“ Thanatopsis ” by William Cullen Bryant

1. “Thanatopsis”byWilliam Cullen Bryant English III CHS C. Edge

2. William Cullen Bryant • 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

3. Essential Question Where does an individual find inspiration?

4. QuickTalk • 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?

5. Literary Focus:Theme • 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.

6. Reading Focus: sound effects and inversion • inversion—a reversal or rearranging of word order in sentences

7. Writing Focus:imagery • Bryant uses imagery to evoke emotion.

8. Vocabulary • 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.

9. 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.

10. 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.

11. A. Literary Focus: Theme • 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?

12. B. Reading Focus:Identifying Inverted Sentences • 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?

13. C. Literary Focus: Theme • In lines 58–72, what comfort does the speaker offer? Do you find the images in these lines disturbing or comforting? Explain.

14. D. Literary Focus: Theme • What claims does the speaker make about how we should live?

15. 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.

16. 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.

17. 3. Is this a poem about life or is this a poem about death? Explain your answer.

18. 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.

19. 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.

20. 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.

21. 7. Thanatopsisis 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.