The first significant poet of the independent United States was William Cullen Bryant (1794-1878), whose great contribution was to write rhapsodic poems on the grandeur of prairies and forests.
Other notable poets to emerge in the early and middle 19th century include Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849), Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862), Sidney Lanier (1842-1881), and James Whitcomb Riley (1849-1916).