"Thanatopsis"

The literal analysis of "Thanatopsis" is as follows:

• Nature talks to Nature Lovers and steals their thoughts.


• His last thoughts come like a bad dream over his spirit and make him sad which drives him to go listen to Nature because soon he will die and no one will care he is gone.


• He will be buried and the Earth will use his body for nourishment.


• Oak roots will use him to grow the tree.

• He is not dead yet and he will not die alone.


• He will be with the great and the rulers at a great meeting.


• Nature decorates man's tomb.


• The whole universe is shining on cemeteries.


• There are more dead people than living.


• The dead rule the Earth from within.


• What if you die and no one notices?


• All the living will end up dead.


• Everyone will go one when you are gone, but they will all die in the end.


• Eventually, everyone will be dead with you.

• When you die, go peacefully.

Poetic Devices:

Whitman uses many poetic devices, but he mostly uses similes and leaves the rest up to us to determine. An example of a simile in his poem "Thanatopsis" would be "Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams." Another example would be "...like the quarry-slave at night, Sourged to his dungeon,..."

There are many different things that Whitman could be trying to make us understand in his poem, and he could be saying many different things. I think he is mostly saying that there is a man that will die soon, but Nature has been very kind to him and will sooth him. I also think that he is trying to reassure this person, because he discusses how everyone on the Earth dies and will be dead at some point, so this person has nothing to worry about. He is saying that this person does not need to fight death becasue it will come as a relief, so this person can go peacefully.