Transcript Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night

Do Not Go Gentle Into
That Good Night
By Dylan Thomas
Presented by
Rachel Morton and
Chris Larrson
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of
day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is
right,
Because their words had forked no lightning
they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how
bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a
green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in
flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its
way,
Do not go gentle into that good night
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding
sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be
gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears,
I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Title
From the title we guess that this particular
poem is going to contain something along the
lines of why young girls should not go into the
dark alone, because bad things will happen.
PARAPHRASE
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of
day;
Don't be gentle with the dark,
Elderly should thrive in the end
Curses on death.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light
Yeah, realistically, death is dark,
Because they couldn't confound us
Don't be gentle with death.
Though wise men at their end know dark is
right,
Because their words had forked no lightning
they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how
They claim light,
Their deeds reminisced
Curses on death.
Paraphrase (Cont.)
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in
flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its
way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Wild ones always
Catch on way too late
Don't be gentle with death.
Grave men, near death, who see with
blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be
gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
And you, my father, there on the sad
height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce
tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
The end comes clear,
The retrospective 20/20.
Curse Death.
Connotations
Rhythm
Melody
The Most consistent rhythm we
could find was trochaic, the
meter is basically nonexistent.
Thomas did follow the form of
Rhyming, which he did in
the ABAB CDCD pattern,
That ties in with modernism, and
the trend to break trends.
Trochaic wasn't often used
before, giving it an
appealing lure, and the lack
of constant meter goes
completely against form,
which is very characteristic
of modernism.
This is very similar to the sonnet
form, but decidedly not,
once again breaking
against the trend, and
conforming to the nonconformist ways of
modernism.
It also helps to ease the reader
along
Imagery
Thomas uses personification in
the line
"Old age should burn and rave..."
"their words had forked no
lightning"
and several times more.
Personification kind of tied in the
idea of the modernist state of
questioning, and breaking
traditional form, by naming things
to human characteristics and
behaviours.
It also helps the reader to be able
to relate to the poem, on an
emotional level.
ATTITUDE
( THAT THING THAT PISSES PEOPLE OFF BECAUSE YOU LOOK STUPID
WITH IT ON..... OR THAT THING THAT MAKES PEOPLE WANT TO SLAP YOU...)
THE POEM IS DECIDEDLY DECISIVE:
THOMAS IS COMPLETELY FIRM ON THE
IDEA OF HOW TO FACE DEATH.
HE IS ANIMATED AND FEVERED IN A WAY,
WHICH TIES TO THE OPINIONATED
MINDSET OF MODERNISM.
HE ALSO DOES THIS TO RALLY A
RESPONSE FROM HIS READERS,
WHICH ALSO DEMONSTRATES THE
Shift
We found the major shift in the first line of the last stanza :
"And you, my father, there on the sad height,"
This took the poem from being about anybody in general, to being about his
father.
The poem goes from this triumphant tone to a somber tone, covered in
sadness and emotion. It gives the reader a sense of loss and hurt.
That line also changed the poem from being about courage to being about the
idea that you have to be strong or you can't survive loss like that.
title
After reading the poem, the title seems to suggest that we have to be bold and
courageous to face death, also labeled as the Night in this poem.
It suggests that instead of accepting death, even as an older person, we have
to fight back and live.
WE found this to be something that not only questions the status quo of the
time, but also as something that speaks against death by means other than
age.
form
The form for this poem is undoubtedly an Elegy, a poem illustrating death.
The thing that makes this poem unique as an elegy is that it isn't mournful, sad,
and accepting, like most elegy's are.
This elegy is vibrant and alive, encouraging the reader to fight against nature.
This unique twist on the idea of an elegy was such a strong break on form, and
also against the acceptance of nature that the form alone classifies the
poem as one from the modernist era.
Theme
One of the themes you can find in this poem is that of triumph and courage.
Throughout the poem Thomas mentions the line "Do not go Gentle into that
good night"
The way Thomas conjugates the word gentle forces the reader to figure out
which meaning of the word was intended, but you can find evidence for
each meaning being appropriate.
That fact, along with the number of times he commands his reader to fight
death and darkness shows that courage takes persistence, and a vision of
being triumphant.
Theme
The concept of courage was also tied very closely with the knowledge of
death.
He mentions that "Though wise men know at their end that dark is right," which
shows that not only can people tell when the end is getting closer,
They can also use that knowledge to gather the courage and bravery needed to
fight strongly against death.
That ties into the idea of public knowledge being beneficial, and also to the idea
that knowledge is power, which was a very controversial matter in
modernism, or, at least in the late 1900's.
Historical Context
This poem was written by a Welsh poet by the name of Dylan Thomas in 1951.
Dylan Thomas was born in 1914, and died 1952.
Ironically, Thomas died only one year after the poem was published.
Bibliography
Smith, Nicole. “Poem Analysis of “Do Not Go Gently into
“Do not go gentle into that good night.” Poets. n.p., n.d. Web.
That Good Night” by Dylan Thomas. “
Article
Myriad. n.p., 6 Dec 2011.
28 April 2013.
A. This page is an audio version of the poem. The reader
Web. 28 April 2013.
reads the poem with emotion and helps us to understand
A. In this article, Nicole explains the emotions and thoughts Dylan
the emotions Dylan was trying to convey.
was trying to convey in “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good
Night.” She starts with a general overview of the poem. Then,
Nicole goes line by line through the poem and explains the
B. This page is authority because it is posted on Poets.org.
Poets.org is a respected organization for poetry. The
page is also just a reading of the poem, so it is credible.
significance of that line and how it ties to the rest of the poem.
C. This page is different from the article because it is an audio
B. This article has authority for several reasons. First, it is posted
version of the poem. We learn how the poem is meant to
on Article Myriad. Article Myriad is a respected source for articles
be read and hear the true emotions of the poem come
on literature. Second, Nicole has several other articles on Article
Myriad.
C. This source is different from the other one because it provides
deep, insightful analysis of the poem. It explains the hidden
through.