Thanatopsis (Masterplots, Revised Second Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: William Cullen Bryant
- First Published: 1817
- Type of Work: Poetry
- Genres: Poetry, Meditation
- Subjects: Nature, Self, Human race, Death or dying, Personality, Fate or fatalism, Mortality, Joy or sorrow, Water, Air
Critical Evaluation:
William Cullen Bryant’s poem “Thanatopsis” is considered to be the best of a number of poems he wrote on the subject of death. More noteworthy, however, is the fact that this poem established his reputation as a poet. That is not to say, however, that the poet was an overnight success. The North American Review, the periodical in which the poem first appeared, had a small circulation. Furthermore, according to one biographer of William Cullen Bryant, the poem “Thanatopsis” had actually been submitted to the publisher by his father, and,...
[The entire page is 1983 words long]
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