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Personification In Thanatopsis

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Thanatopsis by William Cullen Bryant is a Fireside poem about death. The central message throughout this poem is that death is an inevitable part of life that we should not fear, but embrace. The use of personification throughout the poem helps develop the central idea. Personification is the giving of human-like qualities to a non-human subject. In lines 1-3 Bryant uses personification “To him who in the love of Nature holds/Communion with her visible forms, she speaks/A various language…” With the use of the personification Bryant shows that there is a unique relationship between an individual and nature, which is a characteristic of the fireside poems. “She glides/Into his darker musings, with a mild/And healing sympathy…” Bryant is showing in lines 5-7 that even when you are sad that nature has these healing qualities that remove the pain. He is saying that there is no sadness too great that nature cannot fix. Through the use of personification William Cullen Bryant makes death seem less frightening. …show more content…

Tone is the way the speaker feels about a topic, and is revealed through diction in the poem. Bryant refers to a “Still voice” which is meant to calm you when your mind is filled with thoughts of the end of your life. “Old Ocean’s gray and melancholy waste, -/Are but the solemn decorations all/Of the great tomb of man…” Bryant is saying that tomb for all mankind is nature, and the use of the word solemn shows that Bryant even when discussing death not afraid. Even though the topic of death is a dismal one Bryant has a calming tone that builds a calming mood in the reader. The goal of William Cullen Bryant is to show the reader that there is nothing to fear from death, that it is a natural experience that cannot be

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