Thanatopsis
To him who in the love of Nature holds
Communion with her visible forms, she speaks
A various language; for his gayer hours
She has a voice of gladness, and a smile
And eloquence of beauty, and she glides
Into his darker musings, with a mild
And healing sympathy, that steals away
Their sharpness, ere he is aware. When thoughts
Of the last bitter hour come like a blight
Over thy spirit, and sad images
Of the stern agony, and shroud, and pall,
And breathless darkness, and the narrow house,
Make thee to shudder, and grow sick at heart;--
Go forth, under the open sky, and list
To Nature's teachings, while from all around--
Earth and her waters, and the depths of air--
Comes a still voice--Yet a few days, and thee
The all-beholding sun shall see no more
In all his course; nor yet in the cold ground,
Where thy pale form was laid, with many tears,
Nor in the embrace of ocean, shall exist
Thy image. Earth, that nourished thee, shall claim
Thy growth, to be resolved to earth again,
And, lost each human trace, surrendering up
Thine individual being, shalt thou go
To mix for ever with the elements,
To be a brother to the insensible rock
And to the sluggish clod, which the rude swain
Turns with his share, and treads upon. The oak
Shall send his roots abroad, and pierce thy mould.
Yet not to thine eternal resting-place
Shalt thou retire alone, nor couldst thou wish
Couch more magnificient. Thou shalt lie down
With patriarchs of the infant world--with kings,
The powerful of the earth--the wise, the good
Fair forms, and hoary seers of ages past,
All in one mighty sepulchre. The hills
Rock-ribbed and ancient as the sun,--the vales
Stretching in pensive quietness between;
The venerable woods--rivers that move
In majesty, and the complaining brooks
That make the meadow green; and, poured round all,
Old Ocean's gray and melancholy waste,--
Are but the solemn decorations all
Of the great tomb of man. The golden sun,
The planets, all the infinite host of heaven,
Are shining on the sad abodes of death,
Through the still lapse of ages. All that tread
The globe are but a handful to the tribes
That slumber in its bosom.--Take the wings
Of morning, pierce the Barcan wilderness,
Or lose thyself in the continuous woods
Where rolls the Oregon, and hears no sound,
Save his own dashings--yet the dead are there:
And millions in those solitudes, since first
The flight of years began, have laid them down
In their last sleep--the dead reign there alone.
So shalt thou rest, and what if thou withdraw
In silence from the living, and no friend
Take note of thy departure? All that breathe
Will share thy destiny. The gay will laugh
When thou art gone, the solemn brood of care
Plod on, and each one as before will chase
His favorite phantom; yet all these shall leave
Their mirth and their employments, and shall come
And make their bed with thee. As the long train
Of ages glide away, the sons of men,
The youth in life's green spring, and he who goes
In the full strength of years, matron and maid,
The speechless babe, and the gray-headed man--
Shall one by one be gathered to thy side
By those, who in their turn shall follow them.
So live, and when thy summons comes to join
The innumerable caravan, which moves
To that mysterious realm, where each shall take
His chamber in the silent halls of death,
Thou go not, like a quarry-slave at night,
Scourged to his dungeon, but, sustained and soothed
By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave,
Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch
About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams.
Commentary
A descendant of early Puritan immigrants, Bryant at 16 entered the sophomore class of Williams College. Because of finances and in hopes of attending Yale, he withdrew without graduating. Unable to enter Yale, he studied law under private guidance at Worthington and at Bridgewater and at 21 was admitted to the bar. He spent nearly 10 years in Plainfield and at Great Barrington as an attorney, a calling for which he held a lifelong aversion. At 26 Bryant married Frances Fairchild, with whom he was happy until her death nearly half a century later. In 1825 he moved to New York City to become coeditor of the New York Review. He became an editor of the Evening Post in 1827; in 1829 he became editor in chief and part owner and continued in this position until his death. His careful investment of his income made Bryant wealthy. He was an active patron of the arts and letters.
