Thanatopsis

When you are sad, go visit nature because it will lift your spirits and when you die go pleasantly, for kings also die and nature will tell you that it is still there with you.  That is the theme of this poem by William Cullen Bryant.  This essay will be set up in three sections of the poem which will make this theme more easily understood by the reader.

The first section is from lines one through seventeen of the poem.  In this section Bryant tells the reader how pleasant nature is and how it can brighten life.  The best example of this is when Bryant writes: ..."shudder and grow sick at heart, Go forth under the sky and list to natures teachings"(13-15).

In the second section Bryant writes that the reader's place will be deprived of the sun, but nature will reach out to you.  This is described in lines eighteen through thirty.  The best example of this is when Bryant writes: ..."the oak shall send its roots abroad and pierce thy mold"(29-30).

In the third and final section of this poem, Bryant writes that you will die along with kings and others.  The reader should get the most out of living he/she can possibly get because it is good, and do not be afraid to die but go pleasantly.  This is described in lines thirty-one through eighty.  The best example of this is when Bryants writes: ..."approach thy grave like one who wraps the drapery of his coach about him and lies down to pleasant dreams"(79-80)

This poem has taught the reader that death is not a bad thing.  It is just a ticket to a pleasant life after death.  So have fun in your life and live life to its fullest.  When you are sad and need a friend look to nature and he will always be there.  Even after you are dead.