A Comforting View of Death in William Cullen Bryant’s "Thanatopsis"

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Chuck Palahniuk once said, “The first step to eternal life, is you have to die.” In William Cullen Bryant’s poem “Thanatopsis”, he does not mention eternal life or anything religious, but speaks about death. He tells his readers that death is a natural thing and they should not worry about it. William Cullen Bryant, in his poem “Thanatopsis”, portrays a comforting view of death. Throughout the poem, Bryant encourages his readers by explaining that in death they are not alone, that death, like life, is a natural process, and that they will be among some of the finest people who walked the earth.

Bryant uses the fact that we are not alone in death to comfort his readers. Through this, he explains that when people die, they will be reunited with loved ones that they have lost in the past. He also explains that even those who have not died yet will die eventually and they will be with them again as well. He says, “Yet not to thine eternal resting place shalt thou retire alone, nor couldst thou wish for a couch more magnificent.” By saying this, Bryant is stating that everyone dies and...

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