Comparing Do not go gentle and Ferne Hill by Dylan Thomas
When reviewing the work of Dylan Thomas, one can see that he changes his style of language, such as using metaphors and imagery, to fit each poem accordingly. In the poems, "Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night," and "Fern Hill," which are the poems I will be looking at in this presentation, he uses different techniques and language to make each poem more effective to the reader. I have chosen these works because they are his most well known, I shall start off by reading the poem “Do Not Go Gentle…” even if it was written after Fern Hill, as it is the most famous of all his works. "Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night" is addressed to Thomas' father, giving him advice on how he should die. The poem is a villanelle, which is a type of French pastoral lyric. It was not found in English literature until the late nineteenth century. It derives from peasant life, originally being a type of round sung. It progressed throughout the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries to its present form. For Dylan Thomas, its strictly disciplined rhyme scheme and verse format provided the framework through which he expresses "both a brilliant character analysis of his father and an ambivalent expression of his love towards him"(Magill 569 ).
In its standardized format, the poem consists of five tercets, having three lines, and a quatrain, having four lines, rhymed aba, aba, aba, aba, aba, abaa. In the first tercet, the first line "Do not go gentle into that good night" and the third line "Rage, rage against the dying of the light" alternate as a refrain to the following four verses. These two lines also become the last two lines of the concluding quatrain. This sets up a sui...
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... Thomas repeatedly blends his life into his work, however, his style, figurative language, and other techniques are altered for each poem. Thomas does this so that the poem's idea or message compliment the poem's language. He used vivid and energetic imagery to bring his poems alive. He uses words not only for their literal meaning, but also for the sound the word and the meaning that sound creates. It is said that the key to Thomas' poetry is reading it aloud, slowly, and hitting every vowel and consonant, then go back to try to understand it. Thomas continually writes about very particular points in his life. However, he writes in a different way each time. He chooses a style for each poem so it has the most effect on the reader. Thomas stresses on sounds and double meanings with words and was greatly influenced the American society where he died in New York 1953.
In the poem "Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night," written by Dylan Thomas, emphasizes resistance towards death as he repeats this exhortation in the last line in every stanza. Imagery is used by Thomas to create the theme of his poem and what it means. Although readers are unaware of the details behind the on coming death of Thomas father, the motives of the author for writing this poem are very obvious. Thomas intends to pursuit his father to resist against death and for him to fight for life. Through "Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night," Thomas conveys resistance towards death with images of fury and fighting to symbolize the great anger and rage Thomas feels towards the thought of loosing his dying father, though upon first reading then seem banal.
"Do Not Go Gentle Into That Goodnight" is a poem by Dylan Thomas. This poem is about fighting against death. Many people die everyday with a sense of defeat. They reach a point in their lives were they feel it is useless to fight against a force that is destined to claim them. The strength of their youth disappears leaving them weak. Those who accept death too early die spiritually before they die physically. They grieve a loss that is yet to come. "Rage, rage against the dying of the light" demonstrates perfectly the attitude Dylan Thomas felt his father should have had against his death. "D.J. Thomas had never recovered since having tongue cancer in 1932. Losing his eyesight Mr. Thomas' pride and fire had almost all drained out of him; he was becoming the husk of his former self. He did the crossword puzzles of which both he and Dylan were so fond of and awaited the end. The spectacle of his decline distressed Dylan greatly and inspired this poem." (FitzGibbons 295). Dylan Thomas did not wish to see his dad surrender to his death. In writing this poem, Dylan set out to encourage others to fight against death and to live their lives to the fullest.
Dylan Thomas wrote the poem “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night.” It is about a son’s plea to his father who is approaching death. Two lines are repeated in the poem and addressed directly to the father. These lines structure the first stanza and collaborate as a couplet in the last. They are repeated a lot but each time, they have different meanings: statements, pleas, commands, or petitions. Repetition and rhyme scheme are parts of prosody in poetry. The rhyme scheme is built on two rhymes and forms of a pattern. The two rhymes are night and day and the pattern is aba, and in the last stanza, abaa. Even though the poem seems to have too much repetition, the fascinating imagery is more important and readers pay more attention to that instead.
Dylan Thomas sets the tone of his iconic poem with the title, which is also one of the recurring lines in the poem. When the speaker says “Do not go gentle into that good night”(1,6,12,18), he is saying that you should not peacefully accept death. In most cases, many people would consider a peaceful death as good of a death as there can be, but Thomas urges the reader to not accept it. While it may seem like an odd stance, one must consider that towards the end of the poem we learn the speaker is speaking to his father. In context of the poem, this is someone struggling to accept that his father is dying therefore he is begging his father to also not accept it. Another way Dylan Thomas is able to not only reinforce the defiant tone, but also reinforce the central message, is his repetition of critical
"Do Not Go Gentle" is an emotional plea to Dylan's aging father to stay alive and fight death, without altering his individualism. In other words, Dylan wants his father to take his life into his own hands and control his own destiny. "Rage, rage against the dying of the light" (Thomas 2570), a line that is repeated throughout the poem, best su...
The poem "Because I Could Not Stop For Death?by Emily Dickinson is composed of six quatrains; four-line stanzas. All the odd number lines are written in iambic tetrameter and have eight syllables. Meanwhile, all the even number lines are written in iambic trimeter and have six syllables. The alternating lengths of the meters (eight and six syllables) resemble a falling stream of water, allowing nature (death) to take it to wherever nature desires to. Dickinson structures her poem to present her theme of accepting death calmly and willingly. On the other hand, the poem "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night?by Dylan Thomas is a form of villanelle with two important refrains; "Do Not Go Gentl...
