Poem Analysis by William Cullent Bryan

I worked in class today with Alex and we came up with the meanings for each of the sentences. We thought that some of the sentences got pretty complex, but we were able to eventually get the meaning of everything. We broke down the sentences of William's writing down to this:

1.) Nature speaks out to people who like nature in different ways.
2.) When someone dies their spirti sees sad images at all times. When we think of death it is sad. Going into Nature. Few Days later they will be dead.
3.) We will become a part of the earth and it's elements.
4.) An oak tree will grow through your body.
5.) There will be otheres in the resting place.
6.) You'll be among kings, the powerful, wise, and the average.
7.) All beauty in nature are just declarations compared to the tomb of him.
8.) The sun, planets, and stars shine down on the earth.
9.) The earth is not compared to the dead people.
10.) May be lost and hear nothing but your own footsteps.
11.) When you die, do people know you are gone?
12.) Everyone dies eventually.
13.) Death is hard to accept, but life goes on.
14.) Everyone will eventually be by you.

We got the main assumption, after reading the poem many times, that it's main focus was on death. Even though we are all going to die at some point and no- one really knows when, I still do not like talking about death. I do not think that William really minded talking about it. I think that he looked at it like, it is something that happens to everyone so we just have to face the facts. I do not think he believed in everyone ending up in heaven or hell, he just believed that when we died we all went into the ground. I kind of noticed that when he was stating about how the roots of the tree will go through us. I thought that was a pretty bold, and crazy comment. I think he was trying to get out how short life was to us, and that we should not take any part of life for granted. We only have one life so we need to live it to the fullest! I do not think we should live with any regrets of the things that we did not do. I think we need to have fun and do it all while we can. I think he was saying that life is short, and it will be over before you know it.