“Thanatopsis” is written in iambic pentameter: Each line contains five pairs of syllables, or metric feet, which follow a pattern of alternating unstressed and stressed syllables. The poem is in blank verse, meaning it does not have a formal rhyming scheme. However, the poem often features lines that end in assonance or near rhymes, like smile/glides/mild in lines 4-6.

The poem’s lines are almost exclusively enjambed, meaning lines do not end in punctuation, forcing readers to read several lines without pause to make sense out of the sentences and phrases that are broken up over more than one line. This enjambment echoes the speaker’s eagerness and the urgency of his message, creating a rhythm that causes the reader to remain somewhat unbalanced, and pulling the reader from one line to the next.

The poem uses apostrophe, or direct address, to speak to its reader. The poem’s speaker talks to us, using the pronouns “you,” “thee,” “thy,” and “thine” to break the fourth wall. This creates an intimate and personal feeling—as though we are truly in communion with the poem’s speaker, who is delivering his message specifically to each reader.