"Thanatopsis" is a poem by the American poet William Cullen Bryant

William Cullen Bryant

William Cullen Bryant was an American romantic poet, journalist, and long-time editor of the New York Evening Post.-Youth and education:...

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The title is from the Greek thanatos

Thanatos

In Greek mythology, Thanatos was the daemon personification of death. He was a minor figure in Greek mythology, often referred to but rarely appearing in person...

 ("death") and -opsis ("sight"); it has often been translated as "Meditation upon Death". Bryant wrote the bulk of the poem at age 17 (in 1811); he added the introductory and concluding lines 10 years later in 1821.
Due to the unusual quality of the verse and Bryant's age when the poem was first published in 1817 by the North American Review

North American Review

The North American Review was the first literary magazine in the United States. Founded in Boston in 1815 by journalist Nathan Hale and others, it was published continuously until 1940, when publication was suspended due to J. H. Smyth, who had purchased the magazine, being unmasked as a Japanese...

, Richard Henry Dana, Sr.

Richard Henry Dana, Sr.

Richard Henry Dana, Sr. was an American poet, critic and lawyer. His son, Richard Henry Dana, Jr., also became a lawyer and author.-Biography:...

, then associate editor at the Review, initially doubted its authenticity, saying to another editor, "No one, on this side of the Atlantic, is capable of writing such verses."

"Thanatopsis" remains a significant milestone in American literary history.