When discussing the different aspects of New Criticism in Dylan Thomas’s poem “Do Not Go Gentle into The Good Night”, the impression that comes to mind is death. The use of imagery was a necessity for Dylan Thomas to express the different techniques of writing which involved a mixture of surrealistic and metaphysical tones. His ability to change a words meaning to incorporate symbolism is noticeable in circle of unity from life to death and renewed life.
Theodore Roethke’s speaks frequently about his life growing up and his experiences created around his greenhouse and nature, which became an important influence in his writing. His poem could possibly be influenced by his father’s death due to cancer and an uncle that committed suicide. Likewise, Dylan Thomas most famous poem was written to share the feelings of his old father. As mentioned in the poem, it was influenced when his father was dying. His father was important to him they shared the same love for writing and he even taught English. While Dylan Thomas “Do Not go Gentle into that Good Night” and “The Waking” by Theodore Roethke both are paradoxical views on how life and death should be approached while keeping a Villanelle form. One
The end our road that is life, is death and the second we begin to live, we begin to die. A rendition of death and the loss of a loved one is expressed in two different lights in Dylan Thomas’ “Do not go gentle into that Good Night” and Anne Sexton’s “for Eleanor Boylan talking with God”. Both express the fear and vulnerability of losing someone you thought should live forever Thomas’ message is an imperative one a dark and tangible energy whereas Sexton’s tone is more passive and quiet and more driven by sorrow than anger. But as there is an underlying sense of sorrow in Thomas’ villanelle, there is also a sense of quiet anger.
Thomas presents death to us using a metaphor, he describes death as being “that good night” and thus makes death seem as something unknown, unseen, and unfamiliar. The portrayal of death as “that good night” suggests that death is like night time, dark and with a sense of unfamiliarity. This causes us to begin seeing death as something that we should fear and avoid or be cautious of. The first of line of the poem, “Do not go gentle into that good night” is an ironic contradiction, as it seems strange that we should not go gentle into something that is good. However, the next line of the poem which says “Old age should burn and rave at close of day”, makes it apparent that the previous line should be taken connotatively and that phrases like “go gentle and “good night” are symbolic of the dying process. When old age is mentioned in the poem in that line it makes us aware that death is imminent. References about day and night are also symbolic of life and death. Dickinson makes strong contradictions between old age and raging against death, as it is typically accepted that after a long and fruitful life, old age would prefer a gentle slip into a peaceful welcomed death. However, Thomas says otherwise, he advocates that old age should not give into the ease and comfort of death, and should instead
One of the forms of analysis and criticism that is best used with many works is the analysis of archetypal images. Many words and objects are images that have much deeper meanings and values than you, as a reader, take at face value. Many of the words and sentences in Dylan Thomas’ “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night” give away the poems underlying theme of darkness and death.
The structure of the poem is a villanelle. The villanelle comes from the French middle ages and is composed of nineteen lines. It has five tercets and a concluding quatrain: ABA-ABA-ABA-ABA-ABA-ABAA. Two different lines are repeated. Lines one, six, twelve, and eighteen are all the same. Line three reappears in line nine fifteen and nineteen. Each tercet will conclude with an exact or very close duplication of line one or three. The final quatrain repeats line one and three. The villanelle is one of the most difficult forms of poetry to follow. Perhaps Thomas wanted to use this form to show how special his father meant to him. Dylan Thomas speaks of death throughout this poem. Death is the major theme of the vil...
In Dylan Thomas' "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night," the speaker is a son talking to his aging father and pleading with him to fight against death. The son knows that death is the inevitable end to every life, but feels one should not give up to death too easily. By using metaphor, imagery, and repetition, Thomas reinforces the son's message that aging men see their lives with sudden clarity and realize how they might have lived happier, more productive lives. These men rail against fate, fighting for more time to set things right.
Within “Do not Go Gentle into that Goodnight”, Thomas presents his readers with a sense of urgency and determination for his father to fight on. Whereas the tone present within Dickinson’s piece is quite serene, using the description of moss slowly covering the lips and tombstones of the speakers (9-12). The repetition of phrase “Rage, rage against the dying of the light” shows the increasing intensity and passion of Thomas’ father to continue his fight. However, Dickinson’s tone is very straightforward; for example, the sentences “I died for Beauty-but was scarce/When One who died for Truth, was lain”. Though, both speakers in “#449” lived very different lives, striving for both beauty and truth, in death, they were
Dylan Thomas a roistering, drunken and doomed poet or a revolutionary poet in the 1930’s with many popular poems. Thomas was against any literary group or movement despite this he is generally categorized as a part of the Modernism, Neo-romantic movements. His style played against the strict verse forms of the time his most used theme was the unity of life and the process of life and death and how new life is linked to the previous generations. He saw the advances of biology during his time to be a magical way of producing unity out of the diversity. Thomas also saw men and women trapped in cycles from growth to new life. By analyzing his poems “and death shall have no dominion” and “do not go gently into that good night” it is clear that Dylan Thomas uses poetic devices like imagery, metaphors, and repetition skillfully to convey the theme of death and the evolution of your life as a source of inspiration for his poetry. Looking in depth in his works you start to get a feeling of who the famous poem was and his beliefs about not only life and death but the all the stages in between and his views on the advancing studies in biology.