"Thanatopsis"

"Thanatopsis" is a really depressing poem. Which makes sense as the title translates from Greek to "Meditation on Death" or "View of Death" (Huff). "When thoughts of the last bitter hour" (Bryant lines 8-9) and talk of "the narrow house" (Bryant line 12) or coffin refer to dying and what happens after a body is dead. The next lines are about the dying process, "and thee the all- beholding sun shall see no more" (Bryant lines 17-18) and "in the cold ground" (Bryant line 19) which also points to this poem being depressing. While dying and death is not a glamorous thing, William Cullen Bryant makes it a grim and morose affair. After having ten lines be about ending up in the ground and having nature spread out over and in one's body (Bryant lines 20-30), Bryant brings up a happy, reassuring point with the next stanza about kings and being laid to rest by famous, wise, and brave people.

Yet not to thine eternal resting-place
Shalt thou retire alone, nor couldst thou wish
Couch more magnificent. Thou shalt lie down
With patriarchs of the infant world,—with kings,
The powerful of the earth,—the wise, the good,
Fair forms, and hoary seers of ages past (Bryant lines 31-36)

The thought of being buried in the ground where King Arthur, Cleopatra, Queen Elizabeth I, Charlemagne, Homer, Shakespeare, Abraham Lincoln, Sam Houston, Voltaire, etc. are buried is a magnificent and awe inspiring thought. I had never thought of being buried after dying with that mind set before. That stanza alone could get people to chose burial over cremation. The closest one could come to meeting Alexander the Great is to be covered with the same dirt that could have touched his body or the same earth that he walk and live on. That noglastic feeling of reaching out for a piece of our past is something that every human feels at some point of their life. Bryant says that there are "millions in those solitudes, since first the flight of years began, have laid them down in their last sleep— the dead reign there alone" (lines 55 -57). That is why death should not be feared or should be a lonely thing. There are "millions" of other lonely dead souls buried in the ground. Bryant tells the reader to take comfort in that and not be lonely as there are many, many others that can be lonely with you.

To keep from being overly depressing with the constant talk of death and being laid to rest, Bryant points out that at least when the reader dies, he or she has lived more of their life than "the speechless babe" who died before its time (Bryant line 70). Whether the reader is a "matron and maid", "gray-headed man", or "youth in life's green spring", everyone ends up in the ground at one time or another (Bryant lines 68-70). William Cullen Bryant tells the reader to have a "unfaltering trust" in whatever faith and to not be afraid of death because it takes everyone and everyone will end up together in the ground (Bryant line 79). To correct my opinion, "Thanatopsis" is still a depressing poem, but I took a lot from it and appreciate what Bryant had to say on death.


Bryant, William Cullen. "16. Thanatopsis." Bartleby.com. Web. 23 Nov. 2011.

Huff, Randall. "'Thanatopsis'." The Facts On File Companion to American Poetry, vol. 1. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2007. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. Web. 23 Nov. 2011.