Both William Cullen Bryant’s “Thanatopsis” and Walt Whitman’s “A child said, What is the grass?” are very similar in both their perspective on death, writing style, and elements of Romanticism. In “Thanatopsis”, Bryant attempts to soothe readers’ concerns related to death while conveying his perspective on the topic by stating, “All that breathe / Will share thy destiny” (Bryant 60-61). The “destiny” Bryant is referring to is death, and he tells readers that death is just part of the static cycle of life. One should embrace and accept death, which has no bias and is inevitable regardless of social status or age. Bryant also wants readers to think of death as just a “pleasant dream” (Bryant 81). Similarly, Whitman’s “A child said, What is the