryant spent much of his childhood and early life.〔 The future poet moved in at age four and remained there until he was 22.〔Muller, Gilbert H. ''William Cullen Bryant: Author of America''. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2008: 6. ISBN 978-0-7914-7467-9〕 Bryant briefly attended Williams College but called his education there "meager and slight" and left after only seven months, returning to the family Homestead in May 1811.〔Muller, Gilbert H. ''William Cullen Bryant: Author of America''. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2008: 14–15. ISBN 978-0-7914-7467-9〕 After private study, he was admitted to the bar in 1815 and practiced law in nearby Plainfield, Massachusetts.〔Han, John J. ''Writers of the American Renaissance: An A-to-Z Guide'' (Denise D. Knight, editor). Greenwood Publishing Group, 2003: 30. ISBN 031332140X〕 He would walk seven miles from home to work every day. It was on one of these commutes, in December 1815, that he saw a single bird flying on the horizon and was inspired to write his poem "To a Waterfowl".〔Ehrlich, Eugene and Gorton Carruth. ''The Oxford Illustrated Literary Guide to the United States''. New York: Oxford University Press, 1982: 56. ISBN 0-19-503186-5〕 The property was sold out of the family in 1835.〔 Bryant bought back the family home in 1865 and renovated it extensively.〔Ehrlich, Eugene and Gorton Carruth. ''The Oxford Illustrated Literary Guide to the United States''. New York: Oxford University Press, 1982: 46. ISBN 0-19-503186-5〕 He had the original building raised up, and built a whole new first floor underneath it. He also had added to the building a replica of his father's office, and later added a major addition to the northwest side of the house. Bryant was also responsible for planting the property with fruit trees.〔 Several of Bryant's poems are inspired by his time in Cummington, particularly in the landscape that surrounded it, including "Lines on Revisiting the Country", "The Rivulet", and "Inscription for the Entrance to a Wood".〔Muller, Gilbert H. ''William Cullen Bryant: Author of America''. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2008: 6–7. ISBN 978-0-7914-7467-9〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「William Cullen Bryant Homestead」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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