jarbis

"One with nature"

William Cullen Bryant, American poet and journalist, born on November 3, 1794 in Cummington, Massachusetts, was one of the first American poets to earn praise in the United States. Bryant wrote his finest poetry in his youth. The first draft of "Thanatopsis," his most famous poem, was written when he was 16 years of age. The word "Thanatopsis" is a Greek word meaning "meditation on death" which Bryant drafted differs from the standard Puritan view of death that had dominated American literature prior to Bryant. Instead of focusing on Heaven and union with God, Bryant foresees death as a return to nature.
In his poem, Bryant tells about how when one dies the grave becomes an endless world, how the deceased become one with the earth and how when one dies they do not die alone. The poem starts out "With a general statement on nature's "various language" which breaks down into detailed components of gladness, beauty, sympathy, and consolation" (Jelliffe 26). That na...