Thanatopsis

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1817

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Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Symbols & Motifs

The Cycle of Life

In the poem, the earth has a cyclical relationship with humankind. When we are alive, the earth supplies us with nourishment and emotional stability, echoing back our good moods and ameliorating our bad ones. When we die, we return to place where we came from: “Earth, that nourished thee, shall claim / Thy growth, to be resolved to earth again” (Lines 23-24). Dead bodies rot and dissolve into their constituent parts “To mix for ever with the elements, / To be brother to the insensible rock” (Lines 27-28), which means the flesh of each person breaks down into the building blocks that make up new future living things, continuing the cycle of sustenance and reclaiming.

The Tomb of Humankind

Another symbol in “Thanatopsis” is the “mighty sepulchre” (Line 38) that contains all the dead people from all of human history. This metaphorical tomb is the eternal resting place for everyone, housing “patriarchs […] kings, / The powerful of the earth—the wise, the good” (Lines 35-36), alongside regular people like the poet and his readers. This tomb is a place where human divisions no longer matter, as people who held status, power, and wealth will be with those who had none, and people of many different “tribes” (Line 50) will now have no national distinctions between them. Furthermore, “the great tomb of man” will be adorned by the “solemn decorations” of nature—its rivers, brooks, meadows, and skies (Lines 46, 45), affirming once and for all the primacy of humans as the most important creature in the world.

Sleep

In the poem, death is repeatedly compared to sleep, in a euphemism meant to calm those who fear dying. Describing the fact that those who have already died vastly outnumber the living, the speaker portrays the dead as a resting multitude of “tribes / That slumber” (Lines 50-51), arguing that the experience of death is not alarming, but instead a familiar thing, “their last sleep” (Line 58). The speaker compares lying in the grave to resting on a comfortable bed: When buried in the ground, you will not be alone, “nor couldst thou wish / Couch more magnificent” (Lines 33-34). This piece of furniture has space for all, so those who follow you “shall come / And make their bed with thee” (Lines 66-67). The speaker urges encourages readers to approach the grave like a person lying down for the night, imagining that being wrapped in the funeral shroud is “Like one who wraps the drapery” of their bed about them “and lies down to pleasant dreams” (Lines 81-82).