Analysis of Bryant's "Thanatopsis" The poem, “Thanatopsis,” written by William Cullen Bryant, is a wonderful literary work which explores the often controversial questions of death. Within his well written lines Bryant attempts to show the relationship between death's eternal questions and the ongoing cycle of nature and life. Upon concluding the poem many readers are able to reaffirm their faith of an afterlife, while others are left aimlessly pondering this strange possibility. Throughout the poem Bryant creates images which connect death and sleep. In fact, once the reader gets halfway through the poem they discover that B