...of the middle stanza Bryant pictures the state of the dead: Yet not to thine eternal resting place Shalt thou retire alone, nor couldst thou wish Couch...forms, and hoary seers of ages past, All in one mighty sepulchre. The hills Rock-ribbed and ancient as the sun, — the vales Stretching in pensive quietness...

...voice Mayhew's belief and the book's benign message about the process of man's life in time: . . . Thou shalt lie down With patriarchs of the infant...forms, and hoary seers of ages past, All in one mighty sepulchre. The hills Rock-ribbed and ancient as the sun, the vales Stretching in pensive quietness...

...swain Turns with his share, and treads upon. The oak Shall send his roots abroad, and pierce thy mould. Yet not to thine eternal resting-place Shalt thou...forms, and hoary seers of ages past, All in one mighty sepulchre. The hills Rock-ribbed and ancient as the sun,— the vales Stretching in pensive quietness...

...swain Turns with his share, and treads upon. The oak Shall send his roots abroad, and pierce thy mould. Yet not to thine eternal resting-place Shalt thou...forms, and hoary seers of ages past, All in one mighty sepulchre. The hills Rock-ribb'd and ancient as the sun, — the vales Stretching in pensive quietness...

...upon. The oak Shall send his roots abroad, and pierce thy mould. Yet not to thy eternal resting place Shalt thou retire alone — nor couldst thou wish...forms, and hoary seers of ages past, All in one mighty sepulchre. — The hills Rock-ribb'd and ancient as the sun, — the vales Stretching in pensive quietness...

...upon. The oak Shall send his roots abroad, and pierce thy mould. Yet not to thy eternal resting place Shalt thou retire alone — nor couldst thou wish...forms, and hoary seers of ages past, All in one mighty sepulchre. — The hills Rock-ribbed and ancient as the sun, — the vales Stretching in pensive quietness...

...swain4 Turns with his share, and treads upon. The oak Shall send his roots abroad, and pierce thy mould. Yet not to thine eternal resting-place Shalt thou...The powerful of the earth — the wise, the good, 1. That is, the coffin. 4. Country lad. "Rude" means unsophisticated 2. Listen. rather than impolite....

...eternal resting-place "'Shalt thou retire alone, nor couldst thou wish Couch more magnificent. Thou shah lie down With patriarchs of the infant world — with...forms and hoary seers of ages past, All in one mighty sepulchre. The hills Rock-ribbed and ancient as the sun, — the vales Stretching in pensive quietness...

...through repeated images of surrender, withdrawal, and recumbence. "Thou shalt lie down," Bryant promises, With patriarchs of the infant world — with kings,...hoary seers of ages past, All in one mighty sepulcher. (1:18) This easy conflation (patterned after Job 3:13-19) of political ranks in the face of death —...