Thanatopsis By William Cullen Bryant

Romantic literature allowed readers to experience new point of views about situations they were all bound to encounter. Romanticism was the name of the literary period that followed the Age of Reason in America. American Romanticism is characterized by the use of elements such as nature, individualism, emotion, and imagination. William Cullen Bryant was a literary superstar of his time and the mastermind behind the poem, “Thanatopsis”. “Thanatopsis” focused on the concept of death being beautiful and pleasant. The romantic characteristics that are most effective in the poem, “Thanatopsis”, are individualism and imagination. Death is often associated with joining millions of others in some type of afterlife, but Bryant’s use of individualism