The religious conservatism imposed on Bryant in childhood found expression in pious doggerel; the political conservatism of his father stimulated “The Embargo” (1808), in which the 13-year-old poet demanded the resignation of President Jefferson. But in “Thanatopsis” (from the Greek “a view of death”), which he wrote when he was 17 and which made him famous when it was published in The North American Review in 1817, he rejected Puritan dogma for Deism; thereafter he was a Unitarian. Turning also from Federalism, he joined the Democratic party and made the Post an organ of free trade, workingmen’s rights, free speech, and abolition. Bryant was for a time a Free-Soiler and later one of the founders of the Republican party. As a man of letters, Bryant securely established himself at the age of 27 with Poems (1821). In his later years he devoted considerable time to translations.
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From the Wondering Minstrels mailing list, 1999–2008.
PisceSJ38 · 14 October 2000
thanatopsis is a confusing poem, can you explain it better?
lil' jel*b · 26 November 2001
cool thanatopsis stuff but i was looking for a brief summary as to what the poems means.
ImANiMrOd05 · 27 October 2002
you think you can send my a summary, or a site where i can find a summary ASAP? well thank you.
Anthony
VINCEANITY24 · 29 October 2002
He is talking about nature and the way she looks or makes us feel when we feel sad, happy, mad etc. She could so beautiful or she can be very ugly depending on how we are. When we think that our last hours are up we see sad images of horrible things that happened maybe like 9/11 and it gets really dark and the narrow house is like the long tunnel when you see that u know its all over and you grow sick at heart. Go forward and see what mother nature has for you to learn and take in all the information you can cause afterwards the image in your of mother nature will dissappear. Earth in which you grew up on will collect from you as you did from it when u pass away and will give our body like we expected every other specie which passed to do the same thing. Basically he is talking about going to heaven or to the other world in which the dead go he says you will not be alone they’re kings and farmers in the same place so dont think that you are leaving and you will be the only one their. Here he discribes the worlds different settings the woods, rivers, oceans and mountains the earth is a great big tomb for you and me. Everyone and everything are looking at the good things of death and we dont see what they are but the gods do. Everyone right now on earth are just a small amount compared to the poeple who have died and you add them all up our population right now aint nothing. No matter where you travel people where buried there many years ago so the earth is one big cemetery. Should we leave in peace and if we do what if nobody takes record of our leaving would it still be peace. The happy peolple will in time rest in peace and join you in heaven people eventually in 100 or 200 years will join you too. Man will go through the long stages of death the second we are born is the exact second that we start dying so after we go through the teenage years will go through senior citizen stage and then death. So until your day is up live life like there aint no tomorrow because when that day comes you should say i can go in peace because I have accomplished everything i wanted to do.
I hope this information will help you
Deepa Patel · 4 February 2003
hello,
I have to write a paper for AP english 12 on thanatopsis, and I was wondering if you ever got a good summary of it, or if perhaps you have any notes that could help me! thnaks for all your time and assistance! deepa Patel
George & Jyce Perlinger · 5 February 2003
I am homeschooling so I have no teacher to help me out and I am so confused about how this poem shows ideals of democracy and Romantasim
weixingzhao1616 · 24 September 2003
Do you have a summary on Snow-Bound: A Winter Idyll by John Whittier? Thank you
ÎÇáÏ · 12 October 2003
iam university student and i study english literature .i want you to give me some information in Thanatopsis.if you do not mind ,can you explain the theme of thanatopsis
Cuddlybear287 · 29 February 2004
It’s Romanticism because William Cullen Bryant is a romantic and fireside poet. There was actually a time period in literature that refers to romantics. They believed in Unitarian ways, which means that God and Nature are one. They thought that there shouldn’t be a middle such as a preacher or anything and that a church could only be a bnuilding, that to really be cl ose to God you should surround yourself and invoke in Nature. I hope this helps some.If not you can mail me back if you’d like
Cuddlybear287 · 29 February 2004
“Thanatopsis” is a poem about veiws of death. The reader is supposed to be less frightened by the aspects of death because in the end everyone is one (Unitarian) in Nature which also refers to God because Romantics beleived that in order to get closer to God there was no middle man . They felt that by surrounding themselves in Nature they could “communicate” with God. The poem also disestablishes social classes ans ranks because death is the equalizer and nobody is better than anyone else.
I don’t know if this helped any but if you e-mail me back I explain more and I might be able to answer some questions.
