The First Poem Thanatopsis By William Cullen Bryant

While both poets Muir and Wordsworth wrote about the happy feelings that they have towards nature the beautiful outdoors or what some people may say Mother Nature, some of which the feelings are the same and some that are different as they speak of the different plants.

In the poem “Thanatopsis” the desire to connect with nature is expressed throughout. Unlike “Rip Van Winkle,” Thanatopsis has a very deep meaning within it, not just a whimsical story. The poem explains that we as humans should embrace death and know that we are a part of the ever cycling earth. We have a bigger purpose. William Cullen Bryant personified nature in his poem. He made nature woman-like by calling nature her and she. “To him who in the love of Nature holds Communion with her visible forms, she speaks a various language…” (171) He also expressed this beautiful simplicity and vulnerability to nature and man. “The hills rock-ribbed and ancient as the sun, - the vales stretching in pensive quietness between; the venerable woods – rivers that move in majesty, and the complaining brooks that make the meadows green…” (171) This poem seems to connect with nature in a different way. It’s almost like it embodies nature along with human to create a smooth transition or meld of the two, and I think that is what creates the desire to connect with nature for the poem.

He had such a riveting way with his poetry. Bryant lets his mind free, and differs from other poets and he writes in a way that is unmistakably his own (Unger 152). His poetry had a way of inspiring others, and his work was so unique it was phenomenal. Being a fireside poet created awareness for National American Literature, and it gave the idea that poetry played a beneficial role in “the world of human affairs and sympathies” (“Bryant, William Cullen” 3). Bryant was a such a famous poet along with Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, John Greenleaf Whittier, Oliver Wendell Holmes, and James Russell Lowell. Through all of their works, like Bryant, they showed values of the mind and the true desires of the mind in such respectful ways. “In Bryant’s poetry and literary criticism, he promoted nationalism and individualism for American Literature” (“Bryant, William Cullen” 3). Two of Bryant’s most famous works were, “Thanatopsis,” and “To a Waterfowl.” These works were very inspiring and had many aspects of romanticism. Bryant had a way with his words and he will mostly be remembered by those famous

Bryant had thoughts that were triggered by nature. Bryant often speaks of birds, flowers, the sky, bodies of water, and fields which lead to Bryant taking notice of his surroundings. Bryant’s love for nature is nothing short of amazing. Nature speaks to his heart, which allows nature to be more of a feeling than just trees, birds, plants, etc. Bryant’s writing is charming and simplistic. Bryant is fond of nature’s beauty. He never speaks of the “ugliness” in nature. He has a way of making everything come alive and seem even more beautiful than what it already is.

In the William Cullen Bryant's "Thanatopsis, we see a romantic trait of nature, where the poem states that nature has a voice of gladness and eloquence of beauty. This excerpt, "The golden sun, the planets, all the infinite host of heaven are shining on the sad abodes of death," is a good example of being a part of nature. Another good example is, "Earth that nourished thee shall claim Thy growth." Nature is described as a

Thousands of flowers swaying in the wind, lined up like stars in the night sky. Just the thought of nature brings a smile to my face. The two authors, John Muir and William Wordsworth have two different styles of writing, but they share their love of nature to help us appreciate nature. We have two beautiful writings, written by two naturalistic authors, Williams Wordsworth and John Muir. Both authors have different ways of explaining what nature means to them, but at the end of the day both pieces of work are beautifully and creatively written. Wordsworth and Muir express their meaningful relationship with nature using descriptive words and witty writing.

In Europe, Romanticism originated at the end of the eighteenth century. It then spread to England because of a very important person. One of the things that was a big hit was the defiance of political authority. There were a lot of thoughts on life after death, Someone that made a big influence on life would have to be Washington Irving and the way he show darkness in human nature in his story.

Albert Einstein spoke of nature and its value when he said, “Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.” As Einstein pointed out, by looking into nature you could discover something new about yourself and the world around you. John Muir and William Wordsworth both discovered joy when they looked deep into nature. This joy gave them a new perspective on nature and life and they each expressed this joy through different works of writing. Both authors have a unique outlook on nature and its impact as well as different thoughts on how to share their relationships; Muir used diction and connotation to show his relationship in his essay “The Calypso Borealis” where Wordsworth used tone and syntax in his poem “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud”.

Nature has always had a role in providing for humanity. However, what does it provide for humanity? The poems that Christopher Marlowe, Sir Walter Raleigh, and William Williams present touches upon the topic of this. To help support their perspective on how nature provides for humanity, and what it provides, the three of them use both imagery and structure to go into detail as to why their perspective is so.

First, tone is a very important aspect of the poem “Thanatopsis.” While reading the poem, the reader may feel a slight change in the tone of the poem. At first the poem seems as though it were about nature and its beauty. For example, in the poem Bryant writes “She has a voice of gladness, and a smile/And eloquence of beauty, and she

William Cullen Bryant was well known for writing poems on nature, and he beautifully shows us the Romanticism view of one of their key themes. As with numerous other poems from the Romanticism Period, Bryant uses the imagery and ideas of a woman to convey his love for nature. An example of this trait is in the poem, “Thanatopsis”, Bryant’s most famous work. The first three lines of the poem shows both his love for nature and that he is going to use the image of a woman for the rest of the poem. “To him who in the love of nature holds/ Communion with her visible forms, she speaks/ A various language; for his gayer hours” He expressly says

Both William Bryant’s “Thanatopsis” and Washington Irving’s “Rip Van Winkle” have a strong desire to connect humans with nature. However, they use different approaches to do so. Irving uses a whimsical story and great detail to portray nature as a sentiment of beauty, “When the weather is fair and settled they are clothed in blue and purple, print their bold outlines on the clear evening sky; but sometimes, when the rest of the landscape is cloudless, they will gather a hood of gray vapors about their summits, which, in the last rays of the setting sun, will glow and light up like a crown of glory” (Irving 30). This description expresses the purity of that natural landscape. When something is depicted as that majestic and beautiful, why

As I mentioned earlier as a child Theodore Roethke spent a lot of his time in the greenhouse his father and uncle owned. He observed nature and its true beauty in unique ways. The years he spent in that greenhouse truly helped him become successful in his writing career. A good number of his most famous works, as well as his less notable works reference nature in some way. I will discuss some of these poems showing the references to nature and repeated themes. Roethke tends to relate life and death to nature using imagery and detailed descriptions to captivate the readers.

Walt Whitman loved to experiment with form when it came to poetry. He used his verses to show his complete adoration of all things wild, and our role as beings in this infinitely complex and thought-provoking universe in which we exist. To say he had a bit of a “nature crush” would be an understatement – Whitman goes in to great detail of his love for the wildness and often describes his emotions in a viscerally sexual manner, using poetic devices to underline his immense feelings for environment and hammer in the imagery to readers of how majestic the world appears to him. “Romantic” poets loved the outdoors – if it wasn’t contained in four walls and a roof, they were all about it. They loved to praise the innate details that made our planet so incredible,

Romanticism is a style of art or literature during the late 18th and early 19th centuries that emphasizes a love for nature, distrust of society, organized religion, celebration of the child or individual, and emotion over reason. In William Wordsworth’s “The World Is Too Much with Us” Wordsworth speaks about how society is so materialistic while speaking on the significance of nature. Ironically the title of this sonnet exemplifies one of the Romantic ideas and expresses one of Wordsworth’s main points regarding nature. Wordsworth uses a connection to nature as well as religion to emphasize Romanticism in his work.