Thanatopsis Questions

Parker Kelley

1. Thanatopsis is a mix of the Greek words thanatos and opsis. Thana means death and opsis means sight when translated to English. This poem says that nature helps you feel better, even through death.
2. Define the following words; consider the context of the poem:  shroud, pall, narrow house, and sepulcher.  How do these words and their meanings impact the meaning of the poem?
1. Shroud: An enveloping garment in which a dead person is wrapped for burial.
2. Pall: A clothe spread over a coffin
3. Narrow House: The grave
4. Sepulcher: A small room or monument cut in rock or built of stone in which a dead person is laid or buried
5. They all have to do with death, dying, and depression which shows the underlying theme that nature is so beautiful that even during death you can still see her beauty
3. We believe that this poem emphasizes the fact that natures beauty is comforting during death. Lines 4-17 shows that even when you're facing death going and finding nature helps find a comforting vibe.
4. At the beginning of this poem the Author sets the tone to be almost depressing. He talks about death and you know it will come. But then lines 25-26 the tone changes and it begins to bring a more spirited vibe. He says that you should be happy to be buried in nature because it is so beautiful and you will get to be with it.
5. An elegy is a poem that expresses sadness or death. Some conventions of an elegy it shifts from grief to comfort. Thanatopsis is talking about a dark sense of death then changes to the soft comfort nature can provide.
6. The poet gives nature a sense of beauty and comfort, therefore when I imagine the scenery of the poem I imagine something elegant and pure.
7. It is like a historical piece because it represents the literature of that era due to the comfort you can find in nature. It is romantic because it is describing life and death through an underlying meaning that is hidden beneath the words.