William Cullen

I am an american poet, journalist, and editor.

I was born on November 3, 1794 in Massachusetts.

My most famous poem was “Thanatopsis”

I belong to the Romantic Movement

I grew up in a Puritan home with my father, Peter Bryant, who was a prominent doctor.

My early education came from my father.

All the years of my childhood, I spent a great deal of time in the woods surrounding my family's New England home, reading all the books of the extensive personal library that my father had.

My first published poem was "The Embargo; or, Sketches of the Times", a satirical work concerning Thomas Jefferson's Embargo Act of 1807.

It was released in a Boston newspaper in 1808.

In 1810 I was forced to leave Williams College for lack of money.

I started studying law at Worthington and Bridgewater.

Thanaptosis"Thanatopsis" starts by talking about nature's ability to make us feel better. The speaker tells us that nature can make pain less painful. It can even lighten our dark thoughts about death. He tells us that, when we start to worry about death, we should go outside and listen to the voice of nature. That voice reminds us that we will indeed vanish when we die and mix back into the earth.

The voice of nature also tells us that when we die, we won’t be alone. This idea is meant to be comforting, and the poem ends by telling us to think of death like a happy, dream-filled sleep.

To him who in the love of Nature holds     Communion with her visible forms, she speaks    A various language; for his gayer hours    She has a voice of gladness, and a smile    And eloquence of beauty, and she glides    Into his darker musings, with a mild    And healing sympathy, that steals away    Their sharpness, ere he is aware.