Need help with a 'compare and contras' essay: TITHONUS & SONG OF MYSELF

I have to write a "compare and contrast" essay :

"Examine the views of nature in "Song of Myself" by Walt Whitman and "Tithonus" by Tennyson.

I'm totally brain farting.

So far my thesis is something like this:

"The cycle of life and death is the most basic rule of nature"

What do you think? Song of myself doesn't talk much about death except a couple of stanzas near the end...

I have to write about the speaker's:

--Situation
--Attitude or emotion towards the situation
--Changes in attitude or emotion
--Symbols, similies and metaphores if they relate to my thesis.

I got nothing :(

Is anyone familiar with these poems that can help me out with ideas?

Thanks a lot.

Lila.

Well, upon reading these poems, the comparison of being a reflection/evaluation (an autobiography of the soul)...and the major contrast that I find is that Walt Whitman seems to sort of detach, in a positive way, his soul from worldly things, making a distinction between who he is spiritually and who he is in the physical world and how nature and science affect him in only positive ways ?

As opposed to Tithonus, which is clearly a more wallowing, completely intertwined with the burdens of life and emotion and the physical world type of statement. That's all I got! Hope it is in some way helpful!! Good luck!