This article is about a poem. For the band, see Thanatopsis (band). "Thanatopsis" is a poem by American poet William Cullen Bryant. Overview The title is from the Greek thanatos ("death") and the suffix -opsis (literally, "sight"); it has often been translated as "Meditation upon Death". Due to the unusual quality of the verse and Bryant's age when first published in 1817 by the North American Review, Richard Henry Dana, Sr., then associate editor at the Review, initially doubted its authenticit… (More on Thanatopsis)