Thanatopsis Explanation

Thanatopsis by William Cullen Bryant is a poem that talks about nature, death, and dying.
In the first stanza, Bryant is talking about dying in general and the very thought of dying. He says that dying is sad and cold and dark, detailing the more negative aspects. As the first stanza continues, Bryant goes on to explain that when a person dies, it's not so bad because the earth reclaims that person and they become a part of nature. He says that when the oak tree's roots extend to the buried, they pierce the dead person to make them a part of the tree. Although Bryant first called death cold and sad, his tone changes slightly when he says people are not alone in death because of their connection with nature.


Everyone dies, everyone is buried, and everyone becomes on in nature is basically the point Bryant begins to convey. He says that after death you join those who have died before you and will later be joined by those who will die after you, like a repeated cycle of death and nature. Bryant writes in his poem that bodies become a part of the earth and the beauty of nature is due to those who have died.

Bryant also says death is not bad because people remain immortal through death because they are technically still living through nature. Because of this, Bryant says that there although there are many people on earth, this number is even larger because he thinks dead people are still technically a part of earth because they have become a part of the nature that surrounds living people. Bryant says the worst part of death would be dying without anyone else noticing, even though everything that breathes will die one day and become one is nature so it does not really matter. People will continue living even after you die, but no matter how each individual acts after your death, they will all have the same fate. According to Bryant, the individual lifestyles that people led do not matter because at the end, everyone will die and be placed with each other.

The most important part of the poem is that Bryant wants people to realize that they will die along with everyone else; it is important to be happy while living so that when your day comes they will go in to death happily.