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Death seems to be a very controversial topic for everyone, something that can be viewed quite negatively but also celebrated. Because none of us has experienced death and been able to share the truth afterwards, the idea of investigating different ways that poets describe death appealed to me the most. I read through all of the poems and found the two that were on completely different pages when it came to how death should be viewed and dealt with.
In William Woodsworth’s poem “A slumber did my spirit seal”, the poet seems to assume that death is something that you cannot feel, touch, or sense. The wording in the poem seemed to almost make the idea of death appealing to me. Woodsworth states that, “I had no human fears” and “she neither hears nor sees” this to mean seems peaceful and directly contrasted with Thomas’s poem “Do not go gentle into that good night” where he describes death as something that should be avoided at all costs. Thomas makes me feel like death is not peaceful and does not dull the senses, he makes it feel like death is an angry thing that although we know is necessary, should be something we run away from. In Thomas’s poem he uses the word rage eight times, really imprinting that word in my mind. He also uses words like tears, burn, grieved, and fierce. Thomas uses these crude words, in my opinion, to show the reader that death should not be viewed as something desired, but something that you should not give yourself away to. You should fight for your life until your last breath and not let it be a passive passing in the least.
The two poems are drastically different when it comes to the way they are written as well. Not only is William Woodsworth’s poem much shorter than Thomas’s, but Thomas’s poem seem...

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...which made it very hard for me to understand the first time around. It almost leaves a lot of it up for assumption by using words that do not always mean what you think they mean at first. For instance, he says that she is rolled, “With rocks and stones and trees” this does not really mean that she has been rolled up with them or that she is rocks and stones, but perhaps that because she has died she is one with the universe and the world around her. In Thomas’s poem he uses figurative language by saying, “dying of the light” and “gentle into that good night” this does not necessarily mean that a light is dimming, but means death, and going gentle into that good night is also a way for the poet to speak of death without saying death. But we all know that the poems wouldn’t be as fun if they just said what they meant! Being slightly confused is half of the adventure.