Analysis Of The Poem ' Thanatopsis '

1193 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Art is communication

distances. The artist 's choice of elements indicats the conditional nature of the observations. The colors are used to compliment and support the painting 's composition. The uses of colors show how the clever composition of the painting successfully draws the viewer 's eyes around it.
The atmosphere also has pigments. The father the scenery, the more it loses its original appearances, and turns into light blue, closes to the color of sky, and integrates as a whole. This painting is asymmetry with large shapes of trees and mountains balancing small shapes of trees on the left. The elements of design are the builder blocks used to create a work of art. These all elements make this painting realistic.
This painting was inspired by the poem, “Thanatopsis”, since Durand painted the occasional narrative or literary landscape in the manner of his mentor Thomas Cole, after Cole’s death. The title of the painting is Landscape-Scene From “Thanatopsis”, it means the painter painted this painting based on his feeling from the poem “Thanatopsis”. The word “Thanatopsis”, comes from Greek which means “a view or contemplation of death”. It can also be seen as a contemplation of nature. A view of mountains and trees indicates both living and death. Bryant’s poem, “Thanatopsis”, portrays nature in the context of human life and death, thus reveal the thoughts of Durand on the relationships between nature, human individuals, and human civilizations. The fear of death and dying is felt by everybody at some points in their lives. In “Thanatopsis”, this fear is recognized as honorable unnecessary. Bryant’s use of words and thoughts emphasized that death is magnificent and not merely an end to life. Through his words, Bryant created a picture of...

... middle of paper ...

...ere are things you never knew or felt before, that changes you forever, and becomes a part of you.
Art causes people to look a little closer. To look closer at the social issues, at other people and their emotions, at the environment that surrounded them, and the everyday objects and life forms around them. It helps them see what is there but not easily perceived. The artist brings out that which cannot be seen or felt easily. Art is usually about self-expression because the artist feels strongly enough about what they are doing to try and put it into a form that they, and others, can come to terms with. Landscape is a statement. Somehow the artist is trying to communicate an idea, an emotion, or a purpose in their work. It is about expressing their inner soul, bearing it all for the public. Landscape- represented more than I can fully explain in this paper.

Show More
Related

  • Claude Joseph Vernet Essay

    709 Words  | 2 Pages

    For example, he uses texture, color and organic forms to make the landscape look as real as possible. Most of the shapes are formed by shifts in colors and line because the canvas are two-dimensional. The viewer can observe that the painting is dominated by greys, browns, ochers, and other natural colors such as green and yellow to give the scene a more nature-like look. All the components and objects painted in this piece appear to have the same texture and color as the ones found in real life, such as rocks suggesting a rough hard texture and clouds being soft, which probably means that Vernet took in consideration real landscapes and places he might have seen in real life. While using different shades of grey, and painting dark clouds, Vernet was able to convince that a storm was approaching but he also decided to add source of light coming from the upper left corner by using a golden yellow color to create a sense of warmth, which creates a nice contrast between the light and the coldness from the overall shadows that seem to dominate the artwork, creating variety; however, the repetition of colors such as greys gave the whole piece a sense of unity and they also express the shadows of a stormy day. We

    Read More

  • Analysis Of First Poem For You

    940 Words  | 2 Pages

    Kim Addonizio’s “First Poem for You” portrays a speaker who contemplates the state of their romantic relationship though reflections of their partner’s tattoos. Addressing their partner, the speaker ambivalence towards the merits of the relationship, the speaker unhappily remains with their partner. Through the usage of contrasting visual and kinesthetic imagery, the speaker revels the reasons of their inability to embrace the relationship and showcases the extent of their paralysis. Exploring this theme, the poem discusses how inner conflicts can be powerful paralyzers.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Frederic Edwin Church's Twilight In The Wilderness

    754 Words  | 2 Pages

    An artwork will consist of different elements that artists bring together to create different forms of art from paintings, sculptures, movies and more. These elements make up what a viewer sees and to help them understand. In the painting Twilight in the Wilderness created by Frederic Edwin Church in 1860 on page 106, a landscape depicting a sun setting behind rows of mountains is seen. In this painting, Church used specific elements to draw the viewer’s attention directly to the middle of the painting that consisted of the sun. Church primarily uses contrast to attract attention, but it is the different aspects of contrast that he uses that makes the painting come together. In Twilight in the Wilderness, Church uses color, rhythm, and focal

    Read More

  • A Comforting View of Death in William Cullen Bryant’s "Thanatopsis"

    627 Words  | 2 Pages

    Chuck Palahniuk once said, “The first step to eternal life, is you have to die.” In William Cullen Bryant’s poem “Thanatopsis”, he does not mention eternal life or anything religious, but speaks about death. He tells his readers that death is a natural thing and they should not worry about it. William Cullen Bryant, in his poem “Thanatopsis”, portrays a comforting view of death. Throughout the poem, Bryant encourages his readers by explaining that in death they are not alone, that death, like life, is a natural process, and that they will be among some of the finest people who walked the earth.

    Read More

  • Emotions In The Poem Thanatopsis By William Cullen Bryant

    213 Words  | 1 Pages

    William Cullen Bryant uses the romantic element of emotion to instill a sense of calm in his poem Thanatopsis.

    Read More

  • Native American Landscape Paintings

    1213 Words  | 3 Pages

    The beauty of nature as depicted in landscape art and poetry were responsible for leading people out West and expanding what we now call America. The artwork and poetry told a story of what life looked like back then and the hardships many people encountered thereafter. Art became a median to express how people worshiped God and chose to follow the path they were always destined for. It became a way to document and record history in the New World for others to view, appreciate, and

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Lotus Lilies By Charles Courtney Curran

    785 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the background of the painting stands a few trees along with a couple shrubs. The shapes and lines incorporated into this picture are all very organic. Very few straight lines are apparent. Most colors and rendered quite lightly although there are some dark colors visible in the water and the background.

