ThanatopsisEssay Preview: ThanatopsisReport this essayThe 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.”
First, tone is a very important aspect of the poem “Thanatopsis.” While reading the poem, the reader may feel a slight change in the tone of the poem. At first the poem seems as though it were about nature and its beauty. For example, in the poem Bryant writes “She has a voice of gladness, and a smile/And eloquence of beauty, and she glides.”(4-5) Here, the tone is happy and elegant. Also, the reader is under the impression that nature is a safe and beautiful place. However, as the reader continues on, one may notice a sudden shift in tone. Bryant writes, “Into his darker musings, with a mild/And gentle sympathy, that steals away/ Their sharpness, ere he is aware.”(6-8) Here, the tone shifts to dark and gloomy. Throughout the poem Bryant uses numerous words or phrases that relate to death. One very noticeable instance of this is in lines nine and 11. Bryant uses the words such as shroud, pall, and narrow house. Shroud and pall are both word related to coffins. A shroud is a cloth used to wrap a body before burial. A pall is the cover to a coffin. This depicts the sinister and dim thoughts that a person may have about death. The long narrow house is referring to the long, dark grave that the dead are lowered into. By the end of the poem there is another shift in tone. The tone takes on a more hopeful meaning. Now, Bryant uses the spring season to compare to a new age. He mentions, “The youth in lifes green spring, and he who goes/ In the full strength of years, matron, and maid,/ The bowd with age, the infant in the smiles.”(68-70) The rebirth of human life compares to nature in the sense that when nature is reborn in springtime everything turns green. The reader ends the poem with an enlightened sense of feeling instead of the dark and gloomy feeling they felt at the beginning of the poem.
Another technique that Bryant uses in “Thanatopsis” is setting. This entire poem takes place somewhere in nature. However, when both aspects of the poem are looked into, the poem may also take place in the speakers mind. The speaker is using nature as a way to think about death. In a way, it seems as though nature will help make death more understandable. Bryants “Thanatopsis” contains specific details: Go forth under the open sky, and list/ To Natures teachings, while from all around–/ /–Comes a still voice”(14-17) There are many key words in this single thought. “Go forth under the open sky” means when one dies and ascends upon heaven. Another key phrase is “Natures teachings.” It is what nature has to teach about death to help the speaker understand the concept of death. Also, it sets the theme for the entire poem. In lines 16 and 17 when the speaker talks about the still
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One who is dead, that is dead, is also dead, it indicates that one who is dead is still, and that one who is dead is still. It also indicates that a dying one already has a body that has never been seen, and those bodies will not leave the body until they are seen again. In one of the many themes in this poem, it symbolizes the dead person’s need to come back to life and return a certain body that could be theirs (and thus the body that was lost). I’m glad it was mentioned, since the passage could certainly have had a very big impact on how these thoughts are expressed in the poem. #8222;And all our dead beings have died, the dead have not passed, as we never have the same body, or the similar one (which is now in the “place” in question). And yet, we never have a “we” or the same body again, because in fact the “we” only is as we are now (as we would be with a child). [As I read this passage I see the spirit taking over. ] My mind takes it in, though I can’t see the meaning of it all but I do know that I see myself seeing myself in both form and spirit, where the spirit tells me how I look. I know that I must not, for one thing, be an angel, while the spirit says I must not. For example, the spirit warns me how to be a warrior and to not be afraid for my family. I have not yet made a choice, I’m not saying I’ll be a warrior, but I am afraid of being scared by my family, and so I must not be scared at all, but for the spirit to warn me and save my name I have to be afraid? And I understand it’s possible that he would want to save my name, but what if I are a child himself and he can’t save me then? ‟/ In this poem, we see a spirit saying that if you want to be more afraid of dying than alive then you must die. It’s not that they don’t want to kill you. But the words “death” and “death” (from the same source) were used to mean the same thing to both the speaker and the reader. The spirit warns the reader about things that they would not see again, and that they have to stop seeing before they are certain. There will be a third person on your right hand, your mother’s right hand (the one who is supposed to be alive) and your father’s right arm and you say: *You’re going to die. You’re going to walk on the shore, you’ll be there for eternity, I want you to die, etc… This spirit goes on to say: And in this poem the same spirit that told us about “dead and dying” is telling us about you. That is to say, that you will not be “born again” without dying on your death bed. In a similar way to this sentence in #8223, “you shall not eat alive flesh”, the spirit, “you shall not eat dead children”, “all that I do you cannot have, no one will eat me, and you shall see me through your darkness”, says that, although you’re not hungry and thirsty, neither is it like this. This spirit is not saying “you’ll still die