Thanatopsis: Can You Read Between the Lines?

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Across
  1. 4. Seen as a wise and nurturing guide who offers comfort in the face of death
  2. 7. The poem highlights this inner sense as a guide over traditional religious instruction
  3. 9. In death, individuals become part of a larger whole—this concept is emphasized
  4. 10. The poem encourages a shift in this, especially regarding how we think about dying
  5. 12. The group that shares the same destiny, regardless of class or time
  6. 14. The recurring patterns in nature that mirror the human experience of life and death
  7. 16. The natural setting that surrounds and symbolically absorbs the remains of the dead
  8. 17. A comparison used throughout the poem to describe death without naming it directly
  9. 18. What death is portrayed as—moving from one state of being into another
  10. 19. The poetic image of a “narrow house” refers to this final resting place
Down
  1. 1. The natural world stands by silently, observing life and death alike
  2. 2. The condition of being subject to death, central to the poem’s meditation
  3. 3. A grand term used to describe the Earth as the universal tomb of all people
  4. 5. A peaceful state that death is likened to, evoking rest and quiet
  5. 6. The tone of the speaker as they consider life, death, and what lies beyond
  6. 8. Represents the physical return of the body to the earth after life ends
  7. 11. Nature uses this, in many forms, to guide human understanding of life and death
  8. 13. The emotional and philosophical stance the poem encourages toward dying
  9. 14. The poem’s closing image of someone lying down peacefully refers to this object
  10. 15. Describes the serious, meditative tone that sets in as Nature begins to address the reader