The Beauty Of Death In William Cullen Bryant's 'Thanatopsis'

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Recommended: Spiritual death in the poem Thanatopsis by W.C Bryant

When mentioning death one’s mind immediately goes towards thoughts about an ending, whether that be the end of a loved one’s life, saying fair well to a beloved pet, or leaves falling in autumn. Throughout history, people have been inclined to view life as a celebration. Death on the other hand is generally treated as a solemn event. After the death of loved ones individuals gather to reminisce about the past because a journey has reached its inevitable conclusion. William Cullen Bryant, poet and author of “Thanatopsis,” aims to present an entirely new outlook on death. By utilizing personification, imagery, and personal beliefs, Bryant explores the majesty and beauty of not only one’s life on earth, but their death as well. Showing the intricacies …show more content…

Man, by nature, is incredibly reliant upon their senses in order to grasp and appreciate their surroundings. Recognizing this predisposition, Bryant’s commentary on death is riddled with imagery, because a mere stating of what death entails without alluding to the beauty of nature in life and death through images would not have had as strong as an effect on the learned audience. Throughout “Thanatopsis” the actualities of death is explored with lines such as, “Thine, individual being shall go/ To mix forever with the elements” (Bryant 25-26), and “The oak/ Shall sends his roots abroad and pierce thy mould” (Bryant 29-30). Each of these passages details the realities of death and how when one is buried they become part of the landscape that bore them life. Author, George H. Betts explores the contribution of imagery in many poems including “Thanatopsis.” Betts “enjoy(ed) the images (but) it is the feeling and meaning of the piece that (he) cared for chiefly” (Betts 89). Betts downplays the importance of the images in “Thanatopsis.” What Betts fails to realize, is that without the extensive imagery provided in this poem, the “feeling and meaning,” which he praises, would have come across less strongly, and his entire perception of the work could have drastically changed. Death, like many other occurrences, is incredibly difficult to grasp …show more content…

Bryant, “America’s foremost poet” (Muller 1), utilizes this concept immensely in the construction of the classic poem on life and death, “Thanatopsis.” As outlined in Britannica’s article on Bryant, he grew up a strict Puritan before “he rejected Puritan dogma for Deism; thereafter he was a Unitarian” (Brittanica). This change in doctrinal views is evident throughout “Thanatopsis.” “Nature” in this poem could also be characterized as a single-being God, which as a teen Bryant began to believe, opposed to his Puritan background(Brittanica). However, the pioneer of American poetry strove to make a commentary about the death of man in a way that does not make his religious beliefs obvious except to the most ardent readers. Why would someone want to purposefully disguise his religious association? John Bigelow, Bryant’s biographer, recollected that he “used to say that a gentleman should never talk of his love affairs or of his religion” (Bigelow 280). One could theorize, that this poet characterized religious experiences as pertinent to merely individuals. Thus him imposing his religious views on others would somewhat limit their own individuality in terms of religion. Therefore Bryant strove to “look at death” from as objective view as possible. So while he still spoke of an all-knowing and seeing being, it is portrayed as

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