William Cullen Bryant's "Thanatopsis," or "Meditation on Death" is written in the contemplative tone of the Romantic poet. This poem reflects the notions of individualism, nature, imagination, and emotion in the following ways:
- Individualism
Nature speaks in different and various ways to each person:
To him who in the love of Nature holds
...she speaks
A various language
However, when one dies, this individualism is "surrender[ed] up to Nature as the person will then "mix forever with the elements."
- Nature
Nature begins to speak to the reader in line 17: "Comes a still voice--" In lines 22-23, and 25-26 as it expresses the idea that man is reclaimed by the Earth where he mixes with the elements.
Earth, that nourished thee, shall claim
Thy growth, to be resolved to earth again....
To mix forever with the elements,
To be a brother to the insensible rock...
- Imagination
With personification, Bryant gives life to "the venerable woods," and "Old Ocean" and in lines 37-45, Bryant creates the metaphor of "the great tomb of man"; that is, he compares the earth to a tomb.
In fact, the entire poem is imaginative as there is much figurative language throughout the verses. Nature is personified as a female who speaks to man in the verses, and there are many sensory images of light and dark and color, and feelings, and sounds throughout.
"Thanatopsis" evokes a sense of melancholy mystery with images and diction. For instance in lines 12-14, the poet writes,
And breathless darkness, and the narrow house,
Make thee to shudder, and grow sick at heart;--
Go forth, under the open sky,...
In lines 55-82, there is the sense of fear, but it is followed by the consolation that Nature will be there:
...the dead reign there alone.
So shalt thou rest,.......but, sustained and soothed
By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave,
Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch
About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams.
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