Adventuresterry · 29 June 2004
I understand the poem and how it reflects the ideals of Romanticism but I am unclear how this poem could possibly reflect the ideals of democracy? Any idea….?
Rodenbaugh Glenda · 13 October 2004
I was wondering if anyone knew which one of Bryant’s poems looks to eighteenth-century values both in philosophy and writing style?
Glenda
RuffRyder5462 · 3 November 2004
What is the great tomb of man
Asmileya5 · 23 November 2004
Thank you so much for this summary. You do not realize how much I really need it. If there’s anything you think I can help you with just email me and I’ll try my best to help.
SYZYGYJOB · 13 May 2005
I was a sophomore at Sonoma High School in 1945 when our English teacher introduced us to THANATOPSIS. It seemed very remote to me, but I was challenged by such writing by a lad younger than I was at the time. We were required to memorize the last nine lines and to be prepared to recite them. I was inspired enough to become the only student in my class to submit a series of my own poems as a term paper.
When I was 35 years old, I went through, perhaps, my only extended period of depression, lasting several days, as my own mortality weighed upon me. I came across the old poem by William Cullen Bryant, and slowly committed it to memory, taking reassurance in its message.
For the next 40 years I have drawn upon the poem to pass the time or keep me awake while driving. On one occasion I recited it to my Mother, who had tears when I finished, and suggested that I present it at her funeral. Unfortunately, she died far away and there was no funeral, but in my grief I wrote one of my most heart-felt poems.
Nowadays, I am happily retired and back in the Valley of the Moon, where I was raised and where I find familiar memories at every turn. While walking my dog I find that the post office is just one “Thanatopsis” away.
Geologist Jim Berkland
Glen Ellen, CA
Friday, 13 May, 2005.
FlowerGirlLG40 · 24 May 2005
hey, I am also being homeschooled and have to do the same poem on how Thanatopsis it shows ideals of deomocracy and Romanticism. Has anyone responded? This is from .
PPower2900 · 16 November 2005
Wow~ Jim, I loved your remembrances of this poem that you posted toward the end of the commentary. In fact, I am cutting and copying that portion to read to my classes this morning, as we undertake our study of the classic poem as way of introduction to the world of American Romantic poetry. Thank you for such an inspiring and insightful comment! PPower, Edinburg, TX
John Gillon · 16 January 2006
Thanatopsis means a view of death. Bryant points out in the first 30 lines that Death is scary, final, and lonely. You become one of the forgotten. This view makes it sound like death is static and we are no more than carbon life forms who get recycled by the earth when we die. However, lines 31-48 refute this view. We are not alone-many have gone before us and we join those who have previously died. We also become one with the earth and with all of Nature. As part of Humanity we are united by the fact that we will ALL die. No one leaves this life alive. We all follow the same path eventually. We are, therefore, all united and a part of the same cycle. He ends the poem by telling us not to be afraid of Death but rather to embrace it like a “pleasant dream.”
Joanna Wojewoda · 8 June 2006
Hello,
I am wrting an essay on “Thanotopsis” Do you happen to know a link to a site where I could find an analysis of the poem?
Joanna
Rosmanclan · 12 September 2006
What is the original date on this poem? My uncle just passed away but recited this poem as his last spoken words. We would like to read it at his memorial service but I would like to give the correct mention of the poem.
JR
HlSoto · 26 October 2006
WHAT IS THE FIRST PARAGRAPH SAYING
DeadlyXXRomantic · 14 November 2006
Hello,
I have to write a paper on “Thanatopsis.” And one of the things we have to answer is why Bryant wrote the poem. I can’t seem to find it anywhere and I was hoping you could help me.
Soccer035 · 17 January 2007
I have an essay on “Write about Bryant’s ideas about death and his purpose in writing “Thanatopsis”..be as specific as you can especially in developing his ideas about death”…i understand like death can be happy but is that all?
Sylvia G. Mora · 9 February 2007
Sylvia G. Mora
Valley Baptist Foundation
Ext. 11022
Matt Bonura · 9 October 2007
What are some examples of symbolism?
Kathy Smith · 13 February 2008
If you are a university student studying Thanatopsis for English literature, I would suggest pay more careful attention to your punctuation, spelling, etc.