thanatopsis Definition of thanatopsis than`a`top´sis Pronunciation: thăn`å`tǒp´sĭs n. 1. A view of death; a meditation on the subject of death. prop. n. 1. The title of a poem by William Cullen Bryant (1794-1878), meditating on the subject of death. One of Bryant's best-remembered poems, it was written in 1811 and was discovered and rushed to publication in 1817 (in the North American Review ) by Bryant's father, originally without the poet's knowledge. A revised version was published in 1821. In this elegy Bryant reflects that death comes to all men, common and great, and that all eventually shall rest together in the "mighty sepulchre" of the earth.