English III
CHS
C. Edge
 literary gifts were evident from about age 9
 moved to New York City from western Massachusetts
 editor, critic, and poet
• the first mature American Romantic.
 Inspirations:
 Lyrical Ballads (1798) by his great English
contemporaries, William Wordsworth and Samuel
Taylor Coleridge
 philosophy of deism, which held that divinity could be
found in nature
 the wondrous beauty of the geography of his
surroundings, which supported this philosophy
Where does an
individual find
inspiration?
 Think of a time when you were inspired by something
you read.
 With a small group of your classmates, discuss what
you read and why it inspired you.
 In what specific way did this piece of literature
influence your thoughts or actions?
 central insight into human experience that a writer
reveals in a literary work
 The poem reflects upon what happens to us after we
die and how we should feel about death. Bryant’s
answers to these questions represent the theme of
this poem.
 inversion—a reversal or rearranging of word order in
sentences
 Bryant uses imagery to evoke emotion.
 blight (blyt) n.: anything that takes away hope or
causes ruin. The thought of our own mortality is a
blight on our happiness.
 clod (klahd) n.: lump of dirt or soil. The farmer broke
up the clods of dirt to plant his crops for the upcoming
year.
 plod (plahd) v.: walk slowly or with difficulty. All you
can do is plod on when thoughts of death become
overwhelming.
 mirth (murth) n.: happiness. It is difficult to keep a
sense of mirth when one thinks about dying some day.
 When Bryant was only sixteen years old, he coined the
word thanatopsis by combining two Greek words,
thanatos, “death,” and opsis, “sight.” The poem defines
his new word and offers a different way of looking at
and thinking about death.
 Mother Nature speaks to the lover of nature. If he is
happy, she amplifies that happiness. If he is sad, she
attempts to heal that sadness. When he becomes
depressed thinking about his impending death, he should
go outside and observe nature and what it can teach.
 When you die, your body is reunited with the dust from
which it came. Your body becomes food for other living
organisms.
 Do not fear, you aren’t alone when you die. Think of all
who have died before you—kings, wisemen, and the
wealthy. Don’t fret about those left behind for they will
soon join you as well.
 Live your life and don’t fear death. Approach it as if you
were going to lay down and take a nap on your couch.
 Notice how the speaker contrasts the “narrow house”
in line 12 with the “open sky” in line 14. What feelings
do these images evoke? How do these contrasting
images work together to reflect the poem’s theme?
 The main clause in this sentence, “shall exist / Thy
image,” is inverted. Identify the subject and verb, and
then rewrite the clause in normal English word order.
Why do you think Bryant inverted this clause?
 In lines 58–72, what comfort does the speaker offer?
Do you find the images in these lines disturbing or
comforting? Explain.
 What claims does the speaker make about how we
should live?
1.
What Greek words were combined to make the title?
How do the meanings of these words contribute to
the meaning of the poem?
Thanatos (death) Opsis (seeing) The title presents
the poem as a way of seeing death.
2. Define the following words; consider the context of
the poem: shroud, pall, narrow house, and sepulcher.
How do these words and their meanings impact the
meaning of the poem?
All of these words are associated with death and
burial. This furthers the idea of the poem presenting a
way of looking at death.
3. Is this a poem about life or is this a poem about death?
Explain your answer.
4. The tone of this poem shifts. What is the tone in the
first part of the poem? When does the tone shift?
What is the tone after the shift?
The tone in the first part of the poem is forbidding,
stern, final and then shifts to one of comfort.
5. Thanatopsis is an ELEGY. What is an elegy? What are
the conventions of an elegy? What elements of
Thanatopsis meet those conventions?
An elegy must move from grief to comfort, must shift
from melancholy and mournful to soothing and
comforting. The poem says we will not be alone when
we die, etc.
6. This poem was written early in the nineteenth
century. The type of landscape art during this time
period favored sweeping panoramas, wild vistas,
untamed landscapes, and views of the sky. Look at
Thanatopsis as a visual description of a painting. What
elements of the poem are like a painting? What images
are created in the poem? What landscape is created?
Look at all of the descriptions of nature, etc.
7. Thanatopsis is a poem that can be interpreted in several ways. How is
this poem an example of a historical piece?
It represents part of the view of the time period.
How is this a Romantic poem?
The speaker hears the voice of nature, turns to nature for comfort.
How is this a Calvinist poem?
Look at the poem as religious counsel. Many elements of Calvinistic
beliefs are present.