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Week 4 Discussion: Literary Movements

Option 2

For this week’s lesson, I chose to examine a specific artwork influenced by a

literary work and tell how the artist captured the story. Asher B. Durand’s

Thanatopsis was influenced by the poem “Thanatopsis“ by William Cullen

Bryant. The use of image, metaphor, symbol and diction are the structures

that reveal the vision of the subject (Jacobus and Martin, 2019).

The poem was written in the Romantic time period and is seen as Bryant’s

advice to readers as how to view death. The title is taken from the Greek

words thanatos meaning death and opsis meaning view or sight. The

beginning of the poem Bryant reveals a strong connection with nature and

how we can use nature to cope. Through the rest of the poem, we are

reminded that our time here on earth is very short and that we will mix with

the elements and become like rocks. Nature, such as trees, rivers, hills, and

meadows can be viewed as decorations on our tombs, but we should still

enjoy them while we are alive. As grim as this may sound, the rest of the

poem tells us to live, enjoy the time we have, and do not fear death. Bryant

views death as a natural process and creates a pleasant image as someone

being wrapped in a blanket planning for a dream filled sleep.

The painting by Durand was completed after the loss of his mentor. In this

beautiful landscape Durand paints an expansive horizon, a beautiful sea, a

castle in the mountains, a church, an old tree, and a forest. In the forest

there is a funeral scene, I can imagine that the scene is in remembrance of

his mentor. The large tree is significant because Bryant spoke in his poem

that we were food for the trees. The poem speaks to the circle of life, this is

evident in the painting. The sun is rising, the old and broken gravestones are

in front of the current funeral, and the framer is starting his day. The endless

cycle of nature will show us how to cope and find comfort. According to

Beebe, the painting was “an expansive allegory with a farmer and a funeral

in the foreground illuminated by a sunrise, offers reassurance with its vision

of nature’s paradisiacal beauty” (2018). Durand’s painting is a hopeful vision

for a heavenly paradise.

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