s babe, and the gray-headed man-/Shall one by one be gathered to thy side, /By those, who in their turn shall follow them.”(64-72). He states that one by one everyone will die. Eventually, everyone dies, and they live on through Nature in another form.Although a person loses individuality at death, he becomes a part of nature. Bryant says in this line, “Earth, that nourished thee, shall claim/Thy growth, to be resolved to earth again,” (22-23). The poet explains that people will return to the Earth that provided them with nourishment when they die. Bryant writes, “To mix for ever with the elements, /To be brother to the insensible rock/And to the sluggish clod, …”(26-28). He asserts here that once they are dead they will mix with the dirt and all the other elements of the earth. The next lines state, “The oak/Shall send his roots abroad and pierce thy mould.”(29-30). The author is asserting that after death their bodies will provide nourishment to the earth that once nourished them. At death a person loses his individuality and returns to nature. In conclusion, a person should live life without fearing death, because death is a natural occurrence and he will return to nature. While writing the “Thanatopsis” William Cullen Bryant considered death and the afterlife. The poet studied Transcendentalism and the teachings of Emerson and Thoreau. Having read this poem people should now think of death as a part of nature and as a long pleasant rest. ...
