Death In Thanatopsis, And Dust In The Wind

Death is part of life and the human condition. Many people have thought about the life cycle and have their own ideas about what it means to live or to die. Examples of this would be the three poems “Thanatopsis” by William Cullen Bryant, “Don’t Fear the Reaper” by The Blue Oyster Cult, and “Dust in the Wind” by Kansas. All of these are about death, but they have different points of view. “Thanatopsis” romanticizes death and is optimistic, “Dust in the Wind” portrays life as short and fleeting, and “Don’t Fear the Reaper” glorifies death.
While the three poems discuss death the poem “Thanatopsis” has the most optimistic view. In the poem Bryant says that there is an afterlife and that “the gay will laugh”, and it implies that we should live