Essay on Biography of the Literary Works of Dylan Thomas

Two literary pieces, “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night” by, Dylan Thomas and “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” by, Emily Dickinson are both poems that discuss the topic of death. While there are some similarities and comparisons between the two poems, when it comes to the themes, both poets writing styles are quite different from one another which makes each poem unique. Thomas and Dickinson both use identical figurative language devices and other literature symbolisms as they explain their main themes which contrasts the differences to the concept of death. These distinct variations between poems are apparent in both the form, and how the choice of words is used in the poems. Both of the authors have presented two very different ideas on death. The poems are well distinguished literature devices, they share minor similarities and differences between each other and how they present the meaning of death to a toll.

Thomas realizes it is human nature to take life for granted; until death approaches. Thomas wrote this poem for his father, to tell him that there is so much more for him here, living, to do. The only way to deter death is through fury and frenzy. Death comes too quickly for most people and only with "rage" can death be defied.

William James, an American philosopher and psychologist once said “believe that life is worth living and your belief will help create the fact.” Life, regardless of how close it lies to death, is worth keeping. The poem “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night”, by Dylan Thomas is a son’s appeal to a fading father. He shows his father that men from all walks of life confront death, however, they still war against it. Thomas uses figurative language to classify men into four different categories to persuade his father to realize that a life, regardless of how it was lived, should be fought for.

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

Dylan Thomas's poem "Do not go gentle into that good night" and John Milton's poem "When I consider how my light is spent" were written during times of trouble in their respective poet's life. Thomas was faced with losing his father to death; Milton was dealing with becoming completely blind at the age of forty-three. As each poet struggles to deal with the crisis occurring in his life, he makes a statement about the relationship between mankind and God, the reasons that God gives and then takes away certain gifts, and the proper way to live life. Thomas and Milton ended up with contrasting answers to these

The optimistic diction in Dylan Thomas’s poem, “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night,” present a hopeful tone towards death, and in terms of battling death. To begin Thomas starts off with words such as “burn”, “rage”, and “forked” signifying horrific thoughts of how the struggle of dying is (2,3,5). Although, soon after it takes a turn for the better. He expresses the hopefulness that “we do not go gentle into that good night” (1). In other words, he is saying we should not let death conquer us without putting up a fight of staying alive. He seems to show us that we have every purpose to keep fighting he uses words with negative connotations for something positive like “fierce” to give us the determination to live referring back to the optimistic

Thomas evokes the reader’s response, through raw emotion and imagery, using desperation that the speaker has to bring out that same response from the reader. The poet uses sensuous imagery to bring out the intense pain that he is feeling that comes with mention of torturous devices that are “twisting on racks when sinews give way,” insinuating that this is what the speaker is feeling in the time of his father’s death, and making the reader feel in the way that he does. This occurs similarly, in “Funeral Blues,” where W. H. Auden wants the world to know how much the death of a love one affects him, and wants the audience and the world to acknowledge this. The poem “ And Death Shall Have No Dominion” by the same composer, Dylan Thomas, is a juxtaposition to “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night”, in that there are different views portrayed, stating that dying is something that is good, rather than it being the be all end all of life.

Since my childhood I have never really been a fan of reading books, nevertheless, took the time to analyze certain passages or readings in order to find the deeper meaning behind them. I have always been a fan of music and understood lyrics; however, poetry is a step further in comprehension. Since we studied Dylan Thomas as a class, I have found interest in his use of figurative language and his approach to go against the grain with masterful imagery. Thomas’ themes of unity, life and death, growth, and love all present a new perspective on the outlook of life and pose questions for how to view the world moving forward. Dylan Thomas, although faced a lot of criticism for being overrated and was an alcoholic which led to his self-destruction,

Contrary to Frost?s peaceful, luring diction and images, Dylan Thomas uses forceful, irate words to deter death. "No poet gives a greater sense of the feel of life" as Thomas, who provokes the reader to "rage" against death (Ackerman 407). Thomas conveys a resistance towards death with images of fury and fighting, as in "do not go gentle." Vivacious words as "blaze" and "burn" intensify desires to live on and to the fullest. With images of "good night" and "dying of the light," Thomas conveys death as the "end where only darkness prevails" (Savage 381). He takes his "stand within concrete, particular existence, he places birth and death at the poles of his vision" (Savage 381). "Life [for Thomas] begins at birth and ceases at death" therefore leaving no room for a previous life or an after life (Savage 381). Excessive images of anger and rage towards death exemplify the passion Thomas feels for life. His villanelle repeats the theme of living and fury through the most forceful two lines, "do not go gentle into that good night" and "rage, rage against the dying of the light." Contrasting images of light and darkness in the poem create the warmth of living and the coldness in death, so as to shun people from choosing the bleak, bitter frigidity of death.

Dylan Thomas uses the musicality of the rhyming lines to get people to relate to the feeling of dying. Nobody who is reading the poem has felt the feeling of dying, so he has more people that he needs to connect to. He uses key words that rhyme like night, light, height, and the repetition of the word rage helps you realate to the poem. He uses the night as a relatable metaphor for dying. He describesthe setting of the sun, or the “dying of the light” to represent the light going out in ones life.

Like an explorer without a map on a strange land lost, scared, and without a plan in mind, only rage can be expressed. Dylan Thomas used repitition at the end of each stanza to pass on his anger toward death onto the reader's

Dylan Thomas wrote this poem with not only one setting, but many. Over the compact nineteen lines of the poem, Thomas takes the readers from a lingering sunset to a bolt of lightning, from a green bay extending out from the seashore to a shooting star blazing across the sky, and finally to the top of a mountain. Even if these are metaphorical descriptions of life or death, these are all the grand aspects of nature. Of course, while the poem is taking the readers through all of nature, the speaker is actually sitting at his father’s bedside. The poem is in a very specific form of poetry: the villanelle. Villanelles have five three-line stanzas, the sixth stanza with four lines, and a total of nineteen lines total. “Do Not Go Gentle into

A man “who [held] a beast, an angel and a madman in [him].” This accurately describes Wales-born Dylan Thomas, world renowned poet and writer. A developmental wordsmith of his time, Thomas presented the people with evolutionary compositions originated from his own personal experiences and conceptions. Although Thomas’ poetry portrays several messages involving loss of innocence and youth, his more prominent style bases itself around the Freudian concepts of psychoanalytic criticism. Observed through his opaque style and endless fascination of death, it can be concluded that the psychoanalytic impressions in Thomas’ stream of consciousness declare death to be inferior. This is made even

People would not want to hear that their loved ones merely gave up and died passively. This poem in itself is a celebration of life, the poem is not only about death but it is an affirmation of life. To further emphasise the points being made Dylan Thomas utilises a wide range of literary devices. Parallelism is used from lines seven to fifteen to juxtapose the different attitudes of the so called “genres” of men at their death. This is used to outline that if you continuously lead one set type of lifestyle whether it is as a “wild man”, a “grave man” or a “good man” you will not be satisfied when your time comes to die. The only true way to be satisfied is to live a life of balance; only with a good contrast can you be at peace.

The poem first opens up with, “Now as I was young and easy...,” line 1. We can see that the speaker is an adult male, most likely Dylan Thomas himself, recalling his childhood. In the first two stanzas, the little boy creates a lot of imagery as he is surrounded by nature, animals, the art of song, and the innocent world. He recalls the small valley in lines 2 and 8 as green and flowery. There is also that sense of a fairy tale as he describes himself as prince and talks about how he can control the leaves and tress around him in lines 6 and 7. He also recalls that time was generous to him as it let him “play and be,” line 13. The little boy was also at peace with the world and himself at this time. He continues to talk about the animals, the green atmosphere and how all things pass smoothly together, “… the