Thanatopsis and the Pathetique Sonata: A Complement

Poetry has never been an area of English literature where I have found much refuge.  I do not hate poetry; however, my brain apparently does not function in conjunction with how English is used to create poetry.  As a student, I had grave difficulty interpreting poems.  I can recall being in my AP English class in high school reading works by John Donne, etc., and having no clue what they're about.  The few times I did have an idea it was so far off the traditional realm of interpretation it couldn't be measured.  Shirley Burns was most patient with me.

There was one poem with which I was successful.  William Cullen Bryant's Thanatopsis.  Now, I will not kid you and say that I have a solid grasp of the entire poem.  The final stanza is where this poem and I connect.  I recall Mrs. Burns requiring us to memorize and recite the stanza.  This is its text.

So live, that when thy summons comes to join

The innumerable caravan which moves

To that mysterious realm where each shall take

His chamber in the silent halls of death,

Thou go not, like the quarry-slave at night,

Scourged by his dungeon; but, sustain'd and soothed

By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave,

Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch

About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams.

At last!  I found a part of a poem that I both understood and loved.  If you're a poetry expert (or average interpreter), it's probably obvious that Bryant is telling the reader to not fear death but allow it to take you without pain and suffering.  For me, realizing its meaning was a big deal.

Fast foward 11-12 years, and I am now a "competent" musician who knows the second movement of Beethoven's Pathetique Sonata for piano.  I have always loved the second movement.  The first and third are unfamiliar to me.  Here is a link to a fine performance of it on YouTube.

I've been listening to this movement for the better part of 72 hours.  I am reminded of that last stanza of Thanatopsis each time I hear it.  The melodic, expressive, and harmonic ideas seem to complement Bryant's text.  Do not ask me how.  I cannot articulate it--it is a feeling.  I'm unsure if I fear death, for I can make arguments to and to not.  I have not had to face my imminent death yet; though, I have experienced opportunities where such a place/time could exist.  Bryant and Beethoven make death seem like it is not the ultimate doom that which often characterizes it.

Comments

[Dechelle Minot]

Just another threshold that we as humans have yet to cross.