Thanatopsis and The Bible
In William Cullen Bryant's early nineteenth century poem Thanatopsis, a collage of imagery and ideas surround a central theme of the cycle of life. Within this poem lies a story of great wonder and hope. The story is that of the afterlife in which Bryant conveys a lot of the same ideas of a majestic and heavenly paradise that are present in the Christian Bible. Since Bryant was schooled heavily in theology, is Thanatopsis based on the ideas that the Christian Bible holds of the afterlife? Bryant immediately introduces his notion of spiritual unity among humans and nature in the first line of the poem. Communion with her visible forms, she speaks A various language; for his gayer hours She has a voice of gladness, and a smile And eloquence of beauty, and she glides Into his darker musings, with a mild And gentle sympathy, that steals away Their sharpness, ere he is aware (Line 1). From this opening line of the poem the reader is aware of Bryant's use of metaphorical language to describe the bond in which nature holds with man. According to the first book of Genesis, God created all of nature and delegat
Thanatopsis could possibly be Bryant's take on the cycle of life. Bryant could be trying to explain to himself or another person where a person goes when they die. Bryant tries to dissuade one of fearing death throughout the poem. He describes the glorious afterworld in a way that would make a man most afraid of death, embrace it with open arms. However Bryant does not describe post death status in Thanatopsis. All we know from Bryant's view is that the afterlife is glorious, so maybe he is not referring to the same heaven as the Bible does. He could be praising the brilliance of life and death and the organisms that take part in the cycle. Or maybe Thanatopsis is a therapeutic work for Bryant himself. Maybe this is a reflection of hope that Bryant used to overcome his own fear of death. ed some of his authority over it to the human race. He gave humans the promise of protection and forgiveness in return for the service of watching over his creation. This is what Bryant affirms to be the "Communion" in which man holds with nature. Since nature is the circumstance for human existence, humans see it as glorious as well as comforting in times of trouble. No matter how lonely,
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Approximate Word count = 798
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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