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To a Waterfowl
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To a Waterfowl

poem by Bryant
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History

To a Waterfowl, lyric poem by William Cullen Bryant, published in 1818 and collected in Poems (1821). It is written in alternately rhymed quatrains. At the end of a difficult day filled with uncertainty and self-doubt, the poet is comforted by the sight of a solitary waterfowl on the horizon and realizes that everything in nature is guided by a protective divine providence.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Kathleen Kuiper.