Question

What words or phrases in this excerpt from "Thanatopsis" by William Cullen Bryant best help to reveal the meaning of the word blight as it is used in the poem?

Answer 1

The definition of Blight as I recall it is to suffer over some event or wrong or be affected by something that has happened. The poem is about a man who is thinking about a woman, and it is causing him blight, as seen in the poem. "stern agony, and shroud, and pall" "Make thee to shudder, and grow sick at heart" are the only two  that actually express any "blight" in the excerpt at all.

Answer 2

The correct answer is: “and sad images

Of the stern agony, and shroud, and pall,

And breathless darkness, and the narrow house,

Make thee to shudder, and grow sick at hear

Indeed, a blight is a disease of plant by which they lose their color they wither and die. In this manner death is described as a disease that kills life. The lexical field of death is continued with the words, agony, shroud and pall. They are finally completed by the work sick which confirms this assessment.