Thursday, November 25, 2010

What are the figure of speech used in "Thanatopsis" by William Bryant?Can you please enumerate it with its corresponding phrase or phrases from...

You have clearly asked a big question here - the majority
of poems use a number of figures of speech, and so rather than go through each separate
example, I will identify a few and then hopefully this will help you to be able to go
back and analyse the poem further.


To me, one of the most
powerful figures of speech lies in the last few lines of the poem, where two similes are
used to show us how we should approach death:


readability="20">

Thou go not, like the quarry slave at
night,


Scourged to his dungeon, but, sustained and
soothed


By an unfaltering trust, approach thy
grave,


Like one who wraps the drapery of his
couch


About him, and lies down to pleasant
dreams.



Note how these
examples of figurative language are tied in very closely to the theme of the poem - we
must approach death with confidence and trust, safe in the knowledge that we are going
to re-join with nature. The last simile in particular is key in presenting an attractive
image of someone who has worked hard and is now merely getting the sleep and rest they
deserve after their toil, enjoying "pleasant dreams."


Hope
this helps! There are plenty of examples to pick out, and you might want to think about
the personification of Nature as a starting point. Good luck!

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