Reflection Blog: Thanatopsis

William Cullen Bryant's poem greatly reflects the romanticism time period. When searching for a criticism on Bloom's Literacy, I found a one, that depicts the aspects of nature in Bryant's poem. Of course, the criticism was hard to understand because of the college level writing style that is used, but from what I understood, I do not think that the criticism favored William Bryant's poem that much. I could tell because in the criticism. the author stated that "Part of being human is understanding that you must die. The problem with William Cullen Bryant's poem is how to live with this certainty." I can tell that death was more inviting in the first part of William's poem because he talks about nature, and how nature spiritually helps with death and coping with death. As the poem progresses though, I agree more with the criticism that death becomes harder to understand. There are many visual aspects in the poem, highly regarded with nature. Nature is a main characteristic of romanticism writing, which also helps set up the poem. I think of nature as a basis for what the poem talks about, considering nature is much more of a pure place to really express oneself. Nature has the ability to create visual pictures through words, which really help me to understand the poem. In the criticism though, the author makes a good point when he says "nature, in this poem's conceit, is more teacher than companion." Mainly all the words referenced in the poem are dealing with nature. This is because in order to understand death, one must understand and take in accountability of nature. No matter how young or old someone is, there is always a possibility of death. Even though one may be young, there is always that time where understanding death is very useful. When one looks around and there are other people dying, it is good to know, that it can happen to anyone, and to be prepared. Nature in the poem is more a leader, because it helps us to comprehend the aspects of death. The poem actually has a dark subject matter when you really think about it. Some of the words are really cheery, but the overall message is all about death. The criticism I used explains that mortality, or the state of being subject to death is constantly being reminded through the nature in the poem. I think the best part of the poem is reinforced in the very last part, where nature is telling us to be profound in our faith and to truly believe. I think it is a more uplifting point to the matter at hand, which also gives readers a sense of hope. The poem has a sense of individuality. Since all people experience and cope with death differently, we all take away from this poem. Even though the criticism does not agree entirely with William's poem, I think that the poem has two sides. One side compares nature as our leader, and the other compares our faith side and individuality when facing the subject matter of death.

 Byant, William C. "Thanatopsis." PoemHunter.com. 13 May 2001. Web. 22 Nov. 2011. <http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/thanatopsis/>.r


 Huff, Randall. "'Thanatopsis'." The Facts On File Companion to American Poetry, vol. 1. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2007. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=5&iPin= CPAP0402&SingleRecord=True (accessed November 22, 2011).