UNDERSTANDING AND ANALYZING POETRY
“Thanatopsis” by William Cullen Bryant
1. Consider the poem’s title. Consider and record connotations (implied meanings).
★ Note: Bryant devised his poem’s title using two Greek terms:
o In Greek mythology, Thanatos (Greek: Θάνατος (Thánatos), "Death") was
the daemon personification of death.
o Opsis ὄψις is the Greek word for spectacle in the theatre and
performance. Its first use has been traced back to Aristotle's Poetics. It is
now taken up by theatre critics, historians, and theorists to describe the
mise en scène of a performance or theatrical event. Opsis comes from the
ancient Greek for "appearance, sight, view.” The English word optic is
derived from this word.
2. Read the poem aloud again in your group. Highlight and define words you do not know
or understand.
3. To the right of the original text, paraphrase or rewrite each stanza in your own words.
4. Examine the poem for meaning beyond the literal. In another ink color & to the right of
each paraphrase, identify significant information in each stanza. Use the following guide
to help you:
• Diction
• Imagery (metaphor, simile, personification)
• Symbolism
• Irony (paradox, understatement, oxymoron)
• Allusion
• Effect of sound devices (alliteration, onomatopoeia, assonance, consonance, rhyme)
5. Identify and label the speaker’s attitude or tone. Note shifts in speakers* and tone.
★ Note: Two speakers are heard in the poem—one is a general narrator who begins
the poem and the other is Nature. See if you can identify where Nature begins
speaking and where she stops.
6. To the left of each stanza, write questions that come to mind as you read & interpret the
poem. Discuss these questions among your group members & pose possible answers.
7. Finally, on a sticky note, identify the poem’s theme. Remember, theme must be
expressed as a complete sentence. *(Think: What is the speaker saying about the subject
of her poem? Hint: In poetry, the theme is often stated at the end of the poem)