William Cullen Bryant

Widely acknowledged as father of American poetry Outspoken advocate for women’s rights Wrote “Thanatopsis” as a teenager Fought to ensure industrialization did not obscure America’s democratic values P. 264

Thantos Thantos (Greek) = Death Opsis (Greek) = Seeing Thanatopsis = Looking at death– a way of viewing it Poem presents the poet’s thoughts on death and its links to nature When people think of death, nature teaches them that everyone must die and become part of earth again Death need not be feared or despised

A systematic arrangement of stressed and unstressed syllables in poetry The basic unit of meter is the foot, which usually consists of one stressed and one or more unstressed syllables The type and number of feet in the lines of a poem determine its meter Mark the stressed and unstressed syllables in these lines: So shalt thou rest, and what if thou withdraw In silence from the living, and no friend.

The feeling created in a reader by a literary work or passage Also known as atmosphere Setting, tone, subject or events can influence mood Note the differences in mood from these lines of the poem: And breathless darkness, and the narrow house, Make thee to shudder, and grow sick at heart- Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams. Which set of lines is happier?

Giving an inanimate (non-living) object human traits and qualities, such as emotions, desires, sensations, physical gestures and speech

The author is the person who wrote the poem The speaker is from who’s point of view the poem is written The author and the speaker are not always the same

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