Words Change Lives (An Essay About The Three Most Important Texts From Senior English B)

In Senior English B, we read a lot of texts with really deep messages. So much wisdom is packed into that textbook. So many masterpieces are compiled in those books for us to read and learn from. To me, poetry is one of the most powerful types of literature. Something about rhythm and rhyme gives words so much more weight than they do when arranged in ways without any poetic qualities. Poetry is one of my favorite things in the world, and though they may not realize it, I think many other people are in the same boat. Lyrical poetry, like that found in many songs, is the best. When lyrical poetry and music are put together, the product can be something that can make people dance or sing along or bawl their eyeballs out. It can make people happy or sad or angry or determined. It can bring back vivid nostalgic memories. Songs can be powerful things, and even without the musical component, lyrical poetry can be extremely moving. Three texts we read in Senior English B really stood out to me as stories to remember and to live by, and not surprisingly, they are all poems.

First, Dylan Thomas’s “Do not go gentle into that goodnight” was a very moving poem. The line, “Rage, rage against the dying of the light,” really struck a chord. It seems like those words were meant to be together. I can’t explain why that one line is so powerful, but I think I’ll remember that one for the rest of my life. Maybe I’ll be thinking about that very line of poetry as I die. That line could be my rage against the dying of the light. There is something so profound in the image of a man fighting to stay alive right up until the very instant of his death. It’s not a fearful, panicked fight. He’s simply gripping what he has left with all his...

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...hem. We’d be less like emotionless scarecrows, and more like the good people God wants us to be. People would try to make sure that their words actually mean something. Less lies would be told. More work would get done. More love would be given and received. If more people understood “Do not go gentle into that goodnight,” more people would have a sense of purpose in their lives. They would go out with a bang, not with a whimper. Now, I just mixed up two poems. I think that’s a sign that I am too tired to keep writing and that I should just stop now and print this out. Of course, I could also just type a bunch of nonsense, but I guess that would just be proving that T.S Eliot is right about us. We are hollow and meaningless and useless. That’s not he wanted, though. The purpose of that poem was to encourage us to prove him wrong. I’ll try to do my part.