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