Two hymns : autograph fair copies of two poems, undated [1820 or later].

Hymns, originally written as fair copies by Bryant in brown ink, have penciled annotations and edits in a later (perhaps Parke Godwin's) hand. A note in the later penciled hand indicates that the poems were (at the time of the note) unpublished, and the same later hand has canceled Bryant's original titles (both "Hymn") and penciled new titles above. The Hymn beginning "Oh God! whose dread and dazzling brow" is re-titled "A Broken and Contrite Heart, Oh God, Thou Wilt Not Despise;" the Hymn beginning "When he, who from the scourge of wrong" is re-titled "No Man Knoweth of his Sepulchre." Both Hymns were first published under the later penciled titles in Godwin's Poetical Works of William Cullen Bryant (1883), where they were also published with the penciled edits, and where the final stanza of "Oh God! whose dread and dazzling brow" (which is the most heavily revised stanza in the manuscript) was not published. Notes in Godwin (1883), indicate that the poems were both composed at Great Barrington, in 1820.
Part of a collection of 20 items (including letters, poems, and engravings) related to William Cullen Bryant. Items are described individually in 20 records (MA 686.1-20); see related records for full description.