Thanatopsis / Wiliam Cullen Bryant

Test Practice

Identify Main Ideas

With your partner, discuss how to answer these questions about the selection.

1. According to the speaker in lines 55–61, why shouldn’t one worry about dying friendless?
a. You don’t need friends after death.
b. You will join everyone else who has died.
c. Nobody will notice.
d. Nature will comfort you.


What is the correct answer to the question above? How did the information you gathered while reading help you eliminate the incorrect answers?

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