The Poem Thanatopsis By William Cullen Bryant

Death is inescapable. In the same way, life is inescapable. The Appalachian short story, “Jake Pond”, portrays this inevitable cycle through the depiction of a young boy enjoying nature. Lou Crabtree writes of the many inner workings of life through symbolism. While some would say this story is a literal telling of a boy and his surroundings, it does, in fact, include a plethora of metaphors to display the complexities of life through figurative language (Crabtree). In Lou Crabtree’s “Jake Pond” symbols such as the young boy, black snakes, pond, hollytree, and other natural entities portray themes of life and death, while detailing multiple aspects of change.

In Europe, Romanticism originated at the end of the eighteenth century. It then spread to England because of a very important person. One of the things that was a big hit was the defiance of political authority. There were a lot of thoughts on life after death, Someone that made a big influence on life would have to be Washington Irving and the way he show darkness in human nature in his story.

The weather, ever-changing and which humans are at the mercy of, plays a central role in Trethewey expressing instances of grief that are both personal and collective in regards to black Americans. In part one of Native Guard, the poem “Photograph: Ice Storm, 1971” is set after a severe snow storm falls upon the place where Trethewey lived in her youth. Much of the poem is structured by a contrast between the inside of a physical house and the icy environment outside, as evident in stanza two and three: “the storm… drives us inside / for days, power lines down, food rotting / in the refrigerator, while outside the landscape glistens beneath a glaze / of ice” (Trethewey 10). The imagery of the “power lines down” and “food rotting” establish the home’s interior as being an undesirable place to be, while in opposition, the exterior “glistens beneath a glaze of ice.” Knowing the tragic events that have occurred in Trethewey’s life, the ice storm here serves

Chuck Palahniuk once said, “The first step to eternal life, is you have to die.” In William Cullen Bryant’s poem “Thanatopsis”, he does not mention eternal life or anything religious, but speaks about death. He tells his readers that death is a natural thing and they should not worry about it. William Cullen Bryant, in his poem “Thanatopsis”, portrays a comforting view of death. Throughout the poem, Bryant encourages his readers by explaining that in death they are not alone, that death, like life, is a natural process, and that they will be among some of the finest people who walked the earth.

In the poem, “Thanatopsis” is more about death as he describes the nature with death. This poem would be more optimistic in a way because it was showing a possible way of not fearing death and the nature around it would be a possible thing too. The author lets us know that there is nothing wrong with death if we have the nature around us. As the author describes the nature as a she and tells us how beautiful it is, how can we not enjoy her everything she is giving us. He said in the poem “Like on who wraps the drapery of his couch about him, and lies down to pleasant dreams” he describe lay down like something is wrapped around you, just lay down and close your eyes don't think about death now think about what is around you just go to sleep

This poem talks about nature and death. William Cullen Bryant shares that nature can make death less painful. He says that when we start to think about death, we should go outside, and look around and listen to the natural earth sounds. This is supposed to remind us that when we die, we will mix back into the earth. The poem tells us that when we die, we will not be alone. We will be with every other person that has ever been buried, In the ground, which in this poem is called the “great tomb of man”. It also tells us that even those that are still living will soon die and join in the great tomb of man. This poem is meant to comfort those that are afraid of dying and death in general. At the end of the poem, we are told to think of death as

The poem “Thanatopsis” by William Cullen Bryant reveals a very unusual aspect of nature. While most people think of nature as beauty and full of life, Bryant takes a more interesting approach to nature. He exposes a correlation between nature, life, death, and re-birth. Using nature as a foothold, Bryant exercises methods such as tone, setting, and imagery in a very intriguing way while writing “Thanatopsis.”

Thanatopsis has themes of terror through nature Themes of terror through nature are used to set the somber mood in the poem. In lines 43 to 45, it says “Old ocean’s grey and melancholy waste,-/Are but solemn decorations all/Of

The value of nature is something that you cherish about what nature does to you or for you. The value of nature is also something that can be used as it having a negative effect on the reader or a positive effect on the reader as well. An example of the value of nature is to appreciate what life gives you because one day, nature might not be there for you. Romantic writers are writers who saw the limits of reason and instead commemorated the glories of the individual spirit, the emotions, and the imagination as basic elements of human nature. Romantic writers such as William Cullen Bryant would look to nature for inspiration and also celebrated emotions and the imagination. William Cullen Bryant turned to nature as a way to express his emotions in his poem “Thanatopsis” and his imagination on how life would be like after death or right before death. In “Thanatopsis” by William Cullen Bryant, it talks about how nature can reflect on your emotions, nature is like a gateway to help relieve all stress. In Thanatopsis, it talks about death and how once you die, you died amongst the important people who has died before you. In Thanatopsis, it relates to how William Cullen Bryant uses this as an inspiration from his wanderings in the countryside. Thanatopsis, meaning meditation or contemplation of death relates to the value of nature because when the time of death comes, you shouldn’t approach it with fear but embrace it with confidence. In the poem, he uses examples of literary

In the poems “Because I Could Not Stop for Death”, by Emily Dickinson and “Home Burial”, by Robert Frost, literary elements are used throughout both poems to get the message the authors are trying to portray. One main important literary element that is used to entice the reader, is symbolism, because it helps the authors describe something without actual describing it. Symbolism is also used because it shows how significant an object is. Characterization is also an important literary technique because it, gives the reader an idea on how the character would act, work, and their values in life. Death is a topic that is used in both poems. Also, every character express their opinion about death differently.

To begin with, both Emily Dickinson and William Cullen Bryant use concrete imagery to help their audience visualize the poems’ plots. In the first stanza of “Thanatopsis,” Bryant writes, “She [Nature] has a voice of gladness, and a smile/and eloquence of beauty, and she glides/into his inner musings, with a mild/and healing sympathy, that steals away/their sharpness ere, he is aware” (ll. 3-7). He personifies Nature as a woman in such detail that readers can picture the vividness of a kind smile gracing across Nature’s face. The audience can envision the beauty of the world in which they live through Bryant’s depictions of Nature. In Dickinson’s poem, “Because I could not stop for Death,” however, she chooses to depict Death as a suitor. The audience can vividly imagine Death’s suave gestures and chivalry in his attempt to woo the narrator. In stanza five of her poem, Dickinson writes, “ The roof was scarcely visible—/The cornice—in the ground—” (ll. 19-20). With this information, readers can see the detail of every aspect of this piece of work.

Bryant went through many hard times throughout his life; from losing family members to being socially isolated. He lost many family members and close friends. The one death that hurt him the most was his father’s. Bryant’s father was a very important part of his life; his father taught him many things throughout his lifetime. His father submitted five of his poems into the North American Review, one of those were the first version of “Thanatopsis”. It is said that Bryant mourned his father’s death and that his death is what gave him the emotional passion to write with.

The most intriguing poem featured in this film is A Grave, authored by Marianne Moore. Moore and her mother were visiting the sea one day and a man stood in front of them and the mother made a comment leading to Marianne Moore’s poem. She writes about how it is in our human nature to stand in the center of something and take a shared beauty from everyone, keeping it for yourself. Moore uses imagery while explaining the sea cannot be stood in the middle of, for if you try to stand in the middle you stand in a “well excavated grave”. Moore says that the sea is like a grave, and people and fish go about their business on the surface, unaware of the skeletons that lie below the depths. Moore articulates that like the ocean, if things are dropped into the ocean they’re bound to sink. Moore concludes by explaining how although the sea can be a grave, where things can sink, it is also a place you can enjoy and observe not

A comparison of Sharon Olds’ “Still Life in Landscape” with Linda Pastan’s “I Am Learning to Abandon the World.”

The church played a critical role in the process of memorializing the dead in the nineteenth century. For instance, William Blake in his poem “The Garden of Love” depicts death as an abstract concept between the living and deceased due to the interference of an institutionalized church. Adversely, Thomas Gray in “Elegy in a Country Churchyard” describes a church that embraces the dead, which allows a more individualized approach to the departed. Blake and Gray’s use of time, individualization, and structure reveals the contrasting importance of death opposed to a structural hierarchy. Although both poems showcase how humans’ response to the dead is connected to personal interactions with the living, a close comparison of the approach of death and memorialization in “The Garden of Love” and criticizes the impeding agency of a higher institutionalized power for preventing the living from having direct contact with the dead.