first written when Bryant was almost 17
Meaning: Thanatos (death) Opsis (seeing) - The title presents the poem as a way of looking at death.
He added to the poem in 1821. His additions frame the poem and add an element of human comfort.
“Thanatopsis” – Stanza 1 Questions
1. Bryant inverts the opening clause of the poem. Rephrase it without inversion.
2. What literary device is used in lines 4-8?
3. Who is the speaker?
4. What is the tone?
5. What images of death are included?
“Thanatopsis” – Stanza 1 Answers
1. Nature speaks to those who commune/communicate with her/seek her out.
2. Personification – Nature is a kind lady
3. The poet/the narrator
4. Sad, gloomy
5. Shroud, pall, narrow house
SUMMARY Lines 1-17:
The speaker celebrates Nature & reflects upon her as a mirror that matches his happy moods and is a comfort when he has dark thoughts. Man should connect with Nature, listen to her teaching, & receive her “healing sympathy” when he is oppressed by thoughts of death.
“Thanatopsis” – Lines 17-57 Questions
1. Who is the speaker?
2. According to lines 25-26, what happens when you die?
3. In lines 31-37, what response is offered to those who fear the solitude and indignity of death?
4. Explain the literary device used in lines 40-45.
“Thanatopsis” – Lines 17-57 Answers
1. Nature
2. You return to the Earth - nature
3. When you die, you join everyone else who has died before you – rich/poor, royalty/common, etc.
4. Metaphor – Earth to a tomb; Nature is the tombstone
SUMMARY (Lines 17-57):
Nature offers a “magnificent couch” adorned with all the glories of Nature to the man who faces death. It is shared by kings, the wise & the good.
“Thanatopsis” – Lines 58-72 Questions
1. In lines 55-66, what particular human fear is being addressed? What comfort does Bryant offer?
“Thanatopsis” – Lines 58-72 Answers
1. The fear of dying alone and being forgotten – Everyone will die.
SUMMARY (Lines 58-72):
Dying unmourned is not important because all those who go on oblivious to the dying man’s departure will eventually share his fate.
“Thanatopsis” – Lines 73-81
1. Who is the speaker?
2. What is the tone?
1. The speaker/poet returns.
2. comforting
SUMMARY Lines 73-81:
It is important that one live with an unfaltering trust in Nature so that when death approaches, he can go to it soothed and sustained in the knowledge that it is a part of the natural course of man’s life.
MAIN IDEAS:
When facing death, you should take comfort in nature. The earth is everyone’s final resting place.
Although you will eventually lose your life, you are destined to acquire in death the companionship of all other mortals.
MORAL:
Nature’s organic cycle of birth, death, growth and rebirth affects everyone.
LITERARY ELEMENTS: Personification: Nature = a kind woman The poem is an elegy – a poem of mourning
Tone – shifts from being somber to being comforting Written in an English poetic form – blank verse, unrhymed iambic (unstressed, stressed) pentameter (5 feet)
What characteristics make “Thanatopsis” Romantic literature?
Focus on nature – source of inspiration and comfort
Focus on feeling and emotion over reason
Focus on the individual
You May Also Find These Documents Helpful
-
The poem “Urban Indian: Portrait 3” written by Richard Wagamese, shows how an experience in nature can help create a connection not only with nature but also with humans. The speaker remembers an old experience of his when he was paddling “..and he can still feel the muscle/ of the channel on his arm/ the smell of it/ potent, rich, eternal/ the smell of dreams and visions..” This feeling and connection has been kept within him and has helped him become who he is now as an adult: “..and heads down the stairs/ out into the street/ to find the kids/ he teaches to carve paddles now.” He may be far from that place where he once was, but he shares this memory to carve the paddles of a canoe: “..in the moonlight/ what he brings to them.” This reveals…
- 182 Words
- 1 Page
Satisfactory Essays -
Beauty is found in nature to a point that this unique attributes only found in the world’s characteristics can blind the effects of our ambitions of being close the essence of…
- 3632 Words
- 15 Pages
Powerful Essays -
The tones between the " Song of the Open Road" and "Thanatopsis are quite different. In the " Song of the Open Road", the tone is tranquil and stress-free. In which the poem specifies on how people need to get outside into nature to be free from difficult obstacles they face in their everyday lives. However, in "Thanatopsis", the tone starts off as sad and miserable to reassuring about the concept of death. Since, people often are afraid to leave the Earth at any moment, they should go out into nature and hear its voice to know that when they die, they will not be alone and they will mix back into the…
- 114 Words
- 1 Page
Good Essays -
Furthermore, William Bryant uses nature as a form of motivation to comfort ones fear of death. In the beginning of "Thanatopsis", the meaning of the poem is pretty much stated. "To him who in the love of nature holds communion with her visible forms", simply reads that if one is in communion with nature, then nature will give you a message. The message will tell one how to live ones life, and it will be unique to everyone else who is in communion with nature. Hence,nature is ones friend. Secondly, in the third stanza, Bryant attempts to make death a comfortable feeling, referring to the word couch, as something you curl up and feel good in. He does this so that one can see that death should be anything be fearful.…
- 429 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
In Thanatopsis, the author shows the theme about death by comparing it to nature’s beauty. Most people see death as horrible, but Bryant shows an in-depth meaning to it. The poem starts off by personifying nature as a beautiful female, “…and a smile and eloquence of beauty” (Lines 4-5), who will always be there for you to make you feel better, “Into his darker musings, with a mild and healing sympathy.”(Lines 6-8) The poem takes a shift and talks about how death feels like “Of the stern agony, and shroud, and pall and breathless darkness, and the narrow house,” (Lines 11-12) and the idea of being in pain in a dark coffin. The poem continues going back and forth on nature’s beauty and death, and soon connects it back to the theme. “Thy growth, to be resolved to earth again, (Line 23)” shows that after death is another phase of life itself, and we will return to be one with nature. Our dead decomposing bodies will be mixed in with nature, “Shall send his roots abroad, and pierce thy mould. (Line 30)” Bryant compares nature to a coffin, “Are but the solemn decorations all of the great tomb of man.” (Line 44-45), to show the coffins of dead people created nature’s beauty, the valleys, hills, rivers. Bryant leaves a…
- 976 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
Question 2: By examining Robber Barons such as Vanderbilt, Rockefeller and Carnegie, how could you argue for Laissez Faire Economics and against Laissez Faire…
- 805 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
The trenches are holes (8 to 10 feet in many areas) dug by soldiers to protect themselves from the enemy in WWI. They were designed as three lines. The front line directly faced the enemy; the space in between the front lines of the defenders and the attackers is known as “No Man’s Land” were usually the dead bodies are during the war. Behind the front line is the “Second Line” which was used if the front line was captured by the enemy. Usually there is a third line that is 1km away from the front line towards safety. In the trenches, there was living quarters, kitchens, hospitals and dugouts of all sorts, which were essentially caves dug into the back side of the trench. The trenches were necessary when two armies face a stalemate, with neither side able to win and overtake the other.…
- 945 Words
- 4 Pages
Better Essays -
Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau had an intelligent influence on Canada, its culture and society in general. The four important areas that will be focused on this essay are the great leader of Canada, his life style, FLQ cries and how he scarified his life to Canadians.…
- 1234 Words
- 5 Pages
Better Essays -
Nature is a big part of both "Thanatopsis"� and "To a Waterfowl"�. In "Thanatopsis"�, Nature actually has a speaking part. The personified Nature teaches the reader to not fear death, but accept it as a part of life. Nature in this poem is very comforting. She is described in detail and is portrayed as calm and compassionate in her way of speaking.…
- 383 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
a. Franklin, believed that science could solve the problems of human life and that knowledge came from the senses, observation, and experimentation. Society, economy and human affairs Franklin believed that they should be applied to knowledge. School was defiantly a big part of Franklin he was very dedicated to his studying. Franklin made a proposal that was very important to exposed the stimulus on a new education republic. Franklin was a very educated man who became successful from being ambitious and having common sense.…
- 523 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
In “To Paint a Water Lily,” by Ted Hughes, the speaker examines the complex aspects of nature by revealing the challenges he faces as an artist in capturing its real meaning. When he looks at the scene, he sees an exciting little world of constant movement and activity, hidden by the peaceful stillness of the water lilies that float at the surface of the pond. Ted knows that to paint the water lily and do it righteousness requires more than a simple description of the plant itself—he must also somehow capture its environment; the busy life that surrounds it. The power with which the speaker describes this incredible task and the appreciation he feels for the outstanding convolution of nature is expressed through the use of tone, language, imagery, diction and figurative language.…
- 597 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
In the poem “Thanatopsis,” the author William Cullen Bryant suggests that we should not fear death. He proposes that through the teachings of Nature we should find comfort in knowing death is truly not so terrifying and lonely, and that it can actually be quite pleasant.…
- 1038 Words
- 5 Pages
Good Essays -
Emotional Labor. Managing and even suppressing emotions when doing so is both appropriate and necessary.…
- 960 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
To reach some understanding of the important affects that death can have, we must first explore the devastatingly real shock that the end of something so permanent as life must provide. No one can ever truly know what the feeling of death is like until they actually feel it for themselves, but for the purpose of this exercise, let us imagine what it must closely resemble. Words such as afraid, daunting, intimidated, unsure, confusion, hopelessness, sorrow, and countless others spring to mind. The actual realization that death is very near must be unbearably weird, for it is something that is as much a part of life as birth, yet is totally unprepared for in our…
- 1469 Words
- 6 Pages
Powerful Essays -
When the man chooses the simple path, he finds himself one with nature and God. Most people are drawn to the bright lights, greed and colors of the city, and for this reason they do express their true self in society. The man chooses the path with the simple colors of nature and finds himself through his intuition. In the essay “Nature”, written by Ralph Waldo Emerson, there are similarities found throughout the text in relation to my drawing. While writing about the importance of a man being alone in nature, Emerson writes, “The lover of nature is he whose inward and outward senses are still truly adjusted to each other; who has retained the spirit of infancy even into the era of manhood.”…
- 476 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays