What effect does Bryant’s use of personification of nature have on the theme of the poem "Thanatopsis"?

Question

Thanatopsis
William Cullen Bryant (1794 – 1878)
To him who in the love of Nature holds
Communion with her visible forms, she speaks
A various language; for his er hours
She has a voice of gladness, and a smile
And eloquence of beauty, and she glides
Into his darker musingsMeditation, thought, with a mild
And healing sympathy, that steals away
Their sharpness, ere he is aware. When thoughts
Of the last bitter hour come like a blight
Over thy spirit, and sad images
Of the stern agony, and shroud,a sheet used for burial purposes and pall.a cloth for a coffin or tomb
And breathless darkness, and the narrow house,
Make thee to shudder, and grow sick at heart--
Go forth, under the open sky, and list
To Nature's teachings,Is this passage just descriptive, or is it also prescriptive? while from all around--
Earth and her waters, and the depths of air--
Comes a still voice--Yet a few days, and thee
The all-beholding sun shall see no more
In all his course; nor yet in the cold ground,
Where thy pale form was laid, with many tears,
Nor in the embrace of ocean, shall exist
Thy image. Earth, that nourished thee, shall claim
Thy growth, to be resolved to earth again,
And, lost each human trace, surrendering up
Thine individual being, shalt though go
To mix forever with the elements,
To be a brother to the insensibleIncapable of perceiving rock
And to the sluggish clod, which the rude swaina country farmer or shepherd
Turns with his share, and treads upon. The oak
Shall send his roots abroad, and pierce thy mould.

Answer 1

Bryant's use of personification of nature in this poem has a profound effect on the theme of the poem. By personifying nature, Bryant is able to emphasize the idea of death as a natural part of life. He paints a picture of death as something that is not to be feared, but rather embraced as a part of the cycle of life. By personifying nature, Bryant is able to show that death is a part of the natural order of things, and that it should be accepted as such. This helps to create a sense of peace and acceptance of death, which is the main theme of the poem.