Thanatopsis Analysis

Thanatopsis is a poem by Fireside Poet and romanticism era William Cullen Bryant. Here, I am going to analyze it literally and figuratively. The literal meaning is the following.

Nature speaks to those who love it, happiness when they are happy, and sympathy when they are sad. When one thinks of death and sad thoughts come into one's mind, go out into nature where you will hear a voice, and a few days later you will die. You lived by the earth, and you will be part of the earth, and people will walk on you. Roots of an oak tree will penetrate your form. You will not die alone, and you could not wish for a better resting place. You will be buried with the wise and the kings of the past. The sun, the valleys, the rocks, and the oceans are the scenery of your grave. The universe looks down sadly at death. Everyone on the earth will die. Go out into the wonderful nature and woods, and there are the silent death all around. You will die, but what if no one notices that you died? Everyone will die. The happy will laugh, and people will go on with their lives, but they will die eventually. People will go on, but the young will grow old and die, and those after them will die as well. So live your life so that when you die it will not be in agony, but rather in peace and rest.

That was the literal translation of the poem, and it does not seem very cheerful since it talks about death. But if one looks at the parts of the poem, one can understand the figurative meaning of the poem. For example, the poem has a lot of imagery which deals with nature and the beauty of nature. "The hills/ Rock-ribb'd and ancient as the sun,--the vales/ Stretching in pensive quietness between;/ The venerable woods; river that move/ In majesty..." (Bryant). Bryant's descriptions of nature as beautiful, majestic, show his celebratory attitude towards nature, a common Romanticism theme. They also show, that the poem is not a sad attitude about death, but rather a happy one, because he says that nature is so beautiful that when we die, we are surrounded by a wonderful thing. Overall, Bryant is not feeling sorry for death or being afraid of it, but looking at it optimistically since to him, when we die we are surrounded by a great and magnificent force, nature.


Bryant, William C. "Thanatopsis." Poetry-Archive. Poetry-Archive.com, 2002. Web. 26 Oct. 2010. http://www.poetry-archive.com/b/thanatopsis.html