    Read More

  • Thanatopsis by William Cullen Bryant

    831 Words  | 2 Pages

    The poem “Thanatopsis” by William Cullen Bryant reveals a very unusual aspect of nature. While most people think of nature as beauty and full of life, Bryant takes a more interesting approach to nature. He exposes a correlation between nature, life, death, and re-birth. Using nature as a foothold, Bryant exercises methods such as tone, setting, and imagery in a very intriguing way while writing “Thanatopsis.”

    Read More

  • Yellowtone Canyon Analysis

    1398 Words  | 3 Pages

    However, Moran sided with the “sublime” aspect of Romantic landscape in which he uses the properties of form and color to evocatively paint a landscape meant to push the limit of formal expression. Moran doesn’t use just these techniques of the “sublime” to make the painting overwhelming, but also combined it with the sheer size of the canvas. He utilizes his space very well to make his viewers feel like he did when he found the canyon. He involves an aesthetic attack on our senses as viewers. Moran uses all of these elements to make the viewers feel like they are actually at the canyon. He used other tactics like the expansive sunlit landscape of the valley below, the tiny people that are dwarfed by the enormity of the landscape around them, and the enormous shadowing of the plane in the foreground which is symbolic of the fleetingness of a storm passing overhead. There is a tree that looks to have had barely made it through a powerful storm. All of these elements are meant to communicate just how small humans are in the wake of the destructive elements and splendor of nature. Yellowstone painting signifies the sheer power of nature and what it can bring which Moran uses to his advantage to captivate the masses.

    Read More

  • Georgia O'Keeffe

    1313 Words  | 3 Pages

    ... into deeper indigos and grays. The dramatic contrasts in light and tone aid in the formation of space without causing too much motion in the scene. The strong lines throughout give the images more conceptual meaning. The mountains are tangible and solid, clearly separated from both the ground and the deep blue sky. The light dramatizes both the depth and clarity in the painting.

    Read More

  • Literary Analysis Of Thanatopsis, By William Cullen Bryant

    1392 Words  | 3 Pages

    1. What is the difference between a. and a. Geoffrey Crayon is a name used by Washington Irving in most publications of the essays, tales, and sketches in the “Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon”, and included stories by Diedrich Knickerbocker that were all made up. The sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon were stories Washington Irving put together in 1820, and the sketchbook became the first national American book that became successful. 4. What is the difference between a..

    Read More

  • Art Analysis

    965 Words  | 2 Pages

    Though most works of art have some underlying, deeper meaning attached to them, our first impression of their significance comes through our initial visual interpretation. When we first view a painting or a statue or other piece of art, we notice first the visual details – its size, its medium, its color, and its condition, for example – before we begin to ponder its greater significance. Indeed, these visual clues are just as important as any other interpretation or meaning of a work, for they allow us to understand just what that deeper meaning is. The expression on a statue’s face tells us the emotion and message that the artist is trying to convey. Its color, too, can provide clues: darker or lighter colors can play a role in how we judge a piece of art. The type of lines used in a piece can send different messages. A sculpture, for example, may have been carved with hard, rough lines or it may have been carved with smoother, more flowing lines that portray a kind of gentleness.

    Read More

  • Art Analysis: Olive Trees By Vincent Van Gogh

    917 Words  | 2 Pages

    Starting with visual elements I saw lines, implied depth, and texture. I see lines by him using lines created by an edge. Each line is curved not straight but it works with the piece. By using this he creates the piece to make it whole. He uses many curved lines within the painting I don’t know if there is a straight line in the whole thing. The next element I saw was implied depth. Using linear perspective you can see the mountains but they look smaller than the rest of the piece. They are the vanishing point in the back making it look as if you can walk down and they will get closer and closer to you. The last element that I saw was texture. They talk about Van Gogh’s painting, The Starry Night having texture through a two- dimensional surface, in which this painting has that similar feel. Van Gogh uses thick brush stokes on his paintings to show his feelings. There is actually a name for this called, Impasto,

    Read More

  • Nature and Faith in To a Waterfowl by Cullen Bryant

    999 Words  | 2 Pages

    Bryant went through many hard times throughout his life; from losing family members to being socially isolated. He lost many family members and close friends. The one death that hurt him the most was his father’s. Bryant’s father was a very important part of his life; his father taught him many things throughout his lifetime. His father submitted five of his poems into the North American Review, one of those were the first version of “Thanatopsis”. It is said that Bryant mourned his father’s death and that his death is what gave him the emotional passion to write with.

    Read More

  • Land Art

    734 Words  | 2 Pages

    Land Art is created by combining art and nature in a complex way. Land art is also known as Earth Art or Earthworks. This art is designed directly in the physical landscapes with the help of natural substances and organic media like leaves, stones, soil, rocks, water, logs, etc. Mechanical earth moving equipment is also used by few artists. Artists show their reaction against industrialization and urbanization through the land art. Before the origin of modern land art, it has been already created by artists for last centuries. But this land art movement became popular somewhere between 1960 and 1970 in America and soon adopted by the artists all over the world. The main part of this art is reforming and redesigning of the landscape. As it is created by moving things around, adding some available materials and imported substances to the landscape so it becomes impossible to move it from one place to another. It is only developed to make some beautiful change in the environment for sometime as in the end it just degenerates. Some land artworks are very short-lived; just stay for a few hours or days, while others just designed in open and left uncovered so that they can be deformed by erosion or wind over time.

    Read More

More about Analysis Of The Poem ' Thanatopsis '

Open Document