Similarities Between Bryant And Longfellow

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A literary time period began in 1800. During this time, short stories and poetry were read and written frequently. This period was known as the Romantic Period. This period birthed the Fireside Poets, which included William Cullen Bryant and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Both Bryant and Longfellow express three common themes relating to death. The themes that they share are life goes on after death, death is inescapable, and live a meaningful life while here. After death, life does cannot be put on hold. Life will continue as usual because death is a part of life. In Henry Longfellow’s “A Psalm of Life,” he explains how the continuation of everyone else’s life after someone’s is the future and death should be left in the past. For example, this theme is represented by the statement “Let the dead Past bury its dead! Act,-act in the living Present!” in “A Psalm of Life” (659). In Bryant’s “Thanatopsis,” he expresses this theme by the statement …show more content…

The time you get here on earth varies from person to person. Since the time frame is unknown, you should make the best of everyday. In Longfellow’s “A Psalm of Life,” he express this by stating, “Lives of great men all remind us We can make our lives sublime, And, departing, leave behind us Footprints in the sands of time” (659). Bryant expresses the same thing, but his example is a little more in depth. He goes to further that explain that you should live a life worth dying before your time runs out. He expresses this in the statement “As the long train of ages glide away, the sons of men The youth in life's green spring, and he who goes in the full strength of years, matron, and maid, The bow'd with age, the infant in the smiles And beauty of its innocent age cut off, -- Shall one by one be gathered to thy side, By those, who in their turn shall follow them,” which is from “Thanatopsis”

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