Thanatopsis Themes

Death is definitely the big idea in "Thanatopsis."  From the title to the last line, this is a poem all about dying.  It looks at the issue from a bunch of different angles.  It deal...

"Thanatopsis" is definitely a poem about death, but it’s also a nature poem. Human beings come and go, but nature is always there.  The hills and rivers are eternal, huge, and almost intimid...

"Thanatopsis" zooms way, way out.  It starts out talking about a single person, someone who is going to die soon.  Just as soon as we’ve got our heads around that, though, we start hear...

We’re not sure that "Thanatopsis" is a completely sad poem.  In fact, we think it has a lot of comforting, hopeful moments.  Still, you can’t completely separate death and sadness, an...

This might be the trickiest theme of them all.  "Thanatopsis" doesn’t talk directly about any kind of religion.  Still, the idea of death is all tied up in questions of spirituality.
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