The Romantic Period is a literary period in the time frame of the 1800’s. The Romantic Period has stereotypes mainly when it comes to heroes. Death is also a big part of the Romantic Period because of all the diseases that were going on at the time. The American poets who wrote these poems were called the Fireside Poets. “The Tide That Rises, The Tide That Falls” by Henry Wadsworth, “Thanatopsis” by William Cullen Bryant and “Old Ironsides” by Oliver Wendell Holmes all discuss death but they portray it in different perspectives.
In “The Tide That Rises, The Tide That Falls” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow he expresses his view on death as if it was reoccurring. Death is portrayed as a never ending cycle when he repeats “The Tide Rises, The Tide Falls” (Longfellow 1). This phrase symbolizes death because just like waves death is never ending and it will continue on no matter what happens. His second view on life is that make changes need to be made and in the world that will impact whether if someone is remembered or forgotten. An example of this is when he says “Efface the footprints in the sand/And the tide rises, the tide falls” (Longfellow 9-10). This quote portrays death by saying everyone should do stuff in life to try to be remembered even when you’re gone. Longfellow lastly expresses that life goes on so someone should live life to the fullest because when they are gone there is no turning back. This is shown when he says “The day returns, but nevermore Returns the traveler to the shore” (Longfellow 12-13). This shows that life stops for no one, not even death itself. Longfellow is saying don’t live your life with regrets and don’t live in the future because it’s not guaranteed.

In “Thanatopsis” by William Cullen Bryant he discusses his perspective on death in many different ways. Bryant thinks that when we die we won’t be alone; he expresses that by saying “Yet not to thine eternal resting place Shalt thou retire alone, nor couldst thou wish” (Bryant 31-32). This quote expresses that even though it is sad to have to die we will not be doing it alone. The second way Bryant discusses death is that if we are nerves about death we need to talk to nature about it. He implies this when he says “Make thee to shudder, and grow sick at heart Go fourth, under the open sky, and list/To Nature’s teachings, while from all around” (Bryant 13-14). Bryant is saying sometimes we worry so much about death that we don’t listen to the teachings that nature has to offer. Bryant’s final view is that nature makes us feel better. He portrays this message by saying “And eloquence of beauty, and she glides/Into his darker musings, with a mild/And healing sympathy” (Bryant 5-7). Feeling gloomy and sad is normal when it comes to death but nature’s beauty will help to cheer you up. This employs that the beauty of nature makes everyone happier. All of his different opinions pertain to nature and how it will help us all.
In the last poem “Old Ironside” by Oliver Wendell Holmes there is a huge difference in opinion from Bryant and Longfellow. Holmes discusses that we should be appreciative of our past patriots when he says “No more shall feel the victor’s tread/Or know the conquered knee” (Holmes 13-14). No one should be taken over by death because you should expect that it will eventually happen. His other view that the ocean should be the USS constitution grave “Her thunders shook the mighty deep/And there should be her grave” (Holmes 19-20).Holmes feels that somewhere very deep is the best place for people to be buried. Lastly Bryant expresses himself by saying “The meteor of the ocean air shall sweep the clouds no more!” (Holmes 7-8). This shows that Bryant is happy that he has accepted death for what it is and he is not going to allow it to hang over his head and ruin the life he is living. In the end his perspective was very different than his peers.
In conclusion reading and analyzing these three poems it makes people really stop and think. They all had completely different perspectives and reasons they believed what they believed. Think about which author has an agreeable argument and why. Also think about why they believed what they did. After reading it becomes clear that they all believe everyone will die and no one knows when it will happen.