Many authors and poets current and past have discussed “death, aging and dying” and how it relates to the human condition. William Cullen Bryant is one of the most well-known poets to write about this topic. By examining death, aging and dying within “Thanatopsis” readers can better understand how it connects with nature within us all.William Cullen Bryant key elements throughout the poem refers to symbolism, imagery and the setting. There are many different forms of symbolism and imagery in the poem. He likes to talk about the grave, the sun, the ocean, the march of humanity, and nature as a whole. Analyzing this piece of text will prove that there could potentially be evidence of this connection. Within current technology, there is no
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The purpose of this is to make the reader picture the or action clearly. Bryant uses imagery when he refers to the ocean in the poem. He talks about it in lines twenty-one and forty-three. The speaker talks about the embrace of the ocean in line twenty-one. Then a sudden turn happens on line forty-three. the “Old Ocean” is more like a person signifying a giant tomb of the earth. Overall Bryant wants the reader to see how powerful and important the ocean is in the natural world. Another object that is mentioned in “Thanatopsis” is the couch. The couch is a metaphor for the grave, but with a minor difference. Bryant says it is where we go to die but it is not scary or awful. Being a couch it is comforting and cozy which makes death feel like a good evening sleep. The last bit of imagery that is in the poem is used on something called “The March of Humanity”. This means that all of the people in history head down into the grave. This helps the reader realize that there is a bigger picture when it comes to death. Africans image death in a different way. They believe “modern and backward, as that between christian and heathen, is gradually breaking down and giving place to the reunified culture that is painfully …show more content…
A poet from the early 1930’s named Mary Elizabeth Frye wrote “Do Not Stand at My Grave and Weep”. At the start of the poem, Ms. Frye defined the meaning of the poem by saying, “Do not stand by my grave and weep”(Cullen 23). The speaker is someone who died and left a note to the ones who were close. The main message is that the speaker does not want the ones who are close to weep on the grave, and instead accept that he/she is in the ground and in their memories. The next part of the poem talks about bringing relief to the mourners. The speaker starts using imagery to bring more feelings of hope, for example, “I am a thousand winds that blow. I am the diamond glints on snow. I am the sunlight on ripened grain. I am the gentle autumn rain”(Cullen 23). The final lines of the poem conclude the definition of the poem as a whole. Looking at the perspective of death when in a grave is key when trying to write about the affect dying has on the survivors. Ms. Frye wrote an accurate representation of how a terminally ill person might envision how his loved ones would feel after his
The purpose of this is to make the reader picture the or action clearly. Bryant uses imagery when he refers to the ocean in the poem. He talks about it in lines twenty-one and forty-three. The speaker talks about the embrace of the ocean in line twenty-one. Then a sudden turn happens on line forty-three. the “Old Ocean” is more like a person signifying a giant tomb of the earth. Overall Bryant wants the reader to see how powerful and important the ocean is in the natural world. Another object that is mentioned in “Thanatopsis” is the couch. The couch is a metaphor for the grave, but with a minor difference. Bryant says it is where we go to die but it is not scary or awful. Being a couch it is comforting and cozy which makes death feel like a good evening sleep. The last bit of imagery that is in the poem is used on something called “The March of Humanity”. This means that all of the people in history head down into the grave. This helps the reader realize that there is a bigger picture when it comes to death. Africans image death in a different way. They believe “modern and backward, as that between christian and heathen, is gradually breaking down and giving place to the reunified culture that is painfully …show more content…
A poet from the early 1930’s named Mary Elizabeth Frye wrote “Do Not Stand at My Grave and Weep”. At the start of the poem, Ms. Frye defined the meaning of the poem by saying, “Do not stand by my grave and weep”(Cullen 23). The speaker is someone who died and left a note to the ones who were close. The main message is that the speaker does not want the ones who are close to weep on the grave, and instead accept that he/she is in the ground and in their memories. The next part of the poem talks about bringing relief to the mourners. The speaker starts using imagery to bring more feelings of hope, for example, “I am a thousand winds that blow. I am the diamond glints on snow. I am the sunlight on ripened grain. I am the gentle autumn rain”(Cullen 23). The final lines of the poem conclude the definition of the poem as a whole. Looking at the perspective of death when in a grave is key when trying to write about the affect dying has on the survivors. Ms. Frye wrote an accurate representation of how a terminally ill person might envision how his loved ones would feel after his