The speaker urges those thinking of "the last bitter hour" and the "sad images" of "shroud and pall" to realize that they will "mix for ever with the elements" and "join the innumerable caravan" upon dying.
This poem argues that although every person "will chase / His favorite phantom," "all that breathe" will be part of "the long train of ages." Seven years after it was originally written, its poet added the final ten lines, which ask readers not to emulate "the quarry-slave at night / Scourged to his dungeon." It notes that "all that tread the globe are but a handful to the tribes that slumber in its bosom," and mentions the "Barcan wilderness" and the Oregon River as examples of Nature's "mighty sepulchre." The speaker urges those thinking of "the last bitter hour" and the "sad images" of "shroud and pall" to realize that they will "mix for ever with the elements" and "join the innumerable caravan" upon dying. FTP, name this 1817 poem, a meditation on death by William Cullen Bryant.
This poem argues that although every person "will chase / His favorite phantom," "all that breathe" will be part of "the long train of ages.
"{Thanatopsis}"