The Inevitability Of Death In 'Live Like You Were Dying'

The inevitability of death is something we all fear. It’s something that’s always in the back of our minds, and is believed by many to be the most terrifying and lonely aspect of nature. In the poem Thanatopsis (1817) by William Cullen Bryant, death is depicted as something comforting and natural. Bryant brings comfort by comparing it to sleeping on a bed and points out that you're put to rest in the same dirt the rest of humanity is, eliminating the common fear of being alone for all eternity. Similarly, in the song Live Like You Were Dying (2004) by Tim McGraw, the person being described is living his life to the fullest after being diagnosed with a disease set to kill him. Death isn’t feared in the song, but welcomed. It’s seen as something

Nature is personified using “she”, such as “She has a voice of gladness, and a smile and eloquence of beauty…” (lines 5-6). This helps bring comfort to the thought of dying, as it is later stated “Earth, that nourished thee, shall claim thy growth, to be resolved to earth again”(lines 22-23). Speaking so highly of nature and then reinforcing it as our final resting place removes any ounce of fear once had, and instead makes us glad to lay with such a beautiful thing for the rest of eternity. Another point brought up is that you’ll never be alone sleeping in the dirt with “...patriarchs of the infant world - with kings, the powerful of the earth - the wise, the good, fair forms, and hoary seers of ages past” (lines 34-36). Bryant uses examples of some of the greatest humans that lived sometime in the past two million years to show that in death, there is nothing separating people by social or economic status and nothing at all to be scared about. These things are insignificant when everyone’s body eventually ends up in the same soil, kings and peasants alike. Thanatopsis focuses on the positive aspects of death and is very straightforward with its comforting

The one that stands out the most is the idea to live and go comfortably. For example in Thanatopsis it is stated “so live, that when thy summons comes to join the innumerable caravan…thou go…sustained and soothed by an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave, like one who wraps the drapery of his couch about him, and lies down to pleasant dreams”(lines 73-81), while said similarly in Live Like You Were Dying, “Like tomorrow was a gift and you got eternity to think about what’d you do with it… live like you were dying” (lines 37-38, 47). In both of these quotes, it is tediously accentuated using metaphors in Thanatopsis and rhetorical questions in Live Like You Were Dying, to not take life for granted or be scared of death. They want it to be known that death is a part of life and contrary to popular belief, it is soft and welcoming. Another sad truth brought forth in these works is the concept that there is no age limit to death. The person the story in Live Like You Were Dying is based on was young, stating “ I was in my early forties” (line 1) when he learned he was running out of time faster than expected. Correspondingly, in Thanatopsis, “...matron and maid…speechless babe…and the gray-headed man” (lines 69-70) are examples included to show that everyone dies, despite their age. These are just a couple examples of correlations between the two works, though the overall theme goes back to the idea of