Entry 26: Thanatopsis

In the poem a man (the narrator) speaks with nature and nature speaks back to him. In the beginning he was afraid of death and had no knowledge as of what happens after death. However nature speaks back to him and say that everything that is living dies sooner or later. When a living thing dies it returns to earth. It is dissolved and mixed as one with the earth. He reveals a cycle of birth from the earth's matter and the return to earth again once they die. They become one with the earth again; however it was unclear if he nature ever spoke of rebirth. The hint given about rebirth was that we become one with the earth and we live newly as parts of nature's visible form. Then the tree in nature dies and it gets dissolved and the cycle starts over again. Through the tone and diction of the author it seems like the narrator accepts the fact of a nature cycle and welcomes it with comfort knowing that it will happen. I myself take it as a warning because everyone is going to die sooner or later so why not make the best out of life as you know it? I take chances if I can and I never look back because I want to live a full life, one filled with all the adventures and friends possible for me.