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Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night

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Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night

Diction

Dylan Thomas has combined texture and rhymes that use rhyme scheme of ABA ABA ABA ABA and using rich repetitive lines (Thomas, 2020).  The stressed or unstressed words are used by the author to create a lilt effect. Thomas has played with the words to create enjambment whereby the line breaks occurs in the middle of the poem. For example, Thomas notes that “Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight/Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay” in the fifth stanza. He plays around with the words by seeing with blinding sight, Thomas implies that the men see their earlier life with extreme clarity, but he uses blind eyes to imply literal blindness.

Dramatic context

Thomas was inspired to write the poem by the death of his father. By witnessing the death of his father, the narrator focuses on the death in a general way, and he uses four categories of men, including wise men, good men, wild men and grave men. This is a villanelle poem since it has repeating refrains that rhyme with each other. The use of rhyming pattern ABA ABA ABA ABA also makes the poem a villanelle.

Elliptical construction

The author has not intentionally omitted certain words and phrases to make the reader critically think about the themes that are covered by the poem, but he has included words that directly refers to the theme of death and dying.

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Euphemism

Euphemism is used by Thomas in the Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night. For example, instead of using the words afterlife and death, he uses the term good night. Likewise, close of the day is used instead of the end of life while the light is used instead of spirit, soul or life.

Metaphor

Metaphor is one of the poetic devices that are used in the poem. For example, the narrator uses the night to refer to death in the first tercet. In addition, the “dying of the light” and “close of day” are repeatedly are also used. The day is used to represent the lifespan of a person while the night indicates the end of life.

Simile

In the fifth tercet, the simile is used when the poet indicates that “Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay”. Even though the grave men are almost dying, they still try to see the world even though they cannot see clearly (Guo and Wang, 2016). The comparison of blind eyes of grave men to meteors is ill-matched, but it is used in the poem to indicate the attitude of grave men towards death.

Motif

Throughout the poem, the theme of the unstoppable characteristic of death is recurring. As the result of watching his father dying, Thomas primary focus is death and more specifically regarding dying. “Good night” is a recurring phrase in the poem that refers to death.

Syntax

The author applies the aspect of consonance and alliteration to create a certain pattern in the poem. For example, in the fifth tercet, the /b/ sound has been repeated, thus providing the meaning of the sentences.

Themes

The main theme of this poem is the unstoppable characteristic of death. The experience of Thomas as he watched his father passing away motivated him to cover death as a major theme in his work. The poet portrays the anger towards death since it has come to take his father away.  The author uses the words “good night” to indicate how people say goodbye to others and the way dying people sleep and never wake up. The power of life is also another theme developed by Thomas. The poem has indicated the aspect of juxtaposition due to the contrast between death and life. In the poem, death is treated as inevitable and dark, while the energy and power of life are represented by light.

Psalm of Life

Diction

Wadsworth use of diction is clear through the poem. For example, in the first stanza, he notes that “for the soul is dead that slumbers and things are not what they seem”. The word soul is used by the poet to represent an individual who slumbers in life. Instead of using words like man, person or individuals, the poem uses the word soul to denote afterlife and eternity.

Dramatic context

The Psalm of Life setting was the 19th century when the author was responding to the teachings of the bible. According to biblical teachings, human life is not essential since individuals are made of dust, and they will return to dust.  To achieve this dramatic context, the author has structured the poem into nine stanzas and makes it lyrical in nature with the rhyme scheme following A B A B pattern.

Elliptical construction

Wadsworth has not intentionally omitted phrases or certain words. Instead, he had applied simile and metaphor to use other related words and make the reader use critical thinking to comprehend the poem. Additionally, there is a close connection between sentences, an indication that no words are omitted.

Euphemism

The author has used euphemism in the poem with an objective of making readers have a more positive attitude towards life. For instance, he notes that “life is earnest” instead of indicating that death is inevitable and we will return to the dust where we came from.

Metaphor

The metaphor refers to the application of language to describe things in terms of other things that are conceptually very different (Holyoak and Stamenkovic, 2018).  In the Psalm of Life, the author uses metaphor in various stanzas of the poem. For example, in the first stanza, he indicates that “Life is but an empty dream”. In this phrase, life is compared to a dream. Other metaphors used include “footprint that perhaps another” and “funeral that perhaps another”.

Simile

Wadsworth has also used simile in this poem. For instance, in the second stanza, he notes that “still, like muffled drums, are beating funeral marches to the grave.” In the sentence, the author makes a comparison of our hearts to quiet drums that are quiet and beating towards death.  Another example of a simile is found in the fifth stanza when the poet says “be not like dumb, driven cattle” (Chen, 2018).

Motif

Throughout the poem, the theme of death is recurring. The pot has not only indicated the cowardice of people towards death but also he has discussed the living dead. These are people who are not dead, but they look dead since they have given up and seek comfort as their ultimate goal. These also include individuals who are severely impacted by events or circumstances.

Syntax

The author has tended to end the sentences using words that have vowels and consonants. For example, in the first stanza, the ending words have e and m. This pattern is also applied in other stanzas, thus making the sentence structure to have a certain level of uniformity. Wadsworth has also used the rhyme of A B A B as a way of depicting syntax in the poem.

Themes

The main theme in the Psalm of Life is death. Notably, the poet discusses the experiences of the living dead. In the poem, the living dead refers to the individuals who are alive, but they look dead since they have been surrendered to the life challenges due to the events and experiences they face in life. Cowardice and courage are also notable themes that the poem covers. The poet encourages the psalmist to emulate courage but not be optimistic. Confidence is seen in the poem as the key factor that makes one gain courage.

References

Chen, X. (2018). An Appreciation of “A Psalm of Life”, Scientific Research Vol. 5 No. 4. Available from https://www.scirp.org/journal/paperinformation.aspx?paperid=83669

Guo, L and Wang, L. (2016). Poetic Analysis on Do not Go Gentle into That Good Night, Humanities and Social Sciences, Volume 4, Issue 4, July 2016, Pages: 127-130.

Holyoak, K and Stamenkovic, D. (2018). Metaphor Comprehension: A Critical Review of Theories and Evidence, Psychological Bulletin, Vol. 144, No. 6, 641– 671.

Thomas, D. (2020). Analysis of Poem Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night, Available from https://owlcation.com/humanities/Analysis-of-Poem-Do-Not-Go-Gentle-Into-That-Good-Night-by-Dylan-Thomas

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