Explain how the use of archaic words supports the theme of the poem "To a waterfowl" by William Cullen Bryant.

Bryant lived from the late 1700s to the late 1800s. He wrote that poem in the early 1800s. A lot of his everyday word choices would seem archaic to us today. So whoever wrote that question must be asking about diction that was archaic even in Bryant's time. (Most people in those days no longer said "thee," "thou," and "thy," and didn't use such verb forms as "dost" and "hath.") Some American poets back in the day felt inferior to poets in England. They felt that they were part of a young, raw, unsophisticated country, and had to imitate the language of the past in order to establish themselves as serious literary artists. In this particular poem, Bryant is drawing a religious lesson from nature. (Some divine power saves the high-flying bird from death and guides it to its resting place; the same divine power will guide the human speaker of the poem on his journey through life.) He's probably using old-fashioned language in an attempt to give his poem a Biblical flavor, and thus underline its serious, spiritual message.

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