Thanatopsis William Cullen Bryant

“Thanatopsis” THEMES: Nature of death, Power of nature Greek words combined to make the title: Thanatos (Death) and Opsis (Seeing)  This poem is an elegy—it shifts from grief to comfort, melancholy and mournful to soothing and comforting Consider the poem as a painting. What elements of the poem are like a painting?

Main Points to Consider…   S1--Nature has various messages to meet our moods. S1--When thoughts of death blight your spirit, you can listen to nature’s teachings. S2--When you die, you become a part of elements and do not die alone. S2--When you die, you will be in good company and rest with great figures of the past. S2--Those who have died far outnumber the living. S3--All people who live after you will eventually share your destiny and die too. S3--When you face death, do not go with bitterness; rather, be sustained by the knowledge that it is part of nature’s plan.

Lines Deconstructed… Lines 1--17: Man should commune with Nature, listen to her teaching, and receive her “healing sympathy” when he is oppressed by thoughts of death. Lines 17-57: Nature offers a “magnificent couch” adorned with all the glories of Nature and shared by kings, the wise and the good, to the man who faces death.   Lines 58-72: Dying unmourned is not important, because all those who go on oblivious to the dying man’s departure shall, before long, share the same bed withhim. 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.