Poem Analysis: Thanatopsis by William Cullen Bryant

While working in class, Matt and I came up with what each sentence in the poem means literally. They are as follows:

• Nature is beautiful and speaks to people.
• When someone dies, people are sad, and their world is dark.
• A person who dies is forever in the ground. The human essence is lost and mixed with nature.
• The oak tree will embrace you.
• You will not die alone and you cannot ask for a better resting place.
• Everyone is the same after death.
• Nature is a giant tomb for man.
• Everyone of all ages is sad about death.
• People on Earth are a small amount of people that rest in the earth.
• Embrace your death, or become lost and alone.
• Who will notice you when you die?
• Everyone dies.
• People will move on, but eventually join you in death.
• Regardless of age, they will follow you in death someday.
• Live life to the fullest, so it’s not agony when you die; you die happy.

After rereading the poem again, I still continue to be depressed by the fact that it is talking about death. However, Bryant is not trying to be super depressing in my opinion. He is talking about a natural occurrence, and that it does not really matter who you were before you died because you all end up in the same place: the ground. Therefore, the poem could be sending a mixed message figuratively about how you should live life to the fullest as yourself and not try and act like anyone else, since in the end, it does not really matter. But, that does not mean just mosey along through life. People should make something of themselves so they will be remembered after their death, because it can happen to anyone at any time, of any age. So, that is what I got from this somewhat depressing poem. When you stop and actually think about its meaning, it is not so depressing. Bryant is just stating how when we die, we form a new and deep bond with nature. No pun intended. It was quite a well written poem, with a much deeper meaning to it than just its literal meaning.