Do Not Stand At My Gentle Into That Goodwood By Dylan Thomas

Poetry can elicit various emotions from the reader, and not everyone will find the same meanings to the poems. For example The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost, The Sky is low, The Clouds are Mean by Emily Dickinson, and Harlem Night Song by Langston Hughes all have different themes. Of the three my favorite is The Road Not Taken because it offers its audience a chance to make life choices.

In the poem "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night," by Dylan Thomas, he uses various forms of diction and themes to explain death must not be something we greet with sorrow, but instead with the feeling of accomplishment. Thomas’s use of diction throughout the poem leans primarily towards the negative point of view of abandoning oneself during their final moments. The author twists the positive words in the villanelle to give them an adverse tone, as he uses good night not to wish someone a restful sleep, but to use it as a metaphor for death. The poem characterizes human beings into different categories, from the ones who know death is upon them and they accept the truth with open arms to the ones who are close to death but have not left

This poem has a both rhythm and rhyme as it is told in rhyming couplets and littered with alliteration. An example of alliteration is in the second line of the poem which reads "her hardest hue to hold"

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.

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.

The poem I chose to do a close reading essay on was, “Do Not Stand At My Grave And Weep” by Mary Elizabeth Frye. “Mary Elizabeth Frye (1905-2004) is an American poet who remains known today for a single poem-a sonnet of just twelve lines-but it may be the most popular poem in the English language. “Do not stand at my grave and weep” is a consoling Holocaust poem and elegy with an interesting genesis, since it was written by a Baltimore housewife who lacked a formal education and had quite never written poetry before, and certainly none of note” (The HyperTexts). The tone of this poem is comforting and helps people find comfort with the view of death. This poem uses a lot of imagery, metaphors, and symbolism. Frye’s, “Do Not Stand At My Grave And Weep,” is enlightening people how to handle a death of a loved one while using important parts of the theme such as tone, vocabulary, and overall meaning.

Touching humans the most is the acceptance of unstoppable death. We all know that death will be our fate some day, but how we accept or how we deal with it is left to each individual. "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night," written by Dylan Thomas, emphasizes raging against death towards his dying father as he repeats this exhortation in the last line in every stanza. Imagery, sound, metrics, and tone, are used by Thomas to create the theme of his poem and what it means.

Both John Doone and Emily Dickinson wrote amazing poems. “Valediction Forbidding Mourning” and “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” come together to give the reader two different ideas of death in itself. There are also extended metaphors in each poem. The amazing part of both of these poems, is that you can get so much out of it from reading it over and over again. There are so many meanings to so many words inside these poems.

e poem,” Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night” was published by Dylan Thomas in 1951 and is about preserving through trials and hard time. Although the author seemed to take a stance that those who are older should not “go without a fight”. This poem talks about surviving and preserving, and trying and pushing as hard as possible to overcome. This poem is also talking about his father, and his will for him to not die.

By the fourth stanza brings in another type of person that don’t allow themselves to fade into the night without fighting back. This is the person that have lived and captured the world in their own imagination only to begin to see it die and diminish as they enjoyed it when he states “Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight/And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way.“ As for the fifth stanza, Thomas gives the image of meteors as a symbol that no man should go out quietly but only go out with a big bang when he states. In the sixth and final stanza Thomas begins to make the poem feel personal by bringing in his own father. The writer begins to give the image of his dying father in his final moments. The final moments in which he is begging his father not to go gently into the night and fight and defy death by bringing back the line from the first stanza in the poem “ Do not go gentle into that good night. By using these images, Thomas helps create a specific tone anger,depression and rebelling that people should not

Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night by Dylan Thomas explores death and how those facing it should fight for their lives because death is a heartbreaking subject to him. The writer is addressing his father and pleads him to resist the power of death as it would be devastating if the father was to die from the writers perspective. Throughout the poem, Thomas writes about different traits of men. Some aspects include wise, wild, good and grave which helps create a poem that covers all aspects of a person.

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

Poems are like snowflakes. While no two are the same, they all have common structures and themes. One prevalent theme in poetry is that of death, which is present in both “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” by Emily Dickinson and “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” by Robert Frost. Dickinson perceives death as a gentleman, while Frost perceives death as loneliness, which provides insight on how the time periods of the poems, the genders of the authors, and the authors’ personal experiences influence literature.

Dylan Thomas’ “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night” is a rallying cry to fight death even though death is inevitable. The speaker, who is likely Thomas as he wrote mainly lyric poetry, explains why different men fight death and therefore why his father should fight death. Thomas uses quite distinct nature imagery to depict this.

Poetry allows the writer, the reader and even those listening to get a deeper sense of being. It gives us the opportunity to break free from simple and boring routine. If done correctly a poem will done correctly a poem will be able to stir emotion, and create wonder. In order to this however all the part that make up a poem must be in sync. Its tone, diction, imaginary, rhythm, symbolism and subject matter are all critical areas. A good poem will draw an emotional reaction from its audience, whether those are light and upbeat or darker more serious feelings they will come away with a new experience, changed by what they just experienced. Two such poems that embody what a good poem should be are “Lady Lazarus” by Sylvia Plath and “Harlem”, also published as “Dream Deferred” by Langston Hughes. These poems elevate the experience for reading, listening and writing poetry, and serve as an excellent reference for a poem should be.