I can't abide most of William Cullen Bryant's poems. However, Bryant offers many good examples of what not to do when writing formal poetry: use no feminine endings -- in this case, no feminine rhymes either; vary little from the chosen foot of the line -- in this case iambic tetrameter; try to have a hard stop at the end of each line; use tin-eared tropes and when you're done say it without bothering to look for the meaning. Say it like a marching band. The result will be as tedious as the worst kind of contemporary blando-freever*. Sad to say, but this kind of poem used to be enormously popular in America. Well, so was watery beer. And I presume that his good life as an Abolitionist overcame Heaven's reservations about Bryant's poetry. St. Peter probably gave him a cornet with a large mute. Firesign Theater used him as a model for a loudmouthed American poet (Anything